Simple solution is to just stop writing apps for Google's platform. There are other avenues that aren't dependent on the corp whims of entities you can't really talk to.
Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms
91–100 of 219 posts
Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
> However, I have yet to find an email provider that mimics Gmail's tagging system IMAP does support keywords, which are basically tags. Probably some good IMAP-Client supports this? There is also JMAP as a modern alternative to IMAP in development. Fastmail released a beta-interface for this, which also includes tag-support AFAIK. And finally, Outlook surprisingly seems to support tagging, but they call it categorie…
Thanks for your comments. I have used Thunderbird and Evolution mainly. They cannot really do that afaik. > Probably some good IMAP-Client supports this? The Gmail clients do that (at least the last version's I remember 3 years ago). Haven't seen any other FOSS that does so too. That is what made going away from Gmail kind of "hard". Currently I'm using K9 on Android and the web client by mailbox.org based on OX AppS…
> The Gmail clients do that (at least the last version's I remember 3 years ago).
As I remember the way GMail is using IMAP keywords is considered "broken". They just do it wrong and make it impossible to play nice with alternate clients on gmail-accounts.
Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Someone needs to take this to the EU courts and force google (and apple) to allow the use of alternate app stores that are not technically hindered. It was done with Windows and Explorer so I don't see why this is any different.
How are app stores on Android technically hindered? I thought except the additional step for installing them, there is no difference in ability?
Also I believe a third party installed app cannot do a push notification when app is not open?
Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
But only if you set a security flag to "allow anything to be installed". I want a security flag that says "allow apps from sources signed by the following keys", where I can import app store keys from the app store(s) of my choosing. So I'm still protected, as long as I trust those app stores that I import.
That has changed somewhat recently (android O I believe?). Now, when an app tries to start an installation, Android will bring you to that app's setting page where you can toggle an option "Allow this app to install other apps" or something along those lines. It's a lot more straightforward than it used to be. That said, auto-updates are still not possible without root access, I believe.
If anything, new Android is killing termux, one of the best apps for devs:
https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/wiki/Termux-and-An...
Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
>...the US government of the last 10-15 years doesn't have the same viewpoints on anti-trust that they did 20+ years ago. The Nintendo NES came out in 1983. Didn't they have control of all apps allowed to run on their machine? They weren't charged with anti-trust violations.
They weren't the only gaming system. There are 2 phone ecosystems today and that's the central device in most people's lives, the phone is a bigger deal.
Sega vs Nintendo, which shortly after Sony enterred the game became Nintendo vs Sony, then Sony vs Microsoft
Duopolies seem to be a natural state
Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can someone remind me why there is an "app store" that is run by the phone OS maker? Aside from the anti-trust/monopoly type issue, should there be a more market healthy de-coupling between the place I buy my apps and the OS maker? Monopolies are almost always bad for consumers. I kind of chuckle when I think about how Microsoft had such a huge battle over IE being integrated into Windows, and now we sort of accept a…
The "why" is because the creator of the OS can lock down the system to only allow apps from their own marketplace. The "why is this not being discussed as an anti-trust violation like Microsoft was hit with" is because the US government of the last 10-15 years doesn't have the same viewpoints on anti-trust that they did 20+ years ago.
The US government didn't go after MS over IE bundling. That was the EU. The US targeted them over anti-competitive contracts forcing manufacturers to pay for licenses on systems without a MS OS installed.
Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
The "why" is because the creator of the OS can lock down the system to only allow apps from their own marketplace. The "why is this not being discussed as an anti-trust violation like Microsoft was hit with" is because the US government of the last 10-15 years doesn't have the same viewpoints on anti-trust that they did 20+ years ago.
>...the US government of the last 10-15 years doesn't have the same viewpoints on anti-trust that they did 20+ years ago. The Nintendo NES came out in 1983. Didn't they have control of all apps allowed to run on their machine? They weren't charged with anti-trust violations.
This is actually a really interesting parallel. Like Apple/Google, Nintendo also became successful in part by tightly regulating their console in response to a quality problem previously caused by more open platforms[1].
The comparison breaks down somewhat though when you consider the size of the NES market (61.91 million units sold) vs. smartphones (1 billion+ sold). Nintendo, and the whole gaming market, may have just been too small for the justice department to pursue anti-trust charges.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System#...
Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
The "why" is because the creator of the OS can lock down the system to only allow apps from their own marketplace. The "why is this not being discussed as an anti-trust violation like Microsoft was hit with" is because the US government of the last 10-15 years doesn't have the same viewpoints on anti-trust that they did 20+ years ago.
>...the US government of the last 10-15 years doesn't have the same viewpoints on anti-trust that they did 20+ years ago. The Nintendo NES came out in 1983. Didn't they have control of all apps allowed to run on their machine? They weren't charged with anti-trust violations.
> The Nintendo NES came out in 1983. Didn't they have control of all apps allowed to run on their machine?
They didn't.
The security of the consoles from that era was based on trademarks. The hardware would refuse to execute software unless it could find the manufacturer's name at some predefined memory location. Since these were trademarks, game companies had to obtain permission in order to use them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_v._Accolade
The judges ruled that people had every right to reverse engineer existing games and produce compatible software for those consoles regardless of the manufacturer's wishes. The trademark violations were the manufacturer's fault since they made it necessary for games to work.
The world was a much better place before the DMCA.
Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
How are app stores on Android technically hindered? I thought except the additional step for installing them, there is no difference in ability?
A 3rd-party application store can't update apps silently to name one, the user has to approve every app update one by one.
At least for fdroid you can update apps silently. You need a rooted device, flash [1] and install the f-droid privilege extension [2].
[1] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged...
[2] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.fdroid.fdroid.privileged...
Re: Google bans my events app for referencing Covid-19, or related terms
#100Slightly different topic, but Google also suspended our company's adwords account, I believe for using keywords related to COVID-19.
The business is an American manufacturer that added capacity to manufacture PPE to make up for the lack of Chinese supply. Since we were supplying direct to the market, the prices of the PPE were in-market from before COVID times, or cheaper. We weren't out to make a killing, just to fill up some manufacturing time and help folks out. We had the equipment, the people, the facility.
However, we didn't have a great way to reach people who needed it - healthcare was not our normal industry - so we decided to put it up on Adwords.
Within 24 hours, the account was suspended. We appealed it (thinking it must have been a mistake), and a month later, they told us they reviewed it and maintained the suspension. We told them we were only promoting PPE to help people in health care find supply and they didn't care. We've never had suspension issues before.
The whole experience left a very negative taste for Google. With their extreme dominance in market share for advertising, they no longer need to cater to customers' needs. (Maybe they care if you're a multimillion dollar customer, but certainly not if you're an everyday SME manfuacturer.) And there's not a lot of alternatives to turn to for that type of advertising. There was no recourse, no discussion, no reasoning. Just the Google blank wall.
We wound up manufacturing lots of it anyway to hospitals in need, but Google actively tried to stop distribution of American-made PPE during the pandemic.