Basing something around a Google OS isn’t really an alternative to big tech. Given the reaction I’d expect if a Microsoft Open Source project was the basis of an “alternative to big tech”, I don’t see why something with a Google pedigree should be treated differently.
Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem
41–50 of 182 posts
Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem
#42I’m just thinking that the name is an invitation for Big Entertainment (in particular, LucasFilm, owned by Disney) to sue for trademark infringement since they have a trademark on “droid” (I remember seeing billboards for Android phones sold under the name “droid” back around 2010ish that had footnotes acknowledging the trademark and the licensed use of the term).
Don't jynx it! ;)
It would not surprise me if Disney lawyers simply have never heard of F-Droid. Given that they were willing to go after the image of Spider-man on some deceased boy's grave stone, it would not surprise me if they at least demanded some disambiguating language from F-Droid, that is if they don't outright ask them to cease and desist. Hopefully they realize it isn't worth their time.
Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem
#43At this point the access points and the global data and surveillance system is too complicated and interconnected to dis-intermediate the access point and the network itself That is to say you cannot even connect to IP addresses unless you’re already part of the global whitelist for APs Try yourself. Get a VPN and then connect from certain regions and to won’t get very far and you’ll be slooooow You’ll say, oh, that’…
It all depends what your privacy threat model is. There are very few organisations capable of identifying the human user behind a Mullvad connection with a VM. If you're worried about local law enforcement or advertisers it's probably enough.
Isp often sell data, ip can be deanonymized by buying data from different data brokers and triangulating the ip.
Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem
#44[flagged]
Isn't this just an android distro though? So just supporting the Google side.
I think it’s just alternate app distribution on existing devices.
I get it that you have to choose one or the other, and it does make sense since f-droid has a bunch of open-source apps available already.
They just need to work on the hardware and operating system now
Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
> passed regulations forcing big tech companies More Euro governance, bleh.
That's a pretty reductive take. Is the European Court of Human Rights "More Euro governance, bleh"?
I'm not gonna claim to know much at all about the ECHR, but this compliance graph from Wikipedia makes it look like a symbolic institution, but one that is largely ignored/ not really respected? Especially given that it's a declining trend, it seems like they may just be doing more and more political theater type stuff instead of "real" work. Anyway, it seems like it could somewhat reasonably fall under "governance bleh" depending on who you ask.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Compliance_with_all_compl...
Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem
#46F-Droid still has some big tasks in order to be useable for the general public, when comparing it with e.g. Google Play Store. For example, if you search it for "browser", Firefox will not show up because A) It's called Fennec B) The F-Droid search seems to be exact infix search, and Fennec's title is "Fennec F-Droid -- Browse the web", in which "Browser" does not appear, only "browse". So it doesn't find it. In gene…
That sounds like they don't even deploy something as basic as Solr to drive the search :/
Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because European governments are passing/have passed regulations forcing big tech companies to open up their platforms. (it’s also taking funding from the EU, doesn’t necessarily mean they’re forced to cater only to EU citizens but the combination of these two factors means it makes sense to)
> passed regulations forcing big tech companies More Euro governance, bleh.
Have a look at what the Digital Markets Act is, before you judge.
Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem
#48F-Droid still has some big tasks in order to be useable for the general public, when comparing it with e.g. Google Play Store. For example, if you search it for "browser", Firefox will not show up because A) It's called Fennec B) The F-Droid search seems to be exact infix search, and Fennec's title is "Fennec F-Droid -- Browse the web", in which "Browser" does not appear, only "browse". So it doesn't find it. In gene…
Use droidify a alternative fork of fdroid
Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem
#49F-Droid still has some big tasks in order to be useable for the general public, when comparing it with e.g. Google Play Store. For example, if you search it for "browser", Firefox will not show up because A) It's called Fennec B) The F-Droid search seems to be exact infix search, and Fennec's title is "Fennec F-Droid -- Browse the web", in which "Browser" does not appear, only "browse". So it doesn't find it. In gene…
Fennec is missing out if it didn't write its store description to include these keywords.
Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem
#50Basing something around a Google OS isn’t really an alternative to big tech. Given the reaction I’d expect if a Microsoft Open Source project was the basis of an “alternative to big tech”, I don’t see why something with a Google pedigree should be treated differently.
And listing microG as an opensource alternative to Google services is disingenuous.
It still uses the same Google servers to make requests, just the client is open.