Uncomfortable Questions About Android Developer Verification

Post by fsflover » Wed, Aug 27, 2025, 7:59 AM UTC

preisschild wrote: post #91

teekert wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it so complex to have a foss mobile OS. I only have Linux PCs (laptops) and servers, 100% of my work and personal stuff is done there (though for work I do need to hop into MS365, Google Workspace, Zoom, etc, hooray for browsers, my final firewall between me and the walled gardens, though we can have a whole discussion on that). For mobile, we have PostmarketOS, Phosh, Ubuntu Touch. I really must try living in…

> For mobile, we have PostmarketOS, Phosh, Ubuntu Touch. I really must try living in them, is it on me? IDK, our government even has an identity app for iOS and Android. I should not be using it, I should stick to web. But its so much more convenient. I'm just weak, aren't I? Don't forget GrapheneOS, LineageOS and other de-googled FOSS Android Versions

Post by fsflover » Wed, Aug 27, 2025, 8:04 AM UTC

opan wrote: post #99

microtonal wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is 'easily' solved by following the Apple road - focus on one or two devices. I think many FOSS enthusiasts would be happy to buy such devices. (I am holding out hope for the phone that the GrapheneOS project is planning to make.)

Are you aware of the PinePhone and Librem 5? As others have said, it's already been tried. I bought a PinePhone, and after a few too many show-stopping issues (not being able to receive a call for a scheduled job interview was the last straw), I went back to using LineageOS without gapps. I'm not a developer either, just a fairly technical user, so when the device wasn't working, all I could do was report bugs, and t…

Post by AnonymousPlanet » Wed, Aug 27, 2025, 8:05 AM UTC

p0w3n3d wrote: post #34

qalmakka wrote: post #33

This is intolerable. You own the device. You must be able to run whatever you want on it. Locking or limiting your access to the stuff you bought is not only unacceptable, it's basically like saying you don't really own anything. You're basically leasing a device until the OEM decides you can't run anything on it anymore. Would people accept if a car manufacturer prohibited you from driving their cars in certain plac…

Meanwhile: VW is already limiting horsepower when the yearly subscription is ceased to be paid It's already happening. The greediness of vendors, the ignorance of users...

Post by Citizen8396 » Wed, Aug 27, 2025, 8:06 AM UTC

timeon wrote: post #59

sschueller wrote: post #2

The requirement of verification to side-load any app is fascist control. It is clear as night and day. Shame on Google and Apple, it was always clear this was the end goal and next up is also your PC. Right after will come the removal off apps they don't like and there is nothing you can do about it. Stallman was right

> next up is also your PC Already starting on macos. Gatekeeper had setting where you could allow any app. Now it is removed. While still possible to allow individual app (you need to do it after every OS update), trajectory is now clear.

Post by fsflover » Wed, Aug 27, 2025, 8:10 AM UTC

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #139

simoncion wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To continue with the text of the rest of the section (with the footnotes present in the original removed): If you run a nonfree program on your computer, it denies your freedom; the immediate wrong is directed at you. That does not mean you're an “evildoer” or “sinner” for running a nonfree program. When the harm you're doing is mainly to yourself, we hope you will stop, for your own sake. Sometimes you may face grea…

Thanks, I wasn't trying to cherry pick or anything. But I don't think that the full text changes the substance of what is laid out in the first couple of paragraphs. The FSF (and by extension Stallman) refrains from calling the user names if he chooses to use nonfree software, presumably because they recognize that freedom must include the freedom to run any software at all, even if they consider it harmful. But they…