81–90 of 245 posts
It's a very small concession. The high initial friction still means when someone comes to me with a problem and I tell them the solution is in F-Droid, they have to wait a day. Most give up and pick a different, less trustworthy solution from Google Play.
Do you have to wait a day, or do you have to set your clock forward a day?
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I do (re-)root my phone (after each update I have to flash the Magisk-modified boot.img again), but FWIW almost nothing needs root on Android, it lets you do way more by default than iOS. I think some people equate jailbreaking and rooting when there's not really a jail to begin with. You can install a custom ROM without having root and I think that's what most people really want to do. Cleaner base system, maybe som…
I agree you might not need it, but the issue is one of principle. I want it because I might need it. I don't want to find another OS that supports root if I realize I need it. Just how I may be OK with staying at home for months with deliveries and internet access and everything else provided for me, but I want the freedom to go outside. There is rarely anything I need that's outside, to be honest. And outside is mor…
I think it's completely reasonable to want to be able to get root on your device. For the exact reasons you mentioned. GrapheneOS allows that.
To actually do so, it's reasonable to have a reason. Otherwise what you're doing is basically running commands with sudo "because you can", which will bite you.
To have a rooted phone just for the sake of the trophy of having a rooted phone is something generally considered worse. Better to have a rootable phone, which you root if or when you have need of it.
We hereby grant you a conditional right to install software on the device you "own", subject to conditions, and terms, but only under certain circumstances and only so long as it pleases us. Modern handheld computing is such a shitshow...
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Don't you know? If one elderly person gets scammed we all deserve to be infantilized.
Ok, but the vast majority of people do need their hand held because they're incompetent, naive, or both. IMO this is pro consumer move
This way, consumers are helpless victims of the same megacorporation, which will use its near-absolute power over the mobile ecosystem (shared with one other megacorporation) to profit on the back of consumers.
None of the comments here seem to discuss or even mention how this situation looks from googles perspective? I feel like HN readers are not aware of the scale of the problem they face or their motivation behind these changes. If you look at the rate of growth of the call/text scam industry I think it's entirely possible that android owners are getting scammed out of more money than google themselves makes on the andr…
I mean maybe you're even right and they care a little bit about people being scammed. But if you believe that the scamming thing is any more than a pretense for further establishing Google's absolute control over the Android ecosystem, that is just very naive.
Their goal is to make money. Apps installed outside of Google mean less money for them. Ergo, consumer's right to install what they want on their devices must go.
None of the comments here seem to discuss or even mention how this situation looks from googles perspective? I feel like HN readers are not aware of the scale of the problem they face or their motivation behind these changes. If you look at the rate of growth of the call/text scam industry I think it's entirely possible that android owners are getting scammed out of more money than google themselves makes on the andr…
There is no win . They are winning 50-0 and they just scored an own-goal; so what?!
step 1: make situation very bad step 2: make situation tiiiny amount better step 3: proclaim this as "a win" ...really?
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Given the Epic settlement means Google is allowing alternate app stores, and also the delay only applies for unregistered developers, I'm not certain it won't actually get easier to get folk set up on F-Droid. It still remains to be seen what the actual requirements are, and even if F-Droid could become "approved" that doesn't mean they want to. Time will tell.
Why the hell should we "mother may I" with Google for running apps on our own phones if it isn't sourced from the Play Store? The "security" rationale is horseshit given just how much malware is readily download able on the Play Store. Google never cleans its own house before going after others.
Basically, Google needs an answer when men in suits ask them why they have technology that enables users to install sanctioned Iranian banking apps.