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No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app

tommorris.org

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Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app

#41

Post by fauigerzigerk »

And most apps require permissions that have very little to do with the purpose of the app. Here's what the BBC news reader for Android wants:

THIS APPLICATION HAS ACCESS TO THE FOLLOWING:

HARDWARE CONTROLS

CHANGE YOUR AUDIO SETTINGS

Allows the app to modify global audio settings such as volume and which speaker is used for output.

NETWORK COMMUNICATION

FULL NETWORK ACCESS

Allows the app to create network sockets and use custom network protocols. The browser and other applications provide means to send data to the internet, so this permission is not required to send data to the internet.

PHONE CALLS

READ PHONE STATUS AND IDENTITY

Allows the app to access the phone features of the device. This permission allows the app to determine the phone number and device IDs, whether a call is active, and the remote number connected by a call.

STORAGE

MODIFY OR DELETE THE CONTENTS OF YOUR USB STORAGE MODIFY OR DELETE THE CONTENTS OF YOUR SD CARD

Allows the app to write to the USB storage. Allows the app to write to the SD card.

SYSTEM TOOLS

PREVENT TABLET FROM SLEEPING PREVENT PHONE FROM SLEEPING

Allows the app to prevent the tablet from going to sleep. Allows the app to prevent the phone from going to sleep.

Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app

#42

Post by retrogradeorbit »

coffeemug wrote: post #4
lutusp wrote: post #2

It's a strategy to dismantle the Web, which had the "disadvantage" of being simultaneously free and a level playing field, and replacing it with a loose network of fiefdoms, each a walled garden (a term often used to describe Apple in its entirety). Most of these apps are advertising delivery mechanisms masquerading as utilities. Another role they have is to prevent copying of content or links from one fiefdom to ano…

> It's a strategy to dismantle the Web Dismantling the Web isn't anybody's strategy (making money is), but in any case, it's a poor strategy nonetheless. One of the most important things I've learned is that all other things being equal, convenience always wins. A strategy that makes things less convenient for consumers is a losing strategy.

"Dismantling the Web isn't anybody's strategy". How do you know? Have you read the mind of every human alive?

Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app

#45

Post by angryasian »

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #41

And most apps require permissions that have very little to do with the purpose of the app. Here's what the BBC news reader for Android wants: THIS APPLICATION HAS ACCESS TO THE FOLLOWING: HARDWARE CONTROLS CHANGE YOUR AUDIO SETTINGS Allows the app to modify global audio settings such as volume and which speaker is used for output. NETWORK COMMUNICATION FULL NETWORK ACCESS Allows the app to create network sockets and…

All these are sort of explainable, Hardware and Audio is to allow the user to control volume or widgets for feeds and multimedia.

Network access is usually reserved for multimedia

Phone Calls - status - is usually because if you receive a phone call any multimedia knows when to stop

storage - to store things to your sd card or move the app to your sd card

prevent from sleeping - if you're watching a video you don't want the screen to sleep.

Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app

#46

Post by rimantas »

Amusing that a rant like this reached #1 spot. Take worst case scenario, darken colors a bit more and then make a generalized conclusion on "web vs. apps". Why do you even look at it as web vs. apps? Are we still fighting radio vs. tv vs. movies vs. theater?

If your app is nothing more than webview loading the same content, it is stupid. To see each app as a threat to "open web" even more stupid. To pretend that web tech is always superior… well, that just shows you don't know much about either web tech and native frameworks.

And you know what? It is not that app developers want to kill web, it's the opposite—some web devs want to kill apps "before it is too late". I have no idea, why. This is sad, really, and even more sad when prominent figures in web world start spreading FUD, sometimes even presenting it as "disspeling myths". How about putting your insecurities aside, take a deep breath, spend some time thinking what the web is and what it is good for, what an app is and what it is good for and act accordingly?

Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app

#48

Post by retrogradeorbit »

twoodfin wrote: post #35
lutusp wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see your point, but if this were true, then cell phone service (another walled garden of separate fiefdoms) would gradually get better instead of worse. But it's getting worse.

Huh? As far as I can tell, cell phone service is getting better at a good clip. Were you routinely getting 10-20 Mbps of bandwidth three years ago? I wasn't.

My experience (in Australia) is not this. Sure, the number they write on the advertisement keeps getting bigger. But my mobile phone on Telstra CDMA circa 2001 was orders of magnitude better at making voice calls than my 3G Android phone today. It was a gradual decline. As the years went by, and I "upgraded", the quality of the phone call aspect of the device just went down and down and down. The computing and data aspect has got miles better, but the voice call 'feature' is now what I would consider broken.

I feel they are focusing on the data networks over the voice networks and phones are now computers, and all I really want is a reliable, robust voice call device, but I suppose I am not "the market" and the market wants shiny bells and whistles and apps that download content. Who makes calls anymore? I do.

Re: No, I'm not going to download your bullshit app

#49

Post by kamkazemoose »

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #41

And most apps require permissions that have very little to do with the purpose of the app. Here's what the BBC news reader for Android wants: THIS APPLICATION HAS ACCESS TO THE FOLLOWING: HARDWARE CONTROLS CHANGE YOUR AUDIO SETTINGS Allows the app to modify global audio settings such as volume and which speaker is used for output. NETWORK COMMUNICATION FULL NETWORK ACCESS Allows the app to create network sockets and…

I'm not an expert on Android permissions, but those seem reasonable to me. What permissions do you have a problem with, and what should they replace it with, or do you think is totally unnecessary?
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