Devs say Apple still flouting EU's Digital Markets Act six months on

I disagree that the choice is simple.

In reality there are only two mobile operating systems where there is any hardware to purchase in my town. These two operating systems are the only mobile devices where my bank (and as far as I am aware other competing banks in my area) offer banking on.

There are many variables that goes into the purchase of a mobile phone, the App Store is only one of many. Google is marginally better at allowing side-loading or alternative stores, there is a degree of flexibility in hardware choices and so on. But on the other hand I trust Apple more (absolutely not fully, mind you) with regards to general privacy for example. This privacy protection in conjunction with significantly better movie recording compared to Android are the two primary reasons I stay on iOS.

But at the same time, I am highly critical of Apple’s conduct here. And because it is effectively impossible to vote with my wallet I am voting with my vote so that politicians enact policies that allow me to use my devices the way I want.

Alternatively, GNU/Linux phones can be used. But not all banks support them, of course.

All the while Android users - or at least those on the Samsung Galaxy sub-ecosystem - are happily downloading free, as in open source, software from alternative sources like F-Droid (https://f-droid.org/), Obtainium (https://obtainium.imranr.dev/), Accrescent (https://accrescent.app/), and even can access the main app store through a more privacy friendly way using Aurora (https://auroraoss.com/) - although with the latter you will probably break a license agreement you never read anyway, so fuck that.

That, and:

* Customization is better -- Apple has nothing like Good Lock, which is developed AND officially supported by Samsung,

* AI is better -- And Samsung even gives the choice to run AI features completely locally on your phone -or- in the cloud,

* Features for power users are all around better -- As a example did you know Google built a freaking virtualization service which allows you to run a full Linux operating system, with an complete KDE Plasma or GNOME UI on top of Android? Well, now you do. Super fun feature to have on a phone. Even more super fun feature to have on a tablet.

And then there's DeX -- at least on the Galaxies, as long as Google is working on the built in desktop features for the next Android release.

And for those times you quickly want or need a Linux shell you can launch Termux (https://termux.dev/en/).

Most notably and importantly: for all these things you don't have to root or jailbreak ANYTHING... They work completely out of the box -- Although you can get a scary sounding warning when downloading stuff from outside the Play store, but if you really understand and can deal with the consequences this can be easily solved using a toggle button.

How Apple keeps managing to drive themselves and their developer ecosystem completely in the ground still is completely baffling to me. And that comes from someone who really used to love Apple, back in the Jobs era (Got the first iPod, iPhone, iPad, and first Intel MacBook Pro to prove it).

PS: Because lots of people got super pissed about Google abandoning sideloading on Android they walked back on their initial decisions and it will keep working for the foreseeable future

Give people an inch and they will want a mile. I hope Apple resists these bullies who feel entitled to use all the hardwork Apple put into building their platform.

Samsung is so good that… https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46123747