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Google have declared Droidscript is malware

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Re: Google have declared Droidscript is malware

#101

Post by marcus_holmes »

Aperocky wrote: post #33
eplanit wrote: post #25

It's seriously time to re-embrace the idea of ownership and control of our devices, and reject Android and iOS altogether. Developing for those platforms has become worse and more restrictive over the years, and this kind of crap is now just everyday news. How good are Pinephones[1]? Are there better alternatives? [1] https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/

Maybe it's just time to see phones as what they are - a phone. I don't really care what software is ran in my truck, as long as it works (And that's why I'll not buy a Tesla). It's a phone, use it to call text and guide and browse some internet. That's it.

I uninstalled all social media from my phone. I feel so much better.

I use it for chat apps, phone calls (usually via chat apps), and occasionally wandering around Imgur when it would be socially awkward to not be on my phone.

The rest of the time I've come to appreciate being present in the moment.

So yeah, I'm looking at the new generation of Linux phones with interest. If I can run the chat apps in a browser OK, then I think it might work for me.

Re: Google have declared Droidscript is malware

#102

Post by lainga »

AlwaysRock wrote: post #45
teamspirit wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think one day there will eventually be a class action lawsuit filed against one of these companies for their opaque customer response process. How did it get this way? How did we allow it and for so long? I really don't know. Here we are, the community involved yet somehow this method of customer [non]interaction grew out from underneath us. *spelling edit: fire -> for

What are you going to do? Stop using Google products? Good luck.

I could... take my travellers' cheques to a competing resort...

Re: Google have declared Droidscript is malware

#103

Post by wzdd »

ajross wrote: post #14
blakesterz wrote: post #2

I had to go look to see what this was: "DroidScript is an easy to use, portable coding tool which simplifies mobile App development. It dramatically improves productivity by speeding up development by as much as 10x compared with using the standard development tools. It’s also an ideal tool for learning JavaScript, you can literally code anywhere with DroidScript, it’s not cloud based and doesn’t require an internet…

Time for one of these again. So... having read through their marketing material, this is an on-device tool that opens up what appears to be most of the Android application API to at least the user of the device, and potentially to any Droidscript applications they grab from other sources, and... maybe to other apps on the device? It's not clear from a quick read how extensive the runtime control is. So just right out…

> this is the kind of app that would never have been legal at all on any version of iOS.

Pythonista is a complete Python programming environment which provides access to camera, music, contacts, the network, and so on, and has been available for iOS since 2016. What specifically distinguishes Droidscript from Pythonista such that you think Apple would reject Droidscript?

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pythonista-3/id1085978097

Re: Google have declared Droidscript is malware

#104

Post by tomjen3 »

AlwaysRock wrote: post #45
teamspirit wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think one day there will eventually be a class action lawsuit filed against one of these companies for their opaque customer response process. How did it get this way? How did we allow it and for so long? I really don't know. Here we are, the community involved yet somehow this method of customer [non]interaction grew out from underneath us. *spelling edit: fire -> for

What are you going to do? Stop using Google products? Good luck.

I run firefox and use DDG.

Re: Google have declared Droidscript is malware

#105

Post by FredFS456 »

pdkl95 wrote: post #73
nromiun wrote: post #26

> We don't allow apps with any code that could put a user, a user’s data, or a device at risk. If Google thinks the ability to execute arbitrary code puts users' data at risk why don't they go the full iOS route and ban everything, from scripting apps to other JS engines beside Chromium? I am so sick of their behaviour, the only reason I am still on Android because things like F-Droid still exists and iOS is even mor…

>> "Can't you just make us a general-purpose computer that runs all the programs, except the ones that scare and anger us? Can't you just make us an Internet that transmits any message over any protocol between any two points, unless it upsets us?"[1] The War On General Purpose Computing continues. Far too many business models depend on selling general purpose computers as "appliances". They presume it is possible to…

There's nothing wrong with the appliance business model - embedded devices that use microcontrollers are Turing complete and yet no one complains about those. It's only when devices are marketed as general-purpose (i.e. smartphones, PCs) but are locked down to prevent running arbitrary user-loaded code that it becomes a problem.

Re: Google have declared Droidscript is malware

#106

Post by danans »

Aperocky wrote: post #97
fmajid wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe it's just time to see phones as what they are - a phone. Maybe it's time to call phones what they really are: pocket computers with a legacy voice call functionality that is increasingly irrelevant to anyone who isn't a Boomer. Now, regarding the locked-down of both iOS and Android ecosystems, I can see both points of view. The majority of ordinary users need to be protected from increasingly sophisticated ma…

> pocket computers with a legacy voice call functionality I don't necessarily agree with this, because this is the direction that everything is moving towards. It is so much cheaper to embed an SOC into everything that needs some form of automated/assisted control. Not necessarily a good thing, but that's what is going to happen regardless. Your fridge can become a pocket computer with refrigerating capability - but…

> Your fridge can become a pocket computer with refrigerating capability -

Only if you have huge pockets ;)

Re: Google have declared Droidscript is malware

#107

Post by Aachen »

ddtaylor wrote: post #43

Google bans thing. Ban gets attention on HN and a few other social media sites. Google unbans thing. Repeat.

Not just Google, also Microsoft and others (see youtube-dl).

The question is how we can break the cycle in favor of hackers rather than in favor of big corporations.

Re: Google have declared Droidscript is malware

#108

Post by Aachen »

ZiiS wrote: post #36
thisisjustmine wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have a subscription model and ads which are not allowed on FDroid. FDroid also requires the software to be opensource.

FDroid do allow subscriptions and ads. They label them 'AntiFeatures' which is not as bad as it sounds; many people will still happy install the App. However FDroid to strictly insist all code is free and open source; this dose mean you are rolling your own Ad and Subscription libraries.

Correct. Newpipe on f-droid has the anti-feature of promoting a nonfree network service (YouTube) but that doesn't mean people don't install it or that it's banned from f-droid.

Re: Google have declared Droidscript is malware

#109

Post by indymike »

ajross wrote: post #14
blakesterz wrote: post #2

I had to go look to see what this was: "DroidScript is an easy to use, portable coding tool which simplifies mobile App development. It dramatically improves productivity by speeding up development by as much as 10x compared with using the standard development tools. It’s also an ideal tool for learning JavaScript, you can literally code anywhere with DroidScript, it’s not cloud based and doesn’t require an internet…

Time for one of these again. So... having read through their marketing material, this is an on-device tool that opens up what appears to be most of the Android application API to at least the user of the device, and potentially to any Droidscript applications they grab from other sources, and... maybe to other apps on the device? It's not clear from a quick read how extensive the runtime control is. So just right out…

Interpreters are problematic as they all are for executing what amounts to arbitrary, un-vetted and unsigned code. Weather or not to allow them should be up to the user and it is. Google is saying here, if you want this, you'll have to sideload it.

Re: Google have declared Droidscript is malware

#110

Post by Calamity »

arp242 wrote: post #82
eplanit wrote: post #25

It's seriously time to re-embrace the idea of ownership and control of our devices, and reject Android and iOS altogether. Developing for those platforms has become worse and more restrictive over the years, and this kind of crap is now just everyday news. How good are Pinephones[1]? Are there better alternatives? [1] https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/

The biggest problem with "alternative" platforms is just the lack of app support. I used to have a Nokia N9; great phone. But it didn't support WhatsApp and I was out on the loop on the WhatsApp chat all my other coworkers were in. Then there's things like banking apps, flight check-in apps, food ordering apps, dating apps, etc. etc. Can you do without those? Sure, of course. But if I want to order food where I live…

Unless PWAs really took off, in which case, you wouldn't need to develop for the custom linux phone - you would just need a supported browser.
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