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The Amazon Appstore for Android devices will be discontinued on August 20, 2025

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Re: The Amazon Appstore for Android devices will be discontinued on August 20, 2025

#171

Post by axus »

snotrockets wrote: post #166
scripturial wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In google play the purchaser information is mostly privatized and hidden from the developer. I assume Amazon is the same. The only way a developer would know a person is an existing user is if they have a user sign up process inside the app itself.

Using android.content.SharedPreferences, set one singaling the user purchased a license from the Amazon copy of the app, read it from the Google Play app. It is doable, the main issues is: 1. Getting users to redownload the app from the Play store 2. Maintaining this registration transfer mechanism

I think issue #1 is a big one, how to download a paid app without paying for it? Not everything is freemium.

Shattered Pixel Dungeon was a good example of me paying on one platform, and then applying the upgrade to the free app after downloading on another.

Re: The Amazon Appstore for Android devices will be discontinued on August 20, 2025

#172

Post by akho »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #111
akho wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are. Anything that is a file in an open format will outlive me (given minimal care in terms of backups). My family photos, my markdown notes, non-DRM music and ebooks, proper applications. I’d say it’s all digital things, except for a small enshittified sliver. Renting, however, does not work that way. Any DRM-protected download is a rental. Sadly, for some reason, vendors are allowed to describe it as a purcha…

> My family photos, my markdown notes, non-DRM music and ebooks, proper applications. There's no guarantee you'll be able to easily use an ebook in today's formats 50 years from now. Same for applications. You're really that confident in 50 years you'll be able to easily run x86 applications written for Windows or Mac?

> There's no guarantee you'll be able to easily use an ebook in today's formats 50 years from now.

I have no idea what “easily” means here, but I’m not unique. While these open-format ebooks remain of interest to even a small community, they will remain readable and convertable.

What makes you doubt that?

> You're really that confident in 50 years you'll be able to easily run x86 applications written for Windows or Mac?

Again, I have no idea what “easily” means here. However, my use of “proper” also wasn’t clear (I edited it down from “free software”).

“Proper” certainly implies that their runnability does not depend on the wall clock, or availability of an internet service. Yes, I am confident that I can run such programs in the future, on appropriate hardware.

(Note how the thread is about digital, not physical, things.)

Re: The Amazon Appstore for Android devices will be discontinued on August 20, 2025

#173

Post by akho »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #118
b112 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With well defined and documented file formats, and with OSS applications supporting them, they can be read for all eternity. You don't need binary compatibility. You can load a gif on any computer today, and it's old. I can view aiff image files from my Amiga still. We're already 50 years in on many formats. Where it becomes uncertain, it DRM laden, closed source applications with bespoke file formats.

1) Survivorship bias How many image formats CAN'T you read today that you could read 50 years ago? 2) Images are much much much more ubiquitous than book formats

> How many image formats CAN'T you read today that you could read 50 years ago?

I don’t know. How many?

Re: The Amazon Appstore for Android devices will be discontinued on August 20, 2025

#174

Post by makeitdouble »

nunez wrote: post #92
makeitdouble wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if you could live a week mostly the same way you do now without touching any service that pays Amazon.

The way I look at it is that boycotting Amazon is similar to boycotting petroleum. Petroleum is in the supply chain of everything that we use, but energy companies would definitely feel the impacts of everyone getting EVs. AWS is everywhere, but Amazon Retail is a separate entity and would definitely feel the crunch of even 30% of its users deciding to shop elsewhere or cancelling Prime. (I cancelled my Prime members…

Not disagreeing, but I see a gap between the reason and the means of the boycott.

On petroleum, my main beef is not the chemical but how most behemoths managing the market are screwing with our health and the planet. There is an alternate world where BP is not a bunch of psychopaths and we have stronger environmental regulations.

In that respect, getting electricty from BP instead of oil from BP isn't that much of a difference in my book, I don't believe they manage their solar farm better than their oil tankers.

That's the lens I see for Amazon: if we're pissed at them because they killed their App store, does keeping AWS customers afloat really help on the moral standpoint ?

I know we can't stick on principle on everything, I just see the very point of the boycott to be very blurry and not reaching it's target.

Re: The Amazon Appstore for Android devices will be discontinued on August 20, 2025

#175

Post by makeitdouble »

dowager_dan99 wrote: post #161
develoopest wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> any service that pays Amazon If we go literal with this, it gets far more complicated counting Amazon web services

It's not reasonable or effective to delve into the private supply chain, IMO. Don't let perfect be the enemy of better.

You're choosing to avoid Amazon on moral principles.

It's kinda relevant that these principles only apply to services that have the Amazon logo, and not where more than half of Amazon's profit is coming from.

Hypothetically you might be bringing more business to Amazon through any of their AWS customers than by buying your USB cables on the storefront.

PS: I don't have a good answer to this, but boycott and "vote with your wallet" kind of actions have became a very complex thing IMHO.

Re: The Amazon Appstore for Android devices will be discontinued on August 20, 2025

#176

Post by genewitch »

dangrossman wrote: post #164
malfist wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There needs to be some recourse here. Amazon isn't going bankrupt and closing business. They need to honor their customer commitments. After all, earn trust and customer obsession are two of their leadership principles

I'm surprised they're not just refunding all the purchases. I thought Amazon was still that kind of place. When they discontinued Amazon Cloud Cam in 2022, they sent out a replacement Blink camera for every Cloud Cam I had purchased, plus a year of free Blink service. This was 5 years after I had purchased the cameras, and they made no commitment to them working forever.

2022 was before the end of the ZIRP free money train (the one that let most companies we know and love "acquire customers" by just loss-leadering everything against 0% loans sort of thing) at least i think my timeline is consistent internally. Either way, those days are over for now.

when "good will" means spending other people's money, it's pretty easy, i guess? something infrastructure development something

Re: The Amazon Appstore for Android devices will be discontinued on August 20, 2025

#177

Post by genewitch »

ryandrake wrote: post #139
malfist wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There needs to be some recourse here. Amazon isn't going bankrupt and closing business. They need to honor their customer commitments. After all, earn trust and customer obsession are two of their leadership principles

Even if they did go bankrupt, it's ridiculous that apps bought through that store would suddenly stop working. The mobile software industry way too closely ties applications to these "stores." Imagine if Ace Hardware went out of business and then suddenly my drill and hammers disappeared or stopped working!

John Deere and at least one of the major tool manufacturers is working very hard on legally disabling your equipment that you own. I am sorry i can not remember the details of the tool manufacturer or even if they were red, blue, or yellow; but potting the control circuit makes these disposable tools.

Re: The Amazon Appstore for Android devices will be discontinued on August 20, 2025

#178

Post by genewitch »

malfist wrote: post #125
michaelt wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they'd gone bankrupt, the employees had all lost their jobs, the shareholders got wiped out, the CEO's stock options were worthless, and burly men were carting the office's aeron chairs to the auction house - that would be a different matter. Wiping out customers' purchases when you've got $100 billion in the bank, though? Kinda a dick move.

Ha! The thought of Amazon splurging for aeron chairs for it's workforce made me chuckle

those brown plastic folding chairs or a concrete bench is what i'd reckon.

Re: The Amazon Appstore for Android devices will be discontinued on August 20, 2025

#179

Post by beretguy »

rerdavies wrote: post #132
eschulz wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, don't have high expectations for things you pay for but don't own. It's a sad truth, but I've accepted it (I also bought some dvds in 2024 which is something I never thought I'd do again).

Not sure about DVDs, but CDs weren't designed to last longer than 10 years. Most of my CD collection has physically rotted. Because I was using Windows Media Player and iTunes, I ripped most of collection in M4A format, which, at the time, was better than MP3. A couple of years ago, I decided that I wanted to re-rip my CD collection (some 200 odd CDs) in FLAC format instead of m4a format (don't ask). And some signifi…

Completely unrelated and misleading comparison. A proper comparison to the issue with apps is if Amazon employee would walk into your house and physically destroyed CDs. CDs rotting is a force of nature, not corporate greed/incompetence.

Re: The Amazon Appstore for Android devices will be discontinued on August 20, 2025

#180

Post by genewitch »

michaelt wrote: post #137
jorvi wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If MS Music was losing money with no hopes of ever turning a profit, why should they continue to operate a charity music service subsidized by all of the other MS businesses that are making money? Microsoft could make a deal with, say, Apple. They check each Microsoft Music (Xbox Music? Zune Music?) account for total spend, and give people an iTunes gift card for nearest total amount. Negotiate a bulk pricing deal…

Exactly. When Google shut down Stadia they refunded all purchases - both games and hardware.

google needs that good will for how many of their products they nuke
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