221–225 of 225 posts
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This can be also phrased as: software freedom does not reach the end user. That's why GPL and AGPL exist.
it certainly touches the end user the moment they try to use the device for productivity and realize where the walls of the garden were established. But at that point maybe they're not a "user" anymore.
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For me it's banking apps, og which I have many. Some can be operated via the web but they tend to require a hardware authentication token, which is as inconvenient as carrying a second phone (each bank requires a different token or card reader). Some can be operated via the web but use their phone app as an authentication token for web access. And some don't provide full functionality via the web at all. Plus, the ap…
I can't speak to your spending habits, but if a bank exclusively operates on a single-platform native app, I'd consider that a dealbreaker for if I want to use it or not.
I opened a business account with an (at the time) exclusively mobile bank last year, because other banks took too long to authorize setup (they generally take weeks or even months), and I had a new company starting. I went with the only bank I knew where I could get set up within a few days to start taking revenue, as I had a client ready to pay from the start. It turns out that being mobile also meant they had a streamlined electronic setup process, and no visit to a branch during a pandemic. It still took a few days, as various people checked out my identity, read my LinkedIn profile to confirm what kind of business I was in, etc.
Last time I opened an account for a new company it took over a month and two in-person interviews, so the mobile bank was a big improvement.
Since then they have added web access as well, which is great, but use the phone as an authentication token, which is a bit annoying. It's not ideal, but neither are any other options I know about. Having to carry a separate physical token/reader around (or in practice, leave it at home and not have it when needed), as all the other business banks I've used require, is more annoying.
I've seen the pinephone in action and while I'd love to contribute to it, there is an immense amount of work that still needs to be done. Even the basic text editor they have for it takes a while to load up. The phone call app barely worked as well. I mean, the idea is awesome and I want it to succeed. But in order for me to put a dime up for it, phone calls have to work without question, I need a text editor of virt…
You could donate, in the hope that donating will make it get better faster (or, depending on the amounts involved, you could get an agreement that they'll use the funds to work on the specific things you care about).
But you won't donate, because they still need orders of magnitude more funding than what you can provide? Well then you're going to be waiting longer. But then, you will donate once they're good enough, which is when they no longer need your extra funding to do the work?
Edit I think I figured it out after thinking about it further.
Let's say they're at e.g. 10% of the way to towards a usable device, and you could afford to donate enough to fund 10% progress. If you donate now, 20% usable is still useless and there's no visible difference in how long until it's 100%, but donating later when they're at 90%, if they ever get there, would "immediately" result in a useable device.
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CPU standardization is already here, your iPhone runs ARMv8-A does that allow you to replace the kernel on your iPhone? What it is about android that allows you to do so is the copyleft license on the linux kernel. Chips can be locked down, and they generally are.
Yes, but I don’t understand how Fuchsia prevents pine64 to offer a Linux compatible chip. Not being able to unlock an android/fuchsia/iOS phone doesn’t really matter, does it? Either way, I was hinting at a possible liberation through the laptop/desktop/server ARM SoC market, which is certainly coming. I think x86 is “over”.
It doesn't prevent anyone from providing linux firmwares, but it takes away the reason they must do so.