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GitHub Should Start an App Store

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241–250 of 319 posts

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#241
post #70
post #32

> They already host source code of millions of apps. Release integration should be trivial to implement. Release integration is trivial for anyone. It's the easiest and most irrelevant part of the app stores. > Unlike Google they actually listen to their users. They were awesome during youtube-dl debacle. And controversial on others, like shutting down Popcorn Time's repository. As any other, they'll listen if there'…

>This is situational and opportunistic. It can change any day. In fact, managing an important app store is exactly one way to re-(un)-balance this relationship. I agree. Sorting huge, multinational, publicly traded companies in friends and enemies list is so obviously bogus and immature that it baffles me that this is so prevalent. Microsoft is not your enemy. It's not your friend (unless you're one of the shareholde…

>It's profit driven and amoral. They'll always line up with whatever they believe will maximize profits because that their entire reason for existing.

That's both unfair, and quite frankly lets companies like Boeing off the hook. Executives get paid egregious amounts of money to set the direction of companies. Yes, some do focus solely on profit and it's generally obvious when they do. Some focus on making customers happy at nearly all costs. And there is everything in between. Of course management at all those companies believe their approach will make the company money, but plenty aren't solely focused on maximizing profits, I'd argue MS included.

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Samsung security, privacy and general software qualify are all a joke as far as I can tell and it’s amusing anyone would put them in even the same ballpark as Google. Dog bites man is not news, and neither are most of the Samsung software travesties ranging from software supply chain debacles to TV spying to data breaches. Nobody even cares in the tech community because no one expects anything of them.

We were just talking about privacy, in that sense I think Samsung is roughly at the same level (considering it can't get much worse than Google :) ). I think Google is doing a good job with their Pixel phones indeed in terms of security, though they need longer support IMO. Samsung seems to just call everything 'knox' but not really specify what exactly they're doing. So from a security point of view I agree.

> considering it can't get much worse than Google :)

What? It can get way worse than Google. For all the privacy invasive things that Google does it’s one of the least bad. Unlike most companies that collect data it doesn’t directly sell user data, and it has a good history of avoiding security vulnerabilities that leak data.

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget about the shady and underhanded ways to prevent you from making a local account for a new installation of Windows. The first screen you see asks for a WiFi password, and I assume that it is going to start downloading updates in the background. Instead, it prompts you to enter an email address for a Microsoft account. The "Learn More" button says that you can make an offline account later, but right now t…

What kind of version did you try to install? I never had this bullshit on PRO versions, but I'm connected through cable tho.

This was on a home edition, pre installed on a new Lenovo laptop. Looking it up, this happens on all Home versions, but hasn't yet spread to Professional.

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> hone manufacturers like Samsung are in a much much better position to try. And indeed they have been trying an failing. Samsung is bothering me. I have an S8 and they want to replace all the standard Google apps - including the basic text messageing one - with Samsung equivalents. It's not clear why and I haven't gone looking. It feels like they're just trying to displace Google and be another company reading my m…

Samsung isn't much better than Google on the privacy side. They're just replacing all the standard apps to make them more in line with OneUI in terms of UX. But things like Samsung health send data home too unfortunately. They are stepping back from cloud services a bit now and letting Microsoft step in, also not privacy driven but more financial I think.

> Samsung isn't much better than Google on the privacy side.

Samsung is vastly worse. Consider off the bat that South Korea has wildly different (read ‘permissive and lax’) laws about police and government access to stored data.

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#245

I think this is a really really bad idea. No more app stores. As a developer, app stores have always seem totally stupid to me. I remember when computers were actually things that you felt like you owned completely. Now, your computer is owned by people that run app stores. Github still seems like it's a company that understands its role as an intermediary. It hasn't yet tried to take over the world like everyone els…

YOU felt like you owned your computer because you're a tech nerd, software developer, or similar.

That is not the feeling a "Wild West" environment gives to 99% of people using these devices. It is much closer to Russian Roulette than anything else.

Killing app stores would paradoxically dramatically shrink the market for software and cause massive consolidation on the developer side. The big players with big budgets and marketing clout would survive but it would devestate most others and shrink the overall market by 40-50%. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why by applying the same principles folks on HN use every day to optimize customer acquisitions, increase ARR, etc. When every app asks for your credit card (and they would) you automatically shrink the funnel dramatically. That doesn't even begin to consider all the scams, subscriptions you can't actually cancel, or malware that deliberately subverts sandboxes or plays silent audio to continuously run in the background to kill your battery.

There's a natural incentive if stores compete for developers: reduce commissions. The end result of that is get rid of review or any other quality control standards because those things cost money. The large players won't participate because they'll want to keep everything for themselves. You can forget about anything that improves privacy or makes your life easier as an end user.

For end users the bar to jump through all those hoops and take on the security and financial risks will be much higher. They will buy less software.

It amazes me how quickly some of my fellow nerds will fall into the same myopic traps over and over without consideration for the other 99% who aren't computer experts. And without consideration for what it takes to actually run and be successful in business. Just because it would be more convenient for them personally.

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#246
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's pushback on another app store from Microsoft because nobody wants more walled gardens. The pendulum has shifted, and it's swinging towards PWA. Per Microsoft, Outlook is now a progressive web app. App stores are dying - they're just going to take a bit to timeout.

>>The pendulum has shifted, and it's swinging towards PWA Didn't Firefox recently announce they're discontinuing PWA features?

Unfortunately, the pendulum is also swinging away from Firefox.

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#247
post #32

> They already host source code of millions of apps. Release integration should be trivial to implement. Release integration is trivial for anyone. It's the easiest and most irrelevant part of the app stores. > Unlike Google they actually listen to their users. They were awesome during youtube-dl debacle. And controversial on others, like shutting down Popcorn Time's repository. As any other, they'll listen if there'…

> This is a minor but users will be able to raise issues I don't think people understand what an average (and below average) cell phone user is like. Just read some of the App store reviews (fraction of the people that use apps actually write reviews). This pipe-dreaming would come crashing down from being a minor issue to major, the wrath of an average user is insane.

This is my favourite example of why letting random users send in complaints is bad: https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2016/11/14/i-have-toyota-corola/

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#248

Or we could just stop using app stores. Honestly, I've yet to find an argument for the existence of an app store that holds water. Let people install what they want. Provide reasonable paths to update and upgrade and cut out the middle layer. The layer of control that Google and Apple exert over people is anti-competitive. But the answer isn't competing app stores. I don't need someone to tell me what I can or can't…

all you need to do is look at the windows ecosystem vs the linux one to realize how important a software hub is. windows is a place where people download random one off pieces of software that may or may not be safe, will likely never be updated, and will sit and rot on your computer until the end of time, and are entirely unvetted whereas linux maintains all of your software for you, keeps it frequently up to date,…

> until the end of time

This is exactly the reason app stores should be banished! I want explicit control over my software and I don't want it to update without my explicit consent. There's a trend recently in desktop software to remove features / settings in favor of a simplified mobile-first design, and too often a version from 5 years ago is better than today's.

I want to keep my software forever. Due to hardware improvements, my copy of Photoshop CS4 works even better now than it did 12 years ago when I bought it. You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands if you want me to switch over to an Adobe CC subscription.

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#250

Or we could just stop using app stores. Honestly, I've yet to find an argument for the existence of an app store that holds water. Let people install what they want. Provide reasonable paths to update and upgrade and cut out the middle layer. The layer of control that Google and Apple exert over people is anti-competitive. But the answer isn't competing app stores. I don't need someone to tell me what I can or can't…

all you need to do is look at the windows ecosystem vs the linux one to realize how important a software hub is. windows is a place where people download random one off pieces of software that may or may not be safe, will likely never be updated, and will sit and rot on your computer until the end of time, and are entirely unvetted whereas linux maintains all of your software for you, keeps it frequently up to date,…

I tend to agree. An app store isn’t a prerequisite for the operating system sandboxing apps from each other, managing permissions, and providing a consistent installation and update experience. It’s only a prerquisite for anti-competitive behavior by phone/OS vendors.
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