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GitHub Should Start an App Store

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Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#281

Post by esperent »

GlennS wrote: post #239
simias wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

> 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. If that's true, then why do brands exist? For most companies, the best way to drive profit is to build a long term relationship of trust with their customers and suppliers. Edit: this doesn't mean I'm ready to join the Microsoft/Apple/Google/Fac…

> I can see that some companies regularly behave better than others, and I'm happy to act on that reputation

This is a bogus line of thinking. For example, Apple have a very strong stance on privacy compared to FB and Google.

Does this mean they are more moral or trustworthy when it comes to privacy, or that you should trust them to remain focussed on privacy in the future?

Not at all! Their focus on privacy is a smart business model that they use to differentiate themselves from the competition. As soon as it stops being a smart model, or a better model presents itself, under the bus their focus on privacy will go. Apple being focussed on privacy right now should not be taken as them having a good reputation. They do not care about your privacy. They care about you buying their products. The same applies to all apparent "good" or "moral" behavior of any large company. It's not genuine morality, they don't care about the benefits to you or society at large. They just want you to generate money for them.

By all means, choose products from a company whose presented morality currently aligns with yours. But don't believe that morality is genuine, and don't get hooked on that company. Instead use them, just as they are using you, for as long as it benefits you, then dump them in a second when they inevitably change... Just as they would do to you.

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#282

Post by MayeulC »

zests wrote: post #191
MayeulC wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't imagine it would be fun to install anything on a pinephone. It's actually fun to do "apk add audacity" (yeah, there's also multiple gui frontends...) and have it installed and working as well as on desktop. OK, that one uses a traditional desktop interface, but it is still usable. Plug it into a docking station and use a mouse and keyboard + screen if you prefer. Okay, that's not really sideloading, especia…

If you take off the linux hobbyist blinders you will see that having to type in "apk add audacity" and getting a mobile unusable interface is a non-starter for 99% of people. Compare that to the experience of typing in to a search bar that loads suggestions and gives results with pictures and ratings and descriptions. I like the pinephone and am going to buy one myself but I'm buying it because of linux reasons, not…

Of course I have blinders on. Of course it isn't for 98% of people.

1. I did say it was usable, I am pretty sure most people could use it, although it wouldn't be a great pleasure (an personally I loathe these "addictive" mobile interfaces). One could get real work done with it.

2. I did say there was a gui for this. You don't have to type that if you don't want to. There are multiple gui front-ends with categories, descriptions, screenshots, ratings, etc. Courtesy of appstream metadata and packagekit, that both abstract away platform-specific package manager subtleties and provide "modern" store metadata.

3. This way a contrived example, there are simpler tools if all you want is record & play back.

4. "fun" is very subjective, that was part of my point.

Oh, and while we're on it, most distribution repositories are in fact walled gardens with a curated software selection (the audacity example above is part of it). That doesn't prevent you from sideloading whatever you want.

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#283

Post by hehehaha »

forbiddenvoid wrote: post #194

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…

Agreed. We can download and install things on our computers. That’s a thing still, right? I am sure we can manage to do that with our phones. Not sure how gatekeeping helps anyone other than Apple/Google at this point. The app stores, just as Amazon, have been compromised. You cannot rely on product/app recommendations. Worse yet the top results are more likely to be fraudulent.

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#284

Post by SuoDuanDao »

villasv wrote: 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'…

The natural solution would seem to be building the github store and the microsoft store differently - Microsoft store could be the quality-controlled, guaranteed by microsoft space while github store could be more like an open bazaar.

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#285

Post by esperent »

tw04 wrote: post #241
simias wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

> Some focus on making customers happy at nearly all costs.

I'm very sceptical that such a company exists (at least of any size beyond a small restaurant or similar). Can you give an example?

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#287

Post by criddell »

forbiddenvoid wrote: post #207
coconut08 wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

This argument really doesn't resonate with me. Like, if people want to download trash on their Windows computer, who am I to stop them? You can do that on your Mac and Linux devices too. People don't need to be protected by App Stores. I'm not only concerned about that, though. The standard 30% cut of revenue flowing through the app if it was downloaded from the app store is also an issue. In general, App Stores crea…

> Like, if people want to download trash on their Windows computer, who am I to stop them?

I think that attitude was fine pre-internet, but these days we are all sharing a network and there's an analogy that can be drawn with public health policies. App stores are one small part of the strategy to help reduce the number of machines that end up as part of a bot net or other similar uses.

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#289

Post by pankajdoharey »

I think instead of Depending on Microsoft, there should be a Decentralised App Store, Github too from time to time has blocked many repos. Just in 2019 they banned Developers from Iran and Syria. One cant depend on Corporations to protect our freedom. If you wanna do it right do it yourself.

Re: GitHub Should Start an App Store

#290

Post by quaintdev »

jitendrac wrote: post #94
quaintdev wrote: post #67

Author here, I am afraid my blog is hosted on a Raspberry PI and it might go down because of HN traffic. If that happens, the mirror of the post is at https://telegra.ph/GitHub-Should-Start-An-App-Store-01-31 Did not expected this to blow up. Thanks for the critical feedback. You guys are tough crowd :)

Do you Host it at Home with static IP or DynDNS?? and which internet service provider do you use? Edit:Found its BSNL

Dynamic DNS at home on BSNL Fibre. You can use ddclient to update DNS
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