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Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

danfitdegree.hashnode.dev

291–300 of 340 posts

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#291
post #25

As a scientist, I often have to deal with similar BS of a reviewer misunderstanding a submitted journal article, literally insisting we do something we already did, and explained in the paper. I try to just own the fact that I didn't make my explanation clear and visible enough, so I just submit an updated version along with a comment like "We thank the reviewer for pointing out that we didn't clearly articulate our…

A comment added that he should just have added ,,Report objectionable content''. On the screenshot there was only a ,,Report'' button under blocking user.

I think the person who submits the app underestimates how much heat Google can get from advertisers and people for the content itself.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#292
post #119

And this is why we need to cherish the web. I see no reason why a yoga app can't be done on the web. I do know that apps tend to convert better, if only we could bridge that gap. It's in particular troubling how much of this madness we've internalized to just accept. The idea that you need to resubmit a 100 apps because Google decided you need to target a different internal version number is insane. It would be very…

> And this is why we need to cherish the web. We implement our apps with an offline mode which offers everything, but because you have to manually bookmark them on your phone home page, it is too much to ask for users and they forget. So they download the app from a store. If we had something that an online app can indicate it has a fully offline mode for the browser to pick up, it could ask ‘download for offline and…

On android/chrome, offline mode works regardless of whether the user bookmarks a page. (It's possible that if the phone needs to free up space, then whether the page is bookmarked or not plays a role in whether that page's offline data gets deleted.)

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#293
post #277
post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cos users want mobile apps. When Roam research and Obsidian launched, one of the biggest thing people were ranting about was that their lack of mobile apps. Simple. Google also is dominating the browser market. Not to mention, I see Manifest v3 as something in this direction. They just don't have the exact amount of control they do in Play store is all. So my question is, how long are you gonna run?

The problem with Obsidian was that you couldn't use it on your phone at all. If they had had a hosted version with a mobile friendly web interface, i don't think a mobile app would have been neccessary

Same for roam.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And this is why we need to cherish the web. We implement our apps with an offline mode which offers everything, but because you have to manually bookmark them on your phone home page, it is too much to ask for users and they forget. So they download the app from a store. If we had something that an online app can indicate it has a fully offline mode for the browser to pick up, it could ask ‘download for offline and…

On android/chrome, offline mode works regardless of whether the user bookmarks a page. (It's possible that if the phone needs to free up space, then whether the page is bookmarked or not plays a role in whether that page's offline data gets deleted.)

Yes, but then users have to remember in their bookmarks or something and when opening a browser without WiFi working, it often gives you a miserable message. We did testing ourselves and we had very bad experiences with the app actually still being there on the phone after switching off WiFi.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#295
post #240
post #14

Is there any large group representing App developers that could manage the large-scale negotiation and legal wrangling required to force Apple and Google to be more helpful when rejecting legitimate applications? When I worked in Google (Ads, then later in Recommendations for Play and youtube) people often said this was intention to avoid teaching spammers how to get around the rules. But it's clear there are enough…

IANAL, but isn’t that group called “the court system”? This person is stuck in google’s kangaroo court, but they should just switch venues as soon as the apps are removed and sue google for damages. They can demonstrate google materially impacts their business and is acting in bad faith. Going through google’s legal department is probably going to quickly get the result they want.

Didn't work very well for Epic (v Apple). While the law might force their hand, it may just end up in a lose-lose situation (the most likely outcome).

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#296
post #124

Stay off Google. Stay off Apple. Stay off Facebook. Stay off Amazon. Stay off Microsoft. Stay off Reddit. Stay off Twitter. Stay off Adobe. Stay off Salesforce. Stay off Oracle. Stay off Sony. Stay off eBay. Stay off GoDaddy. Stay off PayPal. Stay off Etsy. Stay off Steam. Stay off Comcast. Stay off RCA. Own your platform from the bottom to the top. If your business model requires you to rely on one of these companie…

What about passing a law that if your company is whatever this big at providing services, automatically enforcing that they need to behave as a utility company.

At this point, even Walmart, CVS, etc... should be treated as a utility company. the moment you got a big chunk of the economy depending on you, company lost ability of stop providing services, unless a court case is involved.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#297
post #8

This whole app store thing with Apple/Google is BS. Imagine if your car could only drive to locations approved as safe by the car manufacturer, and they could auto-ban your Grandma's house with no recourse.

There needs to be a way to have 3rd party app stores on these platforms. Tired of the private platform argument. Google/Apple works hard to crush viable competition. It's time for laws to be written to step in and fix this.

Thats why most of the Apps i download are from F-Droid

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

Outside of the US, where people seem to have licked some lead paint or huffed glue when learning about unions, developers often do unionise or join an appropriate trade union. Why? Its a form of insurance. Your Union will provide legal cover in the event of a dispute with your employer (eg: wrongful termination), legal advice, representation if you are dealing with say, HR department, and are super useful when engagi…

> Think of union dues as a small fee you pay to retain a legal team for employment problems.

I can see the benefit of this if you have absolutely no negotiation skill or even the option to negotiate (i.e. you’re an easily replaceable entry-level worker and your conditions of employment are “take it or leave it”, and you can’t really “leave it”), but in my case, I’m ready to walk at basically any time.

And if I’m ready to just walk away at virtually any time (as a highly skilled professional with more than a decade of experience), I hold all the cards I need for negotiation.

Wouldn’t I be more trouble for the union than I’d be worth?

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#299
post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But there might be alternate approaches that allow for more freedom. For instance, what if Google assessed the risk level of each app and presented that to users, rather than blocking publishing entirely? They could add all sorts of scary warnings in-between a user and a suspicious looking app, but eventually still allow both users & app developers to proceed if they have sufficiently high intent. They could even mon…

> They could add all sorts of scary warnings in-between a user and a suspicious looking app That's a nice looking app, would be a shame if it had a big scary warning on it. If they did that, they would rightfully be accused of running a racket.

They currently block some apps from publishing altogether. Is that not worse?
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