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Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

9to5google.com

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Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#303

Post by yupyupyups »

sneak wrote: post #301

Stallman warned us. https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html

He was unable to suggest any pragmatic alternatives. He just said "I don't own a smartphone", ignoring the fact that many people become very disadvantaged without one.

The real heroes are the people that facilitate alternatives, not those who talk.

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#306

Post by chmod775 »

wvenable wrote: post #174

I predict Windows will end up going this route before Google backtracks on it. This is the future; partially fuelled by malware, partially fuelled by the desire for platform control, and partially fuelled by government regulation.

> I predict Windows will end up going this route before Google backtracks on it.

It will not happen in the next 10 years. Right now people would just make generic launchers and then use them to manually load and execute any binary they please. Options include just writing your thingy in a scripting language and run it in node.exe, python.exe, or compile it to WASM, use native bindings of a scripting language, abuse a random verified electron app, ship with and use a random vulnerably driver, etc etc.

Even remotely getting to the point where locking Windows down to that degree would be possible is going to take MS a long time, fighting friction from users all the way. The whole ecosystem would have to change drastically for that sort of control to even be possible and make sense.

The holes aren't really there because it would be so hard to close them in a vacuum, they're there because decades of software people use rely things working the old way. People aren't going to switch to a new OS on which almost nothing works anymore.

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#307

Post by tensor »

r1ch wrote: post #173

This is the same direction that Microsoft is taking Windows. Smart App Control is already rolling out to some regions - no .exe will run without a code signing certificate. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/develop/smart...

I really wish Microsoft made it cheaper to get a certificate. With Apple you pay $100 a year for any number of certs. Last I looked into it a cert for a single Windows app costs $400+ per year and requires a hardware token.

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#308

Post by beeflet »

marcodiego wrote: post #200

How did we let this happen? Oh, yes... Actually I remember: it was a long slow series of accepting small artificial restrictions. I remember people laughing at me at the time. They said it won't matter, they didn't care, that I was paranoid... Now... Here we are.

eternal september

Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android

#310

Post by 31337Logic »

TL;DR If you're not using Linux by now, do yourself a favor and start. You could do worse than starting with Linux Mint or PopOS, but whatever you do, get ahead of the curve and transition to these user-friendly open sourced OSes. The alternative is far, far worse at the moment.
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