Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you seriously trying to argue that all linux distros are the same except for their UI?
Are they not?
No, the package management differs between distros
Google loses EU appeal and is fined a record $4B
311–320 of 458 posts
Re: Google loses EU appeal and is fined a record $4B
#312Earlier quoted context omitted.
For example, not require that Chrome be preinstalled as the default browser on Android devices, and not require that a bundle of Google apps be preinstalled if any of them is preinstalled.
there is no way to delete safari from iphones
This news is about Android.
Re: Google loses EU appeal and is fined a record $4B
#313Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know it’s a nuance but Apple doesn’t license its OS to other manufacturers. So while Google dictates “if you use the Android OS you must bundle Chrome”, Apple isn’t dictating terms like that to another manufacturer.
Technically Google isn’t really making anyone use Play Store, either. They’re free to use AOSP and bundle their own set of apps, no? In fact, I’d argue these rules the EU enforces are counter productive. Manufacturers should fork android and band together and create their own App Store. Google will either cede their position or we’ll have a viable, growing third ecosystem.
This is what the entire ruling is about. They are not free to do so if they also sell with Google Play Services. It's the root of the entire issue is that the above requirement is in the agreements that Google has with manufacturers. The EU is striking down this type of agreement such that manufacturers will actually have that freedom.
Re: Google loses EU appeal and is fined a record $4B
#314Earlier quoted context omitted.
We really need the equivalent of jail time for companies. Clearly after a certain size, fines do not cut it. Jailing executives is too hard, so laws should exist that remove the company from a market for x years or something, like if they were in a cell.
I agree that we need better enforcement mechanisms, but I'm not sold on a "time out". What would that even mean? If you aren't allowed to participate in the Maps business for, let's say, 2 years, does that mean you cannot offer the app for download? Then everybody stays on the old version, and cannot install security updates. Or that you cannot offer it as a new install? Then people changing their phones are screwed.…
I think just making so that for the next year a set % of revenues that are associated with the product in question get fined would be fine.
Re: Google loses EU appeal and is fined a record $4B
#315Extremely interesting point in this ruling that I have never seen before and I guarantee is sending shockwaves to the boardrooms is the definition of market. In this ruling EU chose to define the market as “ Android phone manufacturers all over the world except China ”. Of course that definition is very peculiar. I was doubtful that it would stick but apparently it did. This is fascinating that a regulator can define…
The market they're interested in is the EU. So "all over the world except China" includes the EU. Defining the market as the region the governing authority has power over is nothing new: The FTC rules on the US market, the European Commission rules on the EU market.
Re: Google loses EU appeal and is fined a record $4B
#316Earlier quoted context omitted.
>The AOSP ecosystem has a healthy range of ROMs to choose from on many devices. But it's not true choice is it? It's just the same old same old with a different skin on top. Much the same as the similarly claimed 'choice' in Linux distros pretty much boils down to the same old same old collection of apps running on the same old same old collection of desktop environments. But with eleventy billion superficial skins l…
You can fork AOSP in arbitrary ways and have a pretty great OS. Most companies don't do this because they don't have any particular ideas about how to do Android's core differently - UI is one of the places where you can actually innovate and users will notice, so that's where the effort goes. But that's not Google's fault. They can't make Samsung have brilliant ideas about how to rearchitect the OS core.
>But that's not Google's fault. They can't make Samsung have brilliant ideas about how to rearchitect the OS core.
Here's one example: text editing on mobile. I'm sure I'm not the only person who finds this excruciating. Especially things like selecting text / copy & pasting etc. And, it's 2022 and we still have no 'undo' function. But, every single variant of Android [and iOS] uses the same horribly flawed text editing functionality. Do any of the eleventy-billion 'alternative' versions of Android address any of this? Of course not. It's so much easier to throw a new skin on top of the same old crap than to actually innovate and make real changes.
Re: Google loses EU appeal and is fined a record $4B
#317Earlier quoted context omitted.
there is no way to delete safari from iphones
That’s Apple’s choice as the manufacturer of the device, while Google enforces conditions on Android device manufacturers. Apple would have the same problem if they would allow other companies to build iOS devices but force Safari to be the preinstalled as the default browser AND derive ad income from the use of Safari.
Microsoft chose to have desktop browser integration as the manufacturer of Windows. That didn't protect them from fines.
Re: Google loses EU appeal and is fined a record $4B
#318Earlier quoted context omitted.
The amount of people that transfer videos/photos off of their phone to a computer by any means is absolutely minuscule.
So you think the people shooting 4K video and taking RAW pictures are posting them to Instagram? The lowest common denominator is the same reason that Bluetooth outside of the Apple ecosystem is such a shit show. Android has supported its own proprietary video over micro USB for ages before USB C became more ubiquitous. What are the chances that Android manufactures won’t cheap out and not ship with cables that can s…
people who know what shooting 4k video means or what RAW format is is probably way less than 10% of all users of smartphones.
and I am probably overestimating by order of magnitude.
Most people shoot photos and show them to their friends online. Some of them even share it through sites like Instagram and Facebook or WhatsApp and similar.
And that is where it ends for most normal people.
As long as the cable can charge the phone, it will do for the most buyers.
Re: Google loses EU appeal and is fined a record $4B
#319Re: Google loses EU appeal and is fined a record $4B
#320Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s Apple’s choice as the manufacturer of the device, while Google enforces conditions on Android device manufacturers. Apple would have the same problem if they would allow other companies to build iOS devices but force Safari to be the preinstalled as the default browser AND derive ad income from the use of Safari.
Microsoft chose to have desktop browser integration as the manufacturer of Windows. That didn't protect them from fines.
That’s not the same situation, Microsoft didn’t manufacture the PCs.