Nobody will do anything about it and things will continue to get worse.
Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
571–580 of 1001 posts
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#572The funny thing is Stallman started his fight like half a century ago and on regular days Hacker News shits on him eating something off of his foot and not being polished and diplomatic, and loves practical aspects of Corporate Open Source and gratis goodies and doesn't particularly care about Free Software. On this day suddenly folks come out of the woodwork advocating for half baked measures to achieve what Stallma…
Stallman actively hurts the cause with his behaviour. I'm not only talking about his eccentricities, but also the adversarial and combative language. Yes, Amazon is trying to swindle us, but few people will be convinced of that when you start your argument by calling the kindle an "Amazon swindle" every time, directly implying that anyone who has one is an idiot or even malicious. Yes, it's unfair that someone can be…
I used to 100% feel the same, but at some point I realized the problem was me, not him, in not viscerally understanding his goals. His stated goals are very clear, but the audience usually has somewhat overlapping, but nevertheless distinct goals. This is indeed at the very core of Open Source-Free Software feud. The base is almost entirely the same people, yet the ideologies are not the same, and in a very interesting way: the differences are critical to RMS's ideology, but minute to the other side. Thus, the other side thinks of a crazy guy ruining the whole thing for nothing or very little, and evaluates him as net negative for "the cause." Well, it is absolutely true, for their cause, not his.
I think his take on what compromises are valid and what aren't makes this clear: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/compromise.en.html
In fact, this particular incident, re Android, a seemingly "open" system, is a perfect example of the importance of his PoV in particular, as it illustrates that Open Source ideology would not have been enough to ensure the user is in control.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#573aside from the obvious power grab, the official announcement mentions that there were discussions about this move somewhere and they claim to receive positive feedback, can anyone point me to these discussions? I can't seem to find them anywhere
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#574I hate to break the news to Google, but this will likely be ruled illegal. The relevant German news of the court ruling that makes requiring a Google Account to use Google Services illegal:
https://www.zdfheute.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/gmx-google-pl...
Rechtsprechung (court decision of LG Mainz, 22.08.2025, 12 HK O 32/24), text isn't published yet as of today:
https://dejure.org/dienste/vernetzung/rechtsprechung?Gericht...
If you search for the Aktenzeichen ("12 HK O 32/34") you'll find other news sources that confirm this.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#575Every day we stray farther from the premise that we should be allowed to install / modify software on the computers we own. Will once again re-up the concept of a “right to root access”, to prevent big corps from pulling this bs over and over again: https://medhir.com/blog/right-to-root-access
There is no chance that we own our computers unless we figure out how to setup chip manufacturing factories at the 10 million dollar price point. Without commoditized hardware, big capital will surely be in control of software.
I can buy a computer, disable secure boot, install linux and then do w/e I want.
Same can be true for phones?
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#576Every day we stray farther from the premise that we should be allowed to install / modify software on the computers we own. Will once again re-up the concept of a “right to root access”, to prevent big corps from pulling this bs over and over again: https://medhir.com/blog/right-to-root-access
To be fair to Google, they got so much cricticism for allowing so many spam apps.
It's a tricky balance-act to secure their ecosystem.
The more measures they take to secure it while allowing the user to decide whether to participate, the more drastic this opt-out user-decision becomes.
In order to now preserve that "open ecosystem", they would have to provide the user an option to disable Google Services entirely, which would turns the device almost into a separate product
All this is unlikely to happen just for the sake of "pleasing the community", I believe we need a general legally binding definition of what functions the user owns if (and when) a device is stripped of any services on top.
If my car loses functions once it loses connection to the manufacturer, this bare set should be communicated as the purchased value ("in exchange for your money"), separately from any on-top "in exchange for your data" business-model
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#577The reason I chose the Android ecosystem over the Apple ecosystem, once I found out that the Maemo/Meego ecosystem was a dead end and the Openmoko ecosystem was a non-starter, is that the Android ecosystem allowed me to develop and install my own apps on my own devices whenever I wanted to, without arbitrary limitations like having to periodically plug the phone into my computer to renew some authorization. Additiona…
> without arbitrary limitations like having to periodically plug the phone into my computer to renew some authorization I find it easier to do a git commit once every 89 days and see my app auto refreshed through Testflight for me and anyone else I care to let use it. If you look at the build system SaaS pricing or even IDE pricing on Show HNs here, the Xcode cloud build and distribution ecosystem is an absolute stea…
> the Xcode cloud build and distribution ecosystem is an absolute steal at $9 a month. Private Testflight (with no review) can be more convenient than that desktop cable.
I genuinely can't tell whether this is sarcasm or not. Are you seriously comparing a 9$ per month plan Vs simply plugging your phone or syncing an app file wirelessly?
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#578Things done 'for the sake of security' often conflict with a vast majority of good actors that benefit from the so called 'threat'.
In general this is a backwards step for the ecosystem.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#579> Google will begin to verify the identities of developers distributing their apps on Android devices, not just those who distribute via the Play Store This is absolutely unacceptable. That's like you having to submit your personal details to Microsoft in order to just run a program on Windows. Absolutely nuts and it will not go as they think it will.
> will not go as they think it will. How will it go? Where are people going to go? People who draw a hard line on this can’t go to iOS for more freedom. Linux phones aren’t ready for prime time. So what’s left? Going back to a flip phone that doesn’t even have the capability of running apps in the same class?
I'm going to be buying Apple from now on. If I have no choice and I have to be in a walled garden, I'm going with the best dammed walled garden on the market.
This isn't even going to be some sort of an ideological decision. It's simply the intelligent choice.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#580If your businesses idea doesn't work without you being evil, you deserve to go bankrupt. I perceive a tendency to assume it is necessary for a company like Google to maintain full control over our ecosystem to further our progress and maintain order. However, we should know by now that this isn't the case. You don't have to be evil to be useful. See GNOME, GrapheneOS, Steam, KDE, Wikipedia, Linux or Mozilla (previous…
It's so funny to me that they think that forcing power users to cave in is going to bring in more money. Heck I will stop paying for Google Workspace and move my shit to Apple rather than pay for YouTube premium or watch YouTube ads.