61–70 of 151 posts
"Allow Markeplace from Epic Games" Wow.... This is a small step in installing an app, but a giant leap for digital freedom. I hope that non-UE citizens can achieve this goal by the end of the decade, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.
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This isn't a good faith argument. When considering competition for X, the alternative should do at least most of the things that X does. It's not realistic to expect a drop-in alternative, but the user, I think, can't be expected to turn their life around, just to use the alternative, either. If this would be the case, then a SIM-enabled Windows notebook would also be competition for the iPhone. If the offerings diff…
> If this would be the case, then a SIM-enabled Windows notebook would also be competition for the iPhone. Can that SIM-enabled Windows notebook do phone calls using the cell operator network (that is, not over the Internet)? If not (that is, if it uses the SIM only for data), then it's not an iPhone competitor. The "smartphone" category (which is where all iPhone competitors reside) requires being both "smart" (that…
To change to the Librem 5, I would need to:
- change the way I communicate with all of my friends and family by using SMS over the _only_ method used in much of the world - WhatsApp.
- be excluded from context surrounding many social gatherings due to not being in group chats.
- change the way I travel with very, very different navigation apps that lack turn-by-turn directions.
- stop using social media when on the go - mobile websites often lack many features, if they even exist.
- accept significantly reduced quality photographs of memories, especially in low light.
- meticulously acquire local files for tens of thousands of songs I have organised in Spotify playlists for over a decade, and totally change the way I discover new music.
- lose Shazam and apps like it, so I’ll forever be wondering “what was that song I liked…?”
- entirely change from the mobile-only bank that I use (and, even then, suffer the atrocious UX of most online banking).
- change from the convenience of Apple/Google/etc. photos to setting up Syncthing, my own NAS, and making sure it keeps running and never goes wrong.
- become stranded when public transport stops running at night, as I can’t get an Uber, or try to get a normal taxi at 3am. I’m not even sure they exist where I am.
- carry a wallet, or at the very least my cards, with me for the first time in 9 years.
Unfortunately, the duopoly is well-entrenched, especially for those born after 1995 or so and outside the US (SMS is very, very rarely used in much of the rest of the world). You could tell people that there are plenty of workarounds - I listed many above - and some sacrifices to use a Linux phone, they should try it! But then they would ask “why?” and you’d be hard-pressed to give any reason they care about.
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You change your phone every year? Because I have this Android phone sitting on my desk for development. When I bought it it was almost as responsive as iPhones (and much cheaper). 4 years later the UI is a lagfest [1]. Meanwhile, my iPhone XS is over 5 years old and almost as responsive as on day one. And I have major version OS updates to blame for the "almost", while the Android one got one major update and was lag…
> You change your phone every year? Because I have this Android phone sitting on my desk for development. When I bought it it was almost as responsive as iPhones (and much cheaper). 4 years later the UI is a lagfest [1]. As a counter anecdotal evidence: I bought my current Android phone before the pandemic started (that is, more than 4 years ago), use it daily, and it's as responsive now as it was when I first used i…
That isn’t the case with an iPhone
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"Oops, an inadvertent unavoidable accident meant we broke the functionality we didn't want but were forced to add!"
The problem here is with the Epic Store website and not with Apple
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> You change your phone every year? Because I have this Android phone sitting on my desk for development. When I bought it it was almost as responsive as iPhones (and much cheaper). 4 years later the UI is a lagfest [1]. As a counter anecdotal evidence: I bought my current Android phone before the pandemic started (that is, more than 4 years ago), use it daily, and it's as responsive now as it was when I first used i…
This is the problem many have with android - there’s a massive difference between different handsets That isn’t the case with an iPhone
What data does the epic game store has access to if you install it? Does it show clearly which data each app collects?
They’re still iOS apps executed in the same sandbox and notarized by Apple. It’s not like they can suddenly read more data from your device just because you downloaded the binary from Epic’s S3 bucket instead of Apple’s S3 bucket. Of course Apple would like you to have a vague feeling of fear, uncertainty and doubt about third party distribution. The truth is that the only extra layer of defense provided by Apple’s A…
The sandbox does not prevent iOS apps from accessing private APIs and accessing data from the OS that wouldn't be available typically. And after all these years there is still no way to curtail the power of Objective-C dynamic dispatch.
It is one of the main things that the App Store process checks for.
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uBO already runs on iOS. Orion is compatible with Firefox and Chrome extensions. The lack of extensions in mobile browsers is a sign of Mozilla's decay, not a sign of Apple being unnecessarily restrictive. They also don't care about you having extensions on Android; their most recent redesign left Android Firefox users without extensions for months. Mozilla is an ad-supported company from every angle: Pocket, search…
> Orion is compatible with Firefox and Chrome extensions. What's Orion, and is it compatible with normal desktop Firefox and Chrome extensions, or with the mobile ones? > The lack of extensions in mobile browsers is a sign of Mozilla's decay, not a sign of Apple being unnecessarily restrictive. Agree with Mozilla's decay, but there's also a Chrome for iOS and that doesn't have uBlock Origin either, does it?
> What's Orion
A web browser, using the same Webkit as everybody else on iOS, with support for browser extensions.
People give Apple too much flak for the mismanagement or warped incentives of browser vendors. Lack of extensions in existing browsers isn't their fault to any degree.
> and is it compatible with normal desktop Firefox and Chrome extensions, or with the mobile ones?
There's not a separate spec for "mobile" Firefox extensions and desktop browser extensions. Google WebExtensions. It's an open standard that desktop Firefox follows and that Chrome almost does.
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There are more Steam gamers on Linux than there are on MacOS (2.08% Linux vs. 1.37% Mac)[0]. Gaming is pretty dead on Macs. [0] https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Softw...
The question wasn't "is it dead" but "will it recover"? And sadly I think not. I'm certainly not going to buy ports of years old games on the app store where they're expensive and mac exclusive when i can get them multiplatform and for much less on Steam - if I haven't already finished them years ago. Death Stranding lol. I preordered that on launch. And I use one x86 box, one PS5 and two Macs. I'm just not uninforme…
But yet you think Apple is responsible for Steam pricing ?
"Allow Markeplace from Epic Games" Wow.... This is a small step in installing an app, but a giant leap for digital freedom. I hope that non-UE citizens can achieve this goal by the end of the decade, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.
How's the EU only iOS? I stopped updating at 17.3.1 because I had a feeling it will be buggy in the beginning. Is it safe to use it now?