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Keep Android Open

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671–680 of 764 posts

Re: Keep Android Open

#671
post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it reasonable that installing software is behind an "advanced flow" what ever that means? I find it not very reasonable at all that the only way to install software on my phone is by jumping through hoops. I don't think it reasonable that the Play Store is the only portal. I don't even find it reasonable to call installing software "sideloading". Downloading and installing software from a vendor's page has bee…

It's not the screen size, it's the demographic shift. By 2000, only half of U.S. households had a shared living room PC, mostly for work and/or games. Everybody having a phone in their pocket later was a change that we did very much have to account for. Non-technical people can be scammed very easily into life-ruining mistakes with a little social engineering and a little bit of access to powerful tools already on th…

> Now people bank with real money on their phones.

Maybe the real solution here is not to. Pay cash when you can (better privacy), else use a credit card. Other types of "banking" such as sending wires is best done on a big screen anyway. The idea that everything can and should be done on a phone is terribly misguided.

Re: Keep Android Open

#672

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But unfortunately, it turns out that some people you interact with aren't actually your friend. That guy that seems totally legit and just wants your sister to install his fun little game/app that he wrote is actually trying to get her to install an app that's going to track your location and read all your messages and copy all your photos. To keep her safe from the "actually" bad people, of course.

> That guy that seems totally legit and just wants your sister to install his fun little game/app that he wrote is actually trying to get her to install an app that's going to track your location and read all your messages and copy all your photos. Is "that guy" in the room with us right now?

No. Thankfully the FBI caught them and they're in prison now.

Re: Keep Android Open

#673
+1000

I donated a few $100's to the petition.

With 23,623 (as of today) signatures I doubt anybody really cares, and we'd all rather be cheeple doing the tech companies' bidding as long as we can flop on our couches and consume.

Clearly Google wants to make money off their monopoly (created in part from initial openness) and they are disguising it as some security/safety enhancement bullsh*t. Shameful!

My main question: I chose Android over Apple because of the extra freedoms it affords me. When that goes away, what reason do I have continuing with Android?

Re: Keep Android Open

#674
post #594

I want Google as an app, not OS. Hear me out. Imagine an open device where you can run Google as just another sandboxed app. Inside, they can exert all the control they want. My bank and government can force me to use Google. Then, at least I control my hardware and my OS. It's just nasty to have your device and OS controlled by an antagonistic entity. I see this in people why have used antagonistic software for deca…

GrapheneOS is as close as you can get to something like this.

No, PureOS is closer.

Re: Keep Android Open

#675

[flagged]

> Android sideloading should be the same

In fact we should not even call it "sideloading", as if we are sneaking anything in "from the side". It is simply installing something I like on a device that I own.

My device can warn me about security consequences and let me be the one who decides what to do (with my device).

Re: Keep Android Open

#676
post #608
post #557

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, gnu/Linux is nowhere near usable as a daily driver mobile device for 99% of the population. Besides having terrible battery life and security, it's just a hobby thing. Android has had millions of dev hours poured into it to be what it is.

In the 90s, you would have said the exact same thing about linux on the PC. Free software ultimately has time on its side. As long as a project has enough mindshare to keep its momentum, it really is unstoppable in the long run.

Linux desktop on the PC also sucks.

Where Linux shines is the absolute for-profit cloud/server world.

Open source has places where it works really nice, bazaar is better at "wider" stuff (having an active community, etc), while cathedral is more deeper/better at vertical integration, etc.

Re: Keep Android Open

#677
post #592

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hilarious example to use, because that literally is an effort that’s underway. Thousands of people get scammed and have their lives ruined every year, so deprecating passwords is absolutely the right move

Yeah, no. The actual solution is 1. Stop requiring computers/phones for everything. Your 91 year old grandma isn't going to make her way through your super cool very intuitive 2FA magic link email confirmation system, and I don't WANT to make my way through your super cool very intuitive 2FA magic link email confirmation system. 2. teach the people who need to use computers, how to use them.

I never said anything about 2FA magic links? We can do much, much better via things like FaceID integrated passkeys, and probably further steps from there.

> Stop requiring computers/phones for everything.

Ah yes, that sounds straight forward. Let us know when you’ve deployed that to prod.

Re: Keep Android Open

#678
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Party B owes you nothing. You are free to not use their products or start a company to compete. When 99% of government/banks/etc require you to use a certain service to access basic services, you need some way of ensuring you don't have to sell your soul to use it. Alternatives would be really great, but Google is part of a duopoly. Just because you build the rails doesn't mean you get to decide who gets to use the…

That is not their fault, though. I can see how you could complain to the people who mandate you use B’s products. Otherwise what you’re saying is that control of any intellectual property can be stolen from its owners simply by becoming popular outside of their control

Not really stealing their IP, just putting limits on how much they can shaft their customers. If they don't like it, they can leave the EU, and others will take their place. It's like saying your company is losing its railway tracks if people of the wrong colour are allowed on the trains that run on your tracks. There's no need to get hysterical.

Re: Keep Android Open

#679

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uhh yes - when 90% of adults worldwide have moved to smart phones - yes you are the Luddite. Email is for old people has been a meme for two decades https://www.techdirt.com/2007/11/15/email-is-for-old-people/

You can get email on your smartphone. No, it's cool tho, worry about being "hip" and enjoy the authoritarian surveillance state that you are enabling because you've been indoctrinated to want "new thing" and to reject "old thing".

Yes because email is a secure way to send information…

Re: Keep Android Open

#680
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless these different Android flavors all have the resources to indefinitely rewrite AOSP and remove all Google code they don't agree with - no, they pretty much have to adopt the changes (see the earlier Chromium example). And if they do somehow manage this after a point all the patching basically becomes a fork, which is exactly what I started the conversation with.

I think is good to extract the value of billionaire companies, why not use it?

Because they're not stupid and will use you instead. See: Google and XMPP story.
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