does this kill F-droid? can you build apks outside of google play and sign them with Google Play CA?
Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
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Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#942Every 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
The question really isn't whether we should be able to modify computers we own, its whether we own them at all.
The thing is most people do not want to mess with computers. They are terrified they are going to break them. Frankly they are not wrong. I spent yesterday just trying to get a div tag to flow correctly with all the objects around it, a whole day down the drain. I have a pretty good idea what I am doing. However, for others these things we call computers are inscrutable devices that just 'decide' to do something wrong. We have built this https://xkcd.com/2347/ and expect everyone to be cool with it. Most people most certainly are not, and are willing to give away whatever just to make it easier to use, and not randomly screw up. Apple and Google can take whatever they gave away now because well most people really do not care. The rest of us can pound sand for all they care. We effectively have a duopoly and they are acting exactly in the manor of that.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#943I think this might backfire in that it might be enough to prompt technical people to seriously start looking for alternatives. I personally will be extremely unhappy if I no longer can run dns66, newspipe or Firefox with ad blocking on my phone. I think I might also start spending less time on my phone, which would be a good thing for me and a terrible thing for Google (in aggregate of course).
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Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#944If this is a thing then the solution they offer is incorrect. A big giant red screen: “warning the identity of this application developer has not been verified and this could be an application stealing your data, etc” would have worked. What they want is to get rid of apps like YouTube Vanced that are making them lose money (and other Play Store apps)
> What they want is to get rid of apps like YouTube Vanced I think it is also very telling where they're rolling out first. Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore. It felt weird that the official press release was quoting entities from these countries, as if it should give confidence to the rest of the world. I can't imagine what these countries would want with apps that can be traced back to a government id... V…
>Vanced and such is more of a First World/Western issue
What? I'm from Brazil and Vanced is as big, if not bigger here. In fact, most of my 'first world' friends just pay for YouTube Premium (or whatever it is called), and these kinds of workarounds are mostly used in countries with less purchasing power.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#945They saw Apple getting away with notarization under the DMA so they're doing the same. I must admit the mass demotivation strategy is working really well. Seeing this kind of news every single day, affecting you directly and not even being able to do anything
@hollow-moe do you have a reference to "Apple getting away with notarization under the DMA"?
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#946The 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…
Are you being intentionally obtuse?
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#947Meaning to use your device you need to have a contractual relationship with a foreign (unless you are in the US) third party that decides what you can or cannot do with it. Plus using GrapheneOS is less of an option every day, since banks and other "regulated" sectors use Google Play Protect and similar DRMs to prevent you from connecting from whatever device you want. Client-side "trust" means the provider owning th…
It doesn't even matter if it's foreign or not, it's a matter of who owns the thing: you buy a smartphone or you buy a service that allows you some use of said smartphone? Fuck services.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#948Meaning to use your device you need to have a contractual relationship with a foreign (unless you are in the US) third party that decides what you can or cannot do with it. Plus using GrapheneOS is less of an option every day, since banks and other "regulated" sectors use Google Play Protect and similar DRMs to prevent you from connecting from whatever device you want. Client-side "trust" means the provider owning th…
> Maybe it's time for a third large phone OS It's been that time for years . But it's easier said than done. The closest we've currently got are the various phone-targeted Linux distros out there. But they're not quite ready for serious usage for me; at least not on the Pinephone. Still, that's where to put your time & money if you're serious about wanting a change.
The thing is making a smart phone is hard. You need experienced and knowledgable embedded engineers to design every aspect of the phone. You need people who are knowledgable about RF and know how to go about regulations in various countries. You need software engineers to build up a whole operating system from scratch and probably do that multiple times as the available technology changes. Not to mention create an entire production line to fabricate the parts and assemble them.
And while efforts like Pinephone are good, they don't have the VC or talent to really make that a reality anytime soon on a massive scale. Most efforts in this space are open source which is great but doesn't really pay anything. People with these skills can easily work at any phone OEM and make good money. So I think it will take a massive company to do it. Maybe Microsoft wants to give it another go haha. Amazon has tried multiple times to make this a reality but it's just cost so much money and time that they keep shutting it down.
I don't have any answers, for something to become viable is has to appeal to the average consumer and getting to that point is like crossing a mountain.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#949Meaning to use your device you need to have a contractual relationship with a foreign (unless you are in the US) third party that decides what you can or cannot do with it. Plus using GrapheneOS is less of an option every day, since banks and other "regulated" sectors use Google Play Protect and similar DRMs to prevent you from connecting from whatever device you want. Client-side "trust" means the provider owning th…
realistically, the end point for moderately tech savvy folks is going to a be two-device setup. one cheap phone for basic communication , all the corpo stuff like banking and shirt-and-tie social media + a wifi hotspot. then a second "practical use" device that uses the hotspot, that you fully control and do your tinkering with. edit: coming to think of it, teaching people to have a device for the "clean stuff" and s…
You make it sound like a bad thing! That's pretty much already where I'm at, and is in fact exactly what I want. My smartphone is for messaging and a handful of apps from major vendors (Google Maps, Youtube, 1Password, etc.) It shouldn't ever crash, have nagging software updates, require tinkering, etc., just like my microwave and washing machine. And for tinkering, I've got my Mac, my little Linux NAS, a variety of Linux handheld devices, etc.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#950The 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…
Why would someone use Kindle?