1) side loading, or however it's called, is used by less than 1-2% of global Android users (we can't be more than 50 million). Google made us a favor leaving it open after an only 24h delay. It could be much worse but now it's nothing in our eternal tinkering with developer options. Thank you from me Google.
2) GMS is a huge convenience for any app developer that needs tight control, including governments. They can secure their apps against users of any hat color. Add to that the possibility of hidden backdoors to support surveillance and Google's direct lobbying in EU. This makes it very difficult to go without it, even under the current anti-US EU direction and it will be the last that will be replaced in Europe.
3) There are various levels of "degoogling". From installing a totally open OS without or with microG, to just don't login to a Google account in stock Android. It's a spectrum but someone at the free edge will never have the same rights with one in the jailed edge.
4) Developer verif is NOT to prevent ad blocking. There is a simple and free method to block anything you like at DNS level: just select Private DNS and insert an appropriate URL for ads/trackers/porn etc, eg from controld.com. Find some other justification, like tight user control to continue sleeping with the governments or reach ultimate user surveillance with the upcoming children ident.
> 1) side loading or however it's called is used less than 1-2% of global Android users (they can't be more than 50million). Google made us a favor leaving it open after an only 24h delay. It could be much worsa and is nothing in our eternal tinkering with developer options. Thank you from me Google
It's wild how far we've come, from IBM trying to lock down the PC to truly open hardware, to you now thanking Google for only mostly restricting what you can do with a device that you bought and own...
The rest of your content is just other forms of Google apologia.
This is honestly deeply disheartening... And on "hacker" news of all places...
I don't distinguish a phone from other electronic home devices I also happen to buy. I don't change their firmware for various reasons, like not worth it (eg fridge, washing machine), illegal (eg set top box or car) or impossible. Being able to even enable developer mode in Android and do anything more than designed for a regular user goes already too far in relation to the other devices. Is there any car that you can boost with tapping seven times its gas tank cap? And I am afraid it will be removed someday in the future like the bootloaders became locked one after another. PCs are another story, an open remnant from the past, that the hard and soft tech companies sweared not to leave happen the same mistake again with phones. The term "buy" and it's rights are not inherited from a PC to a phone.
I am not an advocate for the greedy tech companies but I am trying to give some rational perspective of the balance of power between them and us. If we want openness we cannot reach it with wishful saying.
From day one, Google sought to attract customers to Android by marketing it as an "open" alternative to Apple's locked-down appliance model. Android couldn't quite compete with Apple's UI polish or battery life, but that was okay because Android sought to be a hand-held personal computer that could also make phone calls. The most important quality of personal computers, of course, is that they can run whatever software their users desire, including the users' own code.
Having gained their market share, Google now pulls a bait-and-switch by quietly retreating from Android's "open" messaging and philosophy. That's too bad for Google, because a mere appliance, it's worse than iPhone in every dimension.
> I am trying to give some rational perspective of the balance of power between them and us
That should *not be a thing*.
You bought the device.
You own it.
It should be yours to do with as you see fit.
That applies to phones or appliances or cars unless your individual right to modify your devices begins to interfere with the rights of others (think: safety, tragedy of the commons scenarios, etc).
This is how we end up with cars we can't repair, phones we can't upcycle, TVs that advertise to us without our consent.
1) side loading, or however it's called, is used by less than 1-2% of global Android users (we can't be more than 50 million). Google made us a favor leaving it open after an only 24h delay. It could be much worse but now it's nothing in our eternal tinkering with developer options. Thank you from me Google.
2) GMS is a huge convenience for any app developer that needs tight control, including governments. They can secure their apps against users of any hat color. Add to that the possibility of hidden backdoors to support surveillance and Google's direct lobbying in EU. This makes it very difficult to go without it, even under the current anti-US EU direction and it will be the last that will be replaced in Europe.
3) There are various levels of "degoogling". From installing a totally open OS without or with microG, to just don't login to a Google account in stock Android. It's a spectrum but someone at the free edge will never have the same rights with one in the jailed edge.
4) Developer verif is NOT to prevent ad blocking. There is a simple and free method to block anything you like at DNS level: just select Private DNS and insert an appropriate URL for ads/trackers/porn etc, eg from controld.com. Find some other justification, like tight user control to continue sleeping with the governments or reach ultimate user surveillance with the upcoming children ident.