Tech giants are really going all in with the authoritarianism these days.
If I can’t find a half-way decent replacement when I have to get a new phone, I’m getting something super basic. Flip or whatever, only for emergency use. Something that’s not corrupted by google.
And that’s exactly google intention. All that “security” bullshit is to justify this.
Without something like f-droid google hopes that someone like me who despises them will be forced to use play store.
And I’m sure many of us will bend. But as for me, I’d rather go back to dumb phones if Linux phones don’t work. And google board members can stick their security on a pineapple and stick it in their ass.
With a condom of course because i want them to be safe while being fucked, just like they wish for us.
Malicious actors will still succeed in registering their apps, so the whole thing is only good for control.
Google claims that the changes are being introduced to protect users from “bad actors spreading malware and scams,”
Google Store should be closed down too, because it spreads malware and scams too.
Nearly all malware comes from the play store, given that very few people get apps from elsewhere (percentage-wise).
So what app store should one move to, in that case?
The same applies to all other app stores, there won’t be any to move to.
No? Even if you forget about AOSP, which exists and is great, F-Droid could register as a dev. It seems to be a principled stance they’re taking not to.
If you’re on AOSP, Google can’t affect you this way. You just need a portal to find APKs.
None. Move out of Android. Their dick move is deeper than just fucking up alternative stores. It’s to make sure it’s not worthy for anyone to publish outside of play store.
For your safety, of course. Nothing more at all.
Let’s invest in Linux options.
Well, I’m already running a custom ROM.
Non-Android Linux has a mobile software ecosystem problem as of last I checked.
Custom ROMs won’t be an option forever. They are going step by step, just “the tip” first to not hurt too much.
Unless people fully fork android and maintain it, but then google will make sure to break compatibility. Plus less and less phones make it possible to install custom ROMs.
The only way forward is getting rid of them. Like Linux and microsoft. “Ecosystem” will always be a problem as it is with Linux (adobe and other garbage refusing to allow compatibility), but as long as it works well as a phone, like Linux works well as a computer, then it will be fine for a lot of people and software will be made to meet their needs (and a lot of software will work as it is now, like Syncthing does on Sailfish).
It worked with desktops. It took a long time, but it did. It can work with phones if there is enough people backing it.
It will be a bumpy road again but if I can get 100% free of google as I did with microsoft, it will be worthy.
Maybe, maybe not. Periods of hardware and software lockdown have ended before.
A hard fork off of Android seems like the easier path to me if it doesn’t. Sure, they can break compatibility, but it will take a while for that to catch up with us, and in the meanwhile we can use apps and infrastructure that already exists. And Fairphone, at the very least, seems likely to continue being receptive to whatever ROM you want.
I agree, but those options are also unlikely in the long term. I’m just being positive and hoping for a life without Google.
I was thinking, Linux only really worked because companies profit from it and therefore support it. If it were just for desktop users it would have never been more than a programmer hobby. I don’t see phones benefiting more than the end user, and without a lot of profit on that I don’t see that working. So I think the future is dark.
But I’ll still invest on it and pretend I live in an ideal world and pretend it’s possible. It’s not zero percent chance I hope…
I’m using AOSP, which is kind of Google-derivative, but I’ve gotten off of everything else. Geopolitics seems like it will get in the way of overbearing US monopolies pretty soon here, too.
A major roadblock would be making it user friendly enough for the average person to be able to use it as well as an online help community that doesn’t treat newcomers like shit.
From my experience with Sailfish, it is user friendly. The problem is the hardware working as well and finding apps that do what you need. Both issues won’t be fixed without a larger user base.
But it will never be for the average user. That requires massive companies backing it and that requires evil intention. Google is a good example. It started being “nice” but just to get enough market to do this. Or Microsoft and Apple, just being evil from the beginning since they know the average user doesn’t care about that.
I can’t imagine this to go through everywhere in the world. In example even Apple is forced to allow sideloading in Europe. So why would Android not be forced too, especially because it had it before and is even more widespread than iPhones. I also wonder how many people using an Android phone do actually install applications outside the Google Store? I mean besides pre-installed stores like for Amazon Store or Samsung Store. The sad reality is that most people don’t care or use sideloading at all. (Edit: Typo.)
This is different, by design. Sideloading and alternate app stores are still perfectly fine. It’s just that the developer has to give a bunch of personal into to Google in order for their app not to be rejected by the phone itself. Middleman doesn’t matter which is where most if the regulations are. Problem is that many open source apps don’t have a developer willing to spend the time and money or give up their privacy in order to publish an app they don’t make money on. So it’s designed to kill off FOSS apps.
As the F-Droid team signs the (not repoducibly built) apks with their own key, Google would have to allow the key of the F-Droid team then.
Yet, as Google currently does not permit apps in their PlayStore that aren’t in line with their business model, e.g. NewPipe, they would then force the F-Droid team to do the same.
They said they can’t do that in the article:
but at the same time, we cannot ‘take over’ the application identifiers for the open-source apps we distribute, as that would effectively seize exclusive distribution rights to those applications
They would need to modify the ID then.
OSMand, e.g. has different IDs in PlayStore and F-Droid (+vs.~suffix).Edit: It’s the names that are different, the IDs are the same.
Possibly, but I don’t see Google doing that either. It’s not about where the app comes from really. The thing they are going to restrict is the developer. A developer can not have their app installed on a certified phone, regardless of where the user got the app, if the developer is not registered.
So, since there are no regulations to allow a user to install apps from any chosen developer, only from any chosen app store, there likely will be no regulatory recourse like Apple is facing as mentioned by the OP.
My first point is, in other words: From Google’s pov, the F-Droid team is “the developer” who’s key and personal information Google would request to allow installing apks with their signature on Android devices.
