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Well there actually is a problem this can help solve. Malware.
Most of the malware on Android is already on the Play Store. I mean that both in a snarky and sarcastic fashion, but also literally.
This is unfortunately true. I’m not saying this is something that will stop all malware or that I even like the damn thing. But it does have some valid uses.
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This is unfortunately true. I’m not saying this is something that will stop all malware or that I even like the damn thing. But it does have some valid uses.
wrote last edited by [email protected]But it does have some valid uses.
In principle I disagree. This is more of Google asserting control. Maybe it would be legitimate if the Play Store wasn’t an absolute mess, but I’d probably disagree even then.
As a user who paid for the hardware, you should expect to have full control of your device, including the option to install your own software from alternative sources, or even replace the OS. Google, Samsung, et al aren’t paying you for the device, it’s yours. The only reason I can see here is for more end user control and yet more personal data mining.
I only marginally excuse Apple and iOS because it was a walled garden up front and they’ve made no qualms about it, you know what you’re buying. They’ve also implemented at least some debate of user privacy and limiting data sharing.
Google released Android originally as a fairly open system and have been tightening the reins as they’ve achieved market dominance.
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Sure, but imagine a world where you could run a JVM (just as an example please don't focus on that lol) on your phone (and yes I know Android is JVM-esque, but you aren't just running JVM code on there willy nilly due to the way it's designed). There is no longer an Android vs iOS in that case with respect to JVM and even desktop or laptop applications. Of course there would need to be work done on the development side to deal with screen size and all that fun stuff, but these are all solvable problems and things you already have to deal with. QT has very easy to use Python bindings if you want an easy entry to that so that's no big deal. I don't write a lot of GUI code so I don't know the landscape that well, but I've had success with PyQt6 and Kotlin + JavaFX.
Anyway that's all kinda besides the point. We know how to build VMs; we've done it plenty of times. There is nothing magic about JavaScript; it's just a VM. Are browsers incredibly complex and well designed programs? Yes, but they're not special and their role as the backbone of everything doesn't seem inevitable or wise to me.
The magic of JavaScript and browsers isn't anything technical. Fuck I hate the whole thing, that's why I'm a backend developer. It's how widely supported it all already is and how many web devs there are. That's why I reckon using that ecosystem for "native" applications across several platforms makes a whole lot of sense and especially it makes sense for a brand new operating system to support web apps as first class citizens in some format, even though don't have to be the only option.
I don’t write a lot of GUI code so I don’t know the landscape that well, but I’ve had success with PyQt6 and Kotlin + JavaFX.
I think the last time I wrote any GUI code was Rust and Iced. It was ugly as hell, but that's on me. Since I'm more of a Python dev nowadays (Odoo), I might give PyQt6 a try for shits and giggles some time. It'll also be ugly as hell. Funnily enough, I've used Kotlin plenty, but never for GUI.
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But it does have some valid uses.
In principle I disagree. This is more of Google asserting control. Maybe it would be legitimate if the Play Store wasn’t an absolute mess, but I’d probably disagree even then.
As a user who paid for the hardware, you should expect to have full control of your device, including the option to install your own software from alternative sources, or even replace the OS. Google, Samsung, et al aren’t paying you for the device, it’s yours. The only reason I can see here is for more end user control and yet more personal data mining.
I only marginally excuse Apple and iOS because it was a walled garden up front and they’ve made no qualms about it, you know what you’re buying. They’ve also implemented at least some debate of user privacy and limiting data sharing.
Google released Android originally as a fairly open system and have been tightening the reins as they’ve achieved market dominance.
That’s absolutely a motivator for Google but simply leaving things open ended also means they can’t enforce anything at all.
Scammer: -releases scammer shady product-
Google: we don’t want you using our products to scam users. We are blocking this.
Scammer: fine, I’ll throw it on an alt store and create errors when it’s run on an unmodified device. I’ll just require users switch to scamROM.
Google: fine, we’ll let you in the play store.See? There’s no winning here.
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Hell no, I do not want to help Grandpa avoid anything.
then why do you support this thing at all?
So no, you are wrong, for a whole range of devices, restrictions should be the default. Absolutely. No question. This isn't even up for debate.
restrictions are the default, today and the past few years. but google here wants to make it not a default, but the only option anyone can have.
seeing how Google aren't changing install restrictions at all.
y.. yes they do?? that's exactly what they are doing!
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That’s absolutely a motivator for Google but simply leaving things open ended also means they can’t enforce anything at all.
Scammer: -releases scammer shady product-
Google: we don’t want you using our products to scam users. We are blocking this.
Scammer: fine, I’ll throw it on an alt store and create errors when it’s run on an unmodified device. I’ll just require users switch to scamROM.
Google: fine, we’ll let you in the play store.See? There’s no winning here.
wrote last edited by [email protected]No, the answer there is if scammers release scammy software and it’s not on the Play Store, that’s it. They’ve done their part and my job is to not be a tool and be careful if I’m sideloading, use things like VirusTotal, or otherwise just not install software that’s not vetted or open source where I can review the code. Nothing forces a user to use “ScamROM” or whatever example.
I don’t want Google policing my activity on my device.
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No it’s not. There are other free and open software offerings that function cross platform and do it more cleanly.
For a project as big and old and full of legacy code as LibreOffice, I think their interface is pretty great. And its way more customizable than MS Office. Its just not the absolute latest and greatest in styling.
And, if MS didn't make it so hard to maintain compatibility with their "open" file format, TDF might be able to put more resources into UX. As it is, they have to reverse engineer all the nonconforming BS that Microsoft puts in their OOXML implementation.
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Pardon my ignorance, but would loading a forked version of android (like lineageOS or grapheneOS) get around this? I know graphene at least puts all Google services in its own container. Would that allow the rest of the system to run "side loaded" apps? Or is this unavoidable if you use any version based on android?
Larger issue at hand is the number of devices that are able to install / are currently supported by those projects.
Even something like unlocking a bootloader is a daunting task for an average someone who's even considering flashing a custom rom.
Considering regional variants of phones (looking at you Samsung) making this an even higher and more confusing task for the average someone.
The littering of tools for specific devices, requiring running on specific operating systems, the list goes on as far as hurdles to load a more open operating system on a phone.
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No, it’s too much to demand but simply asking they keep the interface as clean looking as any other free cross platform open source project is not an outlandish request.
They update the ui in most of their patches, theyve made the ui incredibly customisable. They have the classic header or a ribbon header. Its open source software it can't afford a redesign every few years to keep up with Microsoft design trends. The team is like 8 people.
I might be wrong but i feel like the people complaining about the ui dont really even use it. After a week of using it you get used to it and it looks normal.
