E: apparently it needs to be said that I am not suggesting you switch to Linux on your phone today; just that development needs to accelerate. Please don’t be one of the 34 people that replied to tell me Linux is not ready.
Android has always been a fairly open platform, especially if you were deliberate about getting it that way, but we’ve seen in recent months an extremely rapid devolution of the Android ecosystem:
- The closing of development of an increasing number of components in AOSP.
- Samsung, Xiaomi and OnePlus have removed the option of bootloader unlocking on all of their devices. I suspect Google is not far behind.
- Google implementing Play Integrity API and encouraging developers to implement it, which prevents apps from the Google Play Store from being downloaded without a system-wide OS-level account login. Notably the EU’s own identity verification wallet requires this, in stark contrast to their own laws and policies, despite the protest of hundreds on Github.
- And finally, the mandatory implementation of developer verification across Android systems. Yes, if you’re running a 3rd-party OS like GOS you won’t be directly affected by this, but it will impact 99.9% of devices, and I foresee many open source developers just opting out of developing apps for Android entirely as a result. We’ve already seen SyncThing simply discontinue development for this reason, citing issues with Google Play Store. They’ve also repeatedly denied updates for NextCloud with no explanation, only restoring it after mass outcry. And we’ve already seen Google targeting any software intended to circumvent ads, labeling them in the system as “dangerous” and “untrusted”. This will most certainly carry into their new “verification” system.
Google once competed with Apple for customers. But in a world where Google walks away from the biggest antitrust trial since 1998 with yet another slap on the wrist, competition is dead, and Google is taking notes from Apple about what they can legally get away with.
Android as we know it is dead. And/or will be dead very soon. We need an open replacement.
E2: thank you to everyone stopping by from Hacker News, Reddit, etc. to check out the threadiverse. I hope you’ll stick around for a while. Check out https://phtn.app/ and the Voyager and Blorp apps for a nicer UI. Fuck Spez!
Yeah, there ya go again. If it’s not a problem for you, it must not be a problem for anyone else. Everyone faces the same obligations and challenges. Right?
You act just like a typical social media addict. Now it’s clear why you can’t bear to live without your smartphone. 😂
Reminds me of my drugs days. “I can control it, I use them because I want to, not because I need them. I can quit any time”. 20 years later, no house, no family, no money, and half my recommended weight. And it’s the same for every addiction. The only way to get rid of a problem is by first accepting there is a problem. Changing pushers never made it better, just saying.
Given my time observing druggies, you are so on the mark on that one. What was I thinking bothering to tell that guy anything?
Yeah man, I should know. But at the end of the day, we’re better for it. This guy will be crying about not having privacy and stuff like that while doing everything in his power not to be able to get away from all those things.
Pretty similar to being hostage of a very toxic relationship. Oh well.
And it all just reinforces that people online are losers. That’s all I am being reminded of; even on a decentralized platform like this. No wonder I took excessive steps to filter all big tech and mainstream social media on my home network by using things like Pihole, and also my own hosted SearXNG instance to filter search results. Because it’s all designed to be just like a hamster wheel. That’s all it ever can be.
Lol, I find it so funny that people actually believe they are doing damage by down voting. I still think the way I do, and it’s why I don’t use anything mainstream at all.
Fedora for work, Fedora on my laptop, a ProxMox server with 20TB of space to hold everything I want.
Add to that the awesome blessing of living where most people go only on expensive vacations, own my business with my wife, and get to enjoy beach, pool, large backyard with 3 dogs and own my time.
How can I do all this? Easy, I get to control my time, my money, my data and my life.
Like you say, losers scrolling mindlessly in social networks seeing what the corps want them to see, getting controlled, and then crying like little bitches because “we need someone to do something about all this we’re addicted to” instead of growing some balls and taking control of their lives.
My kids spend all day at school, and all afternoon and weekends outside. Guess who’s kids will be tough enough when they grow up to lead the sheep.
I remember Zuckerberg himself saying that he didn’t allow his kids to use Facebook. Why people never took that as the most clear warning they would ever get is beyond me.
It’s why I removed the voting function by using Ublock. Because it is so pointless. Not like this site has a karma rating system like ‘Dead Readdit’; thank goodness for that. But yeah, people doing that just shows how damn conditioned they are. Really, as Linus Torvalds says, social media is a cancer on the Internet.
And nice! I use KDE Neon for my desktop. And my media server only uses a 4 TB drive (with a 128 GB SSD for the OS). To be frank, there isn’t much I really want to download and keep these days. Even got myself a 130 GB stash of corn because all there is on the mainstream is shitty SpicyFans garbage. So, I am glad I chose to archive TV shows, movies, anime and so on that I liked years ago. It’s all hosted on a old Lenovo Think Centre from the Vista days, running Manjaro of all things. It was a neat project that ended up being very useful in the end.
But yeah. To me, much of the Internet is just dead to me now. Especially since I mainly only use RSS feeds now.
Nice. I am also doing something somewhat similar; beach volleyball at the park. But also archery.
Too on the mark. Complaining because they don’t realize how far in the rabbit hole they are in. It’s an endless cycle. Drama is what fuels engagement. Engagement nets profit. That’s what all the mainstream platforms are about. And then you have people like the original poster carrying that to decentralized platforms like this.
You act like a typical social media addict (policing comments that weren’t even directed to you; along with being unable to resist commenting). Guess it’s clear why you can’t bear to live without a smartphone, huh? Keep going. You’ll only prove my (and youmaynotknow’s) point more. But really, I thought you said you were done with me earlier. Isn’t that what you said? Well, I said my piece as far as things one can do. Time for a block. You got enough attention from me.
Enjoy keeping up with the smartphone rat race! 😂