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!
You didn't solve any problems, you just opted out of a whole bunch of features.
Walking away does not solve the problem. It just makes it no longer your problem. Everyone else still has to deal with it. Not everyone has that privilege.
If we all stopped the world would adapt. The council let the street signs rot because everyone is on gmaps, restaurants stopped having menus just qr codes, places in England were you get kicked out if you insist to pay by cash.
All of it would be reversed if.. we reversed A pipe dream but weirder things happened
Okay well let me know when you get everyone to stop. Until then...
They did reverse the cash ting at the pub, every day a different customer would have a proper argument about it. Don't ask why I was there everyday tho
It's a pub. I think there should be no questions 🤣
Yes and no. Some of us actually need our phones to accomplish things. Work, primarily. As people mentioned elsewhere, simple things like accessing their banking accounts. I wish we didn't, but we do.
They're not doing it by choice. The phone is used as mandatory authentication to access the account.
...and how do you suppose your laptop is immune from this? Or your desktop, even?
I'm not avoiding anything. What you fail to understand is that not everyone's situation is the same as yours. For some of us, these things are outside of our control.
I don't think you understand how SIM swapping works but that's an irrelevant tangent, so I digress.
You are still not understanding what I'm saying: Many banks require an app to be installed on a mobile device (that is, iOS or Android) for account verification in order to access your account. Nothing at all to do with your SIM. You cannot access your account without this app being installed on a mobile device.
Who said anything about doing banking in public?
No. You are.
We're done here.
Over here, banks aren’t allowed to do SMS codes anymore period. So tell me how I should solve the second factor required by law when all „dumb tech“ alternatives aren’t available anymore due to laws and regulations?
My bank does not have physical representation anywhere, since it is a digital bank. When I joined them they had a sheet of TAN numbers for us to use, but that is long since gone. And seeing how few and far between other banks are with theirs nowadays it would become extremely impractical to do physical banking only.
He did solve a problem, his problem. What's the deal with thinking everything that applies to you applies to others?
No problems were solved.
That's your best answer? "No problems we're solved because I said so"? 🤣🤣🤣
No wonder you sound so angry here, lol.
No problems were solved because they weren't solved. I know that may be hard for you to wrap your head around.
It is, very.
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?
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.
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.
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.