this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ
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As an OSS advocate, I fully agree. Sadly, OSS alternatives have to compete with easily accessible, slick and well-integrated products that are aggressively positioned. Just imagine all the steps you need to go through, just to install Fennec from F-Droid.
I just installed Fennec from F-Droid and it was like three steps. Search, install, and confirm install. I guess if I didn't already have F-Droid, it would be more steps to install it, but that's not too hard either, and you only have to do it once.
It's easy for you and me. But imagine you're Joe Everyman. First off, you need to know about F-Droid and where to download it. Then confirm that the browser can install software. And this is where I would imagine many users second-guessing if everything's legit. And after it's installed, you've got two separate app-stores to deal with. You need to know what you can install where.
If I extrapolate from my mother-in-law, who still can't wrap her head around the concept of an app-store, let alone alternative browsers, that's just too much hassle for most people.
Not so much ago i was handled an iphone and i had no idea how to unlock it and use it as there aren't any keys or instructions on the device. Joe Everyman is just used to it but in fact iphones are not easy to use. I think this really thread can also hint something, some OSS may not be easy to use or well supported but it is designed to be open and accessible. Proprietary software and standards puts you through a set of restrictions for example having to register and give away all your personal informations to download binaries.
Dude seriously. I use one for work, I'm relatively tech savvy and can intuitively figure stuff out. Iphones are obtuse by design, they want people to use them and get so used to them that they can't switch to other options. I've used other phones and other OSs and it takes me a little bit and some Intuitiveness to figure it out but I get there, it's been a pain with every single step for iphones.
I have had the identical experience; Samsung user who got an iPhone from work.
When I receive a text from a number not in my contacts there is a blue link prompt asking if I want to block them. However, there isn't any prompt to add them to my contacts. Doing that is two non-intuitive clicks away.
LOTS of things like that.
Just today I got a called from one of my inspectors and I accidentally swiped it away. I saw that the call notification went to the top so I tried swiping down like it intuitively would be, it was just bringing down the lockscreen wallpaper. I missed the call and ended up having to just call him back.
I remember a message appearing on my android device when I first started using F-droid, something like: do not trust any programs you can download from anywhere except places grubby capitalists can molest you and feast on your data.
"Allow install from unknown source" permission for f-droid, and verifying the f-droid download's checksum are too complicated/involved for many people, especially when compared to what another commenter rightly called "aggressively placed" spyware-laden alternatives.
Nobody verifies the checksum. It installs just fine (probably) if you don't. Just like reading the EULA.
Sure, it's a good step if you're extra paranoid, but otherwise people are just allowing installs from unknown sources and immediately installing, especially since Android takes you straight to those settings when you try to launch a downloaded APK.
Fdroid shows Fennec with anti features, tracking to Mozilla and Google, and proprietary upstream code. Is there a good fdroid browser without anti features?