This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
It's always the same, big shocking announcement, public outcry, pushing forward with a less shocking version, public acceptance, and then rolling out the rest of the initial plan. Why do we keep falling for it?
Its like getting robbed at gunpoint. Not much you can do about it.
This is...actually a really good analogy for consumerism. When the market has little to no competition and seemingly insurmountable barriers to enter it, it can really feel like a hostage situation. At best it's like two dudes sitting behind a desk, ripping off their hook-and-loop patches to caress their nipples while listening to our feedback.
Give a fascist an inch...
What do you suggest we do, not push back?
And btw this isn't true. Look at how their attempt to get rid of third party cookies is going. The just rolled back like their fifth attempt/rebranding of it
Breaking up the Google/Android/Chrome monopoly would be a good start
Eh, I'm probably gonna ditch that smartphone thing anyways, at least for a while. Android becoming a closed-off garden was the last straw and I was kinda looking forward trying to go without a phone to test if I can adapt. I started leaving the house without my phone more and more and I kinda like it.
Sure, it's fun and convenient to have the Internet in my pocket. Heck, it's even required in some cases, but this digital mess we are currently in is too much for me. I remember how I was looking forward having one back then; I was really looking forward having acces to the Interney wherever I was, but nowadays I kinda miss being less conected from all the bullshit especially when outside.
I guess I could get a linuxphone one day if I miss having a phone (if I somehow manage to completely remove the smartphone from my life in the first place).
Easing is not removing.
Anything more than a warning and disclaimer popup is too much.
I'm OK with jumping through more hoops – once.
Once I told the device that I know what I'm doing, it shouldn't be more than a pop-up per install.
Users only need to eat half of a shit sandwich!
This is less terrible news, not good news.
This new 'flow' will require drinking a verification can (of piss) every time you want to use a sideloaded app
Thank god. I would've ditched Android for good if this went through, and while it sounds like it would be annoying for casual users to enable unverified apps, at least we can still install them.
You would have ditched Android for ios if it were implemented?
At least the apple ecosystem all works. Androids full of shit that will never be fixed. Looking at Google cast in particular. There have been many others too.
Ive been using Android for more than a decade, fwiw
I would not have done so, but I think there's a reasonable argument that if Apple and Google's mobile platforms are indistinguishable in terms of user freedom and Google is going to try to be Apple, ya may as well just go with the better Apple
I'm just waiting for the moment Valve also decides to enter the mobile market :)
… continues to make Play Integrity an integral part of Android and making all the stupid banking and govt apps requiring having it on your phone thus making it harder to de-google.
still no… fuck you.
Uh-huh, sure, just about protecting the users. Nevermind that actual malware is regularly found on play store, and exactly 0 times -- on f-droid they're "protecting" the users from.
Google is paving the ground for Linuxphones.
It's so blatantly obvious how evil they've become that it makes striving for alternatives a necessity.
I have an app on F-Droid. Nothing special, basically something I wrote for myself. I was thinking about putting it on Play Store so I can share it with friends that don't use F-Droid but with those new requirement I'm 100% not doing that. Fuck Google.
Literally idk why people are saying "If this happens I'll switch to an iPhone"
Like bruh Apple is even a more closed off walled garden? What sort of sense does that make to switch to something twice as expensive and gives you absolutely no control?
Even if Google decided to implement this in the future, I will never switch to an iPhone and neither should you
This feels like Americans voting behavior. "The thing I liked has gone to shit, so as a protest I will take double shit with extra piss"
$100 says they're just going to make it require adb.
I'm guessing they're going to hide it in developer tools with a bunch of warnings and no explanation on how to get there so regular users don't turn it on by accident.
They've already lost my trust. GrapheneOS or LineageOS are the only safe bets now.
Easing up? Don't fucking touch it. Google is already annoying me with their play protect warnings.
They are going to make this into a "1 step back 2 steps forward" type of situation. This is that 1 step back and in a few months there will be 2 steps forward where they will completely ban all non play store apps.
I have been looking at getting a flip phone and ditching this "Smart phone" bullshit altogether, I still might. I'm sick of this rug pull bullshit and no one can convince me they aren't just going to try again.
