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:

  1. The closing of development of an increasing number of components in AOSP.
  2. Samsung, Xiaomi and OnePlus have removed the option of bootloader unlocking on all of their devices. I suspect Google is not far behind.
  3. Google implementing Play Integrity API and encouraging developers to implement it. 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.
  4. 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.

  • dreaper@lemmy.ml
    1·
    3 days ago

    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.

    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.

    Nice. I am also doing something somewhat similar; beach volleyball at the park. But also archery.

    Like you say, losers scrolling mindlessly in social networks seeing what the corps want them to see, getting controlled, and then crying like little removed 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.

    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.