@fdroidorg@mastodon.technology is dedicated to enforcing #FreeSoftware for #Android apps. There is big money pushing hard to make people slip, Google is one of those. I've been working on free software since 1994, and from what I've seen, this approach is the only way to make progress. If no one enforces it, then everyone just slips into proprietary software.
@eighthave @fdroidorg So true, thanks for writing about this. There have been many tendencies of deflections to avoid packaging an #app for #freesoftware standards and just throw an #apk to test.
@eighthave @fdroidorg I'm pretty sure that the only reason Android is open source to begin with, is that Google didn't create Android. They just bought the project to not have to start from scratch, so they could have any chance to compete with Apple and iOS at the time, who already happen to be a rather popular thing back then.
@hund @fdroidorg@mastodon.technology Google did buy Android, but it was proprietary then, and Google open sourced it. They were tactical, doing that to get developers' attention, given all the other mobile platforms were proprietary then. Now Android is the biggest platform in the world, and Google controls it, and they want more control. So they go proprietary.
Embrace, extend, extinguish – old tactic, always works.
@vesperto @eighthave @fdroidorg I wouldn't say it always works --- but it is definitely a common strategy! Wish there was a focus on copyleft-esque social domain licenses, (and more focus on hardware but thats another story lmao)
@vesperto @eighthave @fdroidorg I'm sometimes pondering possibilities of using the same EEE strategy in a "reverse" direction, i.e. for pulling people into Free Software. I'd love to try doing it esp. for email some day, but I think I might not have enough free time in my life for this, between work, peopleware, and other projects.
Email's probably the worse place to start (and thus the most needed):
I'd go with messengers.
@vesperto @eighthave @fdroidorg I wanted specifically to start with an email _client_ with some innovations I have on my mind, then possibly adding friendly encryption and also maybe transparently integrating other messenger systems. But, as I said, my ETA currently is +Infty... (Unless I somehow get to be financed to work on stuff like this. But even then some projects with a saner ETA are pragmatically higher on my list. In fact, planning a half-year sabbatical for one soon.)
I actually believe Open Source has done more harm than good, but it's just a gut feeling. Only Libre Software can be beneficial for humanity.
@eighthave @fdroidorg I certainly don't approve, but I'm very impressed by the skill with which Google has proprietorized Android!
@fdroidorg@mastodon.technology here's a classic #Google tactic: use "open source" to get devs hooked, then gradually slip in proprietary bits. #AOSP's core apps move ever more towards proprietary, and they also do this with libraries like com.google.ar:core https://github.com/google-ar/arcore-android-sdk/issues/1538