Keep Android Open
https://keepandroidopen.org/
This is important. We already have a basic duopoly in mobile operating systems, now Google is trying to lock down their platform even more. Nobody benefits from this other than Google's shareholders.
Whether you are a device owner, a developer, or a public institution, this affects you and should matter to you.
Everyone can meaningfully help to push back.
@rysiek I don't know what it's gonna take for manufacturers to start making true Linux phones more widely available, but we could really use it right about now.
@mebbie @rysiek The phones already exist; now it's up to users to adopt them and, if necessary, improve them to match their needs.
I don't see Google closing Android down as a threat to me. If anything, it may make more people actually interested in the alternatives. What is an actual threat to me are institutions and companies assuming that I'm running either Android or iOS. As things are right now, I can manage to live without them just fine, but things keep moving in the wrong direction.
> The phones already exist; now it's up to users to adopt them and, if necessary, improve them to match their needs.
That's a pretty elitist view. Not every person is a developer, and non-develoepers deserve privacy and chouce just as developers and techies do.
Closing Android will make it much, much harder for F-Droid and independent app developers to reach its audience; and conversely for the audience to discover independent software, which might turn them into supporters.
@rysiek @mebbie You're attributing things to me that I've never said. That's pretty damn un-excellent.
Would I prefer it to be an open platform? Of course I would, but it never really was, otherwise we wouldn't have this discussion right now. It was made to make this possible. We can't rely on Google keeping it "open enough" and we can't rely on the society not making it mandatory to use without active resistance, which includes (but isn't limited to) moving away from Android whenever possible.
@rysiek when I talk to the average person about these issues they simply don’t care, it’s a matter of convenience and user habit.
When people go to get a new phone it is very likely going to be the updated model of the same phone they have been buying for 10 years or more now.
Until they feel a reason to change and it is made convenient for them nothing will change; the enshitification hasn’t scared them away yet.
@R3dactd what are you trying to convince me of? That everything is lost? That there's no point in pushing against Google here? That it doesn't matter?
Please kindly be more clear in your point.
@rysiek @mebbie I believe that some people who are capable of moving away from Android haven't done so yet, for whatever reason. Sometimes they may be capable, but unwilling to give some convenience away - and using Android in a society that expects you to use it is surely more convenient. It's up to them to take action to make things better, not "manufacturers".
There are also many people who aren't, but you can't expect those to move yet. Obviously. We still need to pave them the way there.