Google is systematically dismantling the open Android ecosystem: forcing all developers to register with Google, slowing AOSP releases, and effectively turning Android into a walled garden. Here is what is at stake.
I’ve used the discord web client on graphene quite a lot. It has fewer features than the app but I feel better about it. Same with my bank- I can just log into the website via my phone’s browser.
For one, they’re not guaranteed to work all the time since these are closed protocols and the companies change them as they please. I’m not saying that workarounds aren’t possible, just that it’s not the same as having official clients if you actually need to use these apps reliably for work for example.
If your workplace requires proprietary slop apps and won’t offer you a phone and you’re doing your best to make it work on your phone, then it seems like their problem if it’s still an issue to them
it’s not the same as having official clients if you actually need to use these apps reliably for work for example.
The web versions are official clients though and they seem pretty reliable IMO
You do realize that most people don’t care about this sort of moralizing. A small niche of users will jump through hoops to avoid platform lock in, most will not. Shaming people for using popular tools achieves absolutely nothing.
If people aren’t going to put effort into avoiding proprietary platforms, then the duopoly won’t change and nothing gets achieved there either
EDIT: Also this is about functionality not morality, proprietary platforms are functionally restrictive which is what makes them problematic in this situation
People aren’t going to put the effort in. We have abundant evidence of that given that most people still use proprietary platforms like Facebook and Twitter while the Fediverse remains niche. Unless people building alternatives are able to match the user experience, majority of people aren’t going to bother. That’s the reality.
You don’t have to convince me that they’re problematic, I’m merely pointing out that telling people to use something with reduced functionality doesn’t generally work.
“Reduced functionality” is subjective, for the average non-tech user you’re right that they’d see it as reduced functionality, but there’s also plenty of people who want a phone that they can choose what apps they can install on it and remove tracking and bloat and ads for a large number of reasons. If Google starts doing what they say they’ll do, then using a web client/wrapper for a single app on a personal phone is a minor hoop to gain much more functionality out of their device, and if organizations use a user-respecting platform like Matrix instead they don’t have to jump through any hoops. Even among non-tech users there seems to be at least some interest in free platforms, so making them more user friendly is important but proprietary apps aren’t going to make that easy so the options to focus on are mods/wrappers or freer platforms, I find it unlikely that they will support such an OS seeing how Windows phones went and defeatism isn’t going to change anything. And if the non-tech users don’t care then they don’t care.
Facebook and Twitter
For social media those sites are such shitholes that I’m actually kindof happy their users aren’t on the fediverse
I’ve used the discord web client on graphene quite a lot. It has fewer features than the app but I feel better about it. Same with my bank- I can just log into the website via my phone’s browser.
It’s ok, but not quite the same as having actual apps unfortunately.
Why not use Revenge for Discord? Or on Linux Equibop and Slacky
For one, they’re not guaranteed to work all the time since these are closed protocols and the companies change them as they please. I’m not saying that workarounds aren’t possible, just that it’s not the same as having official clients if you actually need to use these apps reliably for work for example.
If your workplace requires proprietary slop apps and won’t offer you a phone and you’re doing your best to make it work on your phone, then it seems like their problem if it’s still an issue to them
The web versions are official clients though and they seem pretty reliable IMO
You do realize that most people don’t care about this sort of moralizing. A small niche of users will jump through hoops to avoid platform lock in, most will not. Shaming people for using popular tools achieves absolutely nothing.
If people aren’t going to put effort into avoiding proprietary platforms, then the duopoly won’t change and nothing gets achieved there either
EDIT: Also this is about functionality not morality, proprietary platforms are functionally restrictive which is what makes them problematic in this situation
My locked down legacy device thanks you. Please buy me a better one so I can migrate.
People aren’t going to put the effort in. We have abundant evidence of that given that most people still use proprietary platforms like Facebook and Twitter while the Fediverse remains niche. Unless people building alternatives are able to match the user experience, majority of people aren’t going to bother. That’s the reality.
You don’t have to convince me that they’re problematic, I’m merely pointing out that telling people to use something with reduced functionality doesn’t generally work.
“Reduced functionality” is subjective, for the average non-tech user you’re right that they’d see it as reduced functionality, but there’s also plenty of people who want a phone that they can choose what apps they can install on it and remove tracking and bloat and ads for a large number of reasons. If Google starts doing what they say they’ll do, then using a web client/wrapper for a single app on a personal phone is a minor hoop to gain much more functionality out of their device, and if organizations use a user-respecting platform like Matrix instead they don’t have to jump through any hoops. Even among non-tech users there seems to be at least some interest in free platforms, so making them more user friendly is important but proprietary apps aren’t going to make that easy so the options to focus on are mods/wrappers or freer platforms, I find it unlikely that they will support such an OS seeing how Windows phones went and defeatism isn’t going to change anything. And if the non-tech users don’t care then they don’t care.
For social media those sites are such shitholes that I’m actually kindof happy their users aren’t on the fediverse