Come September 2026, are you sticking with Android

[IsHacker]

Android is Open-Source, GP Services is not which is why it isn't included in ROMs, unless the dev likes playing with fire.

Does this mean that the sideloading block won't affect me if I'm using vanilla AOSP or microG? I haven't been using GApps for over 2 years now, and whenever I get a new phone I remove GP services first. I use microG though.
Google play services is literally is a trojan horse virus. It spies on you 24x7, allows google (and probably other people, as we can't know for sure what vulnerabilities it might have) backdoors into your device, drains battery like crazy and slows down the device to a crawl by eating up all system resources. And it does all of this while pretending to be a useful app, so it exactly matches the definition of trojan.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

Does this mean that the sideloading block won't affect me if I'm using vanilla AOSP or microG? I haven't been using GApps for over 2 years now, and whenever I get a new phone I remove GP services first. I use microG though.
Google play services is literally is a trojan horse virus. It spies on you 24x7, allows google (and probably other people, as we can't know for sure what vulnerabilities it might have) backdoors into your device, drains battery like crazy and slows down the device to a crawl by eating up all system resources. And it does all of this while pretending to be a useful app, so it exactly matches the definition of trojan.

In theory yes-ish but microG is almost hacked up gray-code of GPS and is technically a TOS violation.

If GPS is rewritten the way I think it will be, the community behind microG will need to fundamentally start from scratch to not only spoof the new format but fake the certification (if even possible, all my prediction at this point based on what we know).

That certification will only matter for app store apps though. Then again you wouldn't install microG unless you're trying to get around it in the first place.

If one were fully FOSS, no matter if AOSP or custom ROM, I think this entire thing is a non-issue. However if anything remotely GPS tied is involved including microG, struggles will be ahead.

In a year from now I could be completely wrong or they backpedal and I was wrong best case.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Just wanted to say that this is exclusively a windows thing. Linux doesn't need "drivers". It detects all drivers automatically, as all the drivers are in the kernel itself. So you don't need to install them manually.
Same goes for macOS.

I needed to install both LPR driver and CUPS wrapper drivers to use a printer with Linux. That required use of the terminal as admin.

 

[bearone2]

i'm sticking with android but how'd this thread get into os/linux/politics??

 

[SyCoREAPER]

i'm sticking with android but how'd this thread get into os/linux/politics??

Don't know (I do, it was the word ecosystem) but I'm trying to bring it back on topic. Your message is a good starting point

Everyone kindly lets stick to the main topic of Google being dumb(er than usual) and how and who that will affect. There's been some really good feedback and questions so far, would like to keep that up.

 

[babainagBN]

I'll stay with Android because I simply don't care for the way Apple works, especially their file system (or lack thereof). I also have no use for iMessage, iCloud, FaceTime, Apple Watch, etc. Additionally, I will never purchase a Mac. I also just purchased a new Samsung Galaxy Tab S10FE.

This thought may value freedom, flexibility, and practicality in their tech choices. Their thinking could highlight Android’s openness, file system convenience, and compatibility with non-Apple devices. They likely feel comfortable with Samsung products, rejecting Apple’s ecosystem as unnecessary, restrictive, and incompatible with their personal needs.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Honestly, I'd stick with Android, simply because I hate Apple more. My stance has changed since I began with Android, as my view has shifted from a viable choice to one that is the lesser of 2 evils, and today, it's a neck-and-neck race as to who is worse.

Google has done some seriously stupid shenanigans in the past. The trashing of apps and services as @SyCoREAPER has mentioned, has given Google a reputation that precedes them (sadly, in tech enthusiast sites like ours), to the point where if Google announces <insert new awesome sounding service/app here>, go ahead and use it, but expect it to die in the next few years.

The really big downside is this: It truly has become a lack of options. Right now, the only company that could, in theory, attempt to dethrone either is Microsoft, and they have already tried and failed. Even if MS hadn't had a horse in the race before, I wouldn't trust them to be any better than Google or Apple. Hell, I'd trust them even less.

I guess maybe, just maybe Valve could.....But, I honestly don't see Gabe spending his time like that. I was honestly surprised about the Steam Deck announcement anyway. Maybe if the Steam Deck far outsold his projections, he might have.

 

[notforhire]

Honestly, I'd stick with Android, simply because I hate Apple more. My stance has changed since I began with Android, as my view has shifted from a viable choice to one that is the lesser of 2 evils, and today, it's a neck-and-neck race as to who is worse.

Google has done some seriously stupid shenanigans in the past. The trashing of apps and services as @SyCoREAPER has mentioned, has given Google a reputation that precedes them (sadly, in tech enthusiast sites like ours), to the point where if Google announces <insert new awesome sounding service/app here>, go ahead and use it, but expect it to die in the next few years.

The really big downside is this: It truly has become a lack of options. Right now, the only company that could, in theory, attempt to dethrone either is Microsoft, and they have already tried and failed. Even if MS hadn't had a horse in the race before, I wouldn't trust them to be any better than Google or Apple. Hell, I'd trust them even less.

I guess maybe, just maybe Valve could.....But, I honestly don't see Gabe spending his time like that. I was honestly surprised about the Steam Deck announcement anyway. Maybe if the Steam Deck far outsold his projections, he might have.

"lesser of" indeed

 

[bearone2]

yes!!

 

[monsieurms]

Honestly, I'd stick with Android, simply because I hate Apple more. My stance has changed since I began with Android, as my view has shifted from a viable choice to one that is the lesser of 2 evils, and today, it's a neck-and-neck race as to who is worse.

In so many areas, there just doesn't seem to be enough choices. There are a couple big people who dominate. Yeah, there are always other options if you look hard enough, but there is a reason they are on the fringe. We need more competition.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

Honestly, I'd stick with Android, simply because I hate Apple more. My stance has changed since I began with Android, as my view has shifted from a viable choice to one that is the lesser of 2 evils, and today, it's a neck-and-neck race as to who is worse.

Google has done some seriously stupid shenanigans in the past. The trashing of apps and services as @SyCoREAPER has mentioned, has given Google a reputation that precedes them (sadly, in tech enthusiast sites like ours), to the point where if Google announces <insert new awesome sounding service/app here>, go ahead and use it, but expect it to die in the next few years.

The really big downside is this: It truly has become a lack of options. Right now, the only company that could, in theory, attempt to dethrone either is Microsoft, and they have already tried and failed. Even if MS hadn't had a horse in the race before, I wouldn't trust them to be any better than Google or Apple. Hell, I'd trust them even less.

I guess maybe, just maybe Valve could.....But, I honestly don't see Gabe spending his time like that. I was honestly surprised about the Steam Deck announcement anyway. Maybe if the Steam Deck far outsold his projections, he might have.

"lesser of" indeed

That's the way I saw it too, lesser, but as said above by @Golfdriver97 also, they've monopolized and also give up on cool stuff.

If they are still lesser evil, it is by a pubes thickness.

I could see Microsoft maybe swooping in, not in their poo-poo buddy mode with Asus but as a standalone.

Linux could really take advantage of the opportunity and finally become mainstream. However this is unlikely with Widevine DRM certification being as stingy as it is. Also not entirely sure how it would be implemented on a wide scale.

Being a subset of Linux, Steam/Valve could really step in with SteamOS. Valve could probably also get certified much easier with a locked down system which they more or less already have.

I have about as much hope as winning the lottery that Google/Android will not self-destruct, so a small chance but also not getting my hopes up. At least more and more outlets are reporting on this.

 

[Laura Knotek]

In so many areas, there just doesn't seem to be enough choices. There are a couple big people who dominate. Yeah, there are always other options if you look hard enough, but there is a reason they are on the fringe. We need more competition.

The main problem is that users won't buy something else that doesn't have the apps they need, but developers won't create apps for another OS that doesn't have enough users. Microsoft tried and failed for that reason.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

The main problem is that users won't buy something else that doesn't have the apps they need, but developers won't create apps for another OS that doesn't have enough users. Microsoft tried and failed for that reason.

- Samsung Dex was an interesting start but never went anywhere.

- Windows 'Link to PC' never went anywhere.

- Android On PC loved a short life.

- ChromeOS (patting myself on the back) never went anywhere which I said since day 1 and COS fanclub fought me on that.

Innovation is stagnant as is the desire to actually maintain or advance any innovation that actually materializes.

Microsoft's chance is NOW to start getting developers to make mobile interfaces for some quick mockup emulator OS that runs native Windows apps.

Our phones are more capable of more than P2W, InApp subscription, crap tap-tap apps.

I'm not endorsing but remember when computers couldn't accurately emulate N64 and almost around the same time they could, our phones could do so as well?
Everything is underutilized because of Grandma's basement whales dumping money into crap. In Japan the Shield could even play Nintendo games natively and legally.

Anyway point is our phones can do infinitely more than what's thrown at them now from games, to apps to daily use, underutilized. Focus was hard on cameras. Now AI this-that. Can't wait to see what doesn't stick next.

Maybe we will get a ringer that changes our world upside-down but that's hard to envision at this time.