Post by @bill88t@c.im

2026-08-29 23:35 UTC

@golemwire @unfa@mastodon.social > it really is important for normies to be able to install "alternate" app stores. Normal users don't do that. They never will, unless someone forces them to. Yes, it'd be nice if everyone didn't get hooked to Google's stuff, but people prefer the easy & familiar way. Yes, Google is tightening the leash, yet in a way that's reasonable and purposeful. Hey, do y'all remember that Samsung now disallows unlocking the bootloader? How you can't flash YOUR phone? Do you remember Motorola requires the phone to be online for 7 days for the option to unlock the bootloader to be clickable? Xiaomi's lobotomized ADB? Vendors locking Wireless ADB? What about carrier locks still blocking bootloader unlocks? What about the Financed devices that can be remotely terminated by a backdoor present on every phone? Don't you also love it when YOUR phone, has to warn you with a scary red sign and delay your bootup by 5 seconds, for you having commited the sin of installing an operating system of YOUR choice? Google is responsible for that too you know? Isn't it nice how AVB signing is broken on everything except Pixels? How nobody can do their own Secure Boot and lock the bootloader with a custom os? There is so much more important sh*t to be pissed off about than a moderately meaningful timeout.

Replies (1)

@golemwire@social.golemwire.com 2026-08-30 01:41

That is indeed a list of bad things regarding Android phones, worthy of their own discussions. Normal users don't do that. That misses the point. You're familiar with monopolies? Let's say (example adapted from the real-life example with #EpicVsApple ) the Play Store charges a very high tax, and a developer finds it unfair and releases their app on a different store. And they say, 'to play Fortnite [or whatever] you need to get it from this different app store now!' and so the users go to a link, get the app store, and get (say) Fortnite from it. "They never will, unless someone forces them to" -- as if it has to be hard, but it doesn't. The way economies work is that if you allow a monopoly, they become unfair; competition helps prevent such injustice. Imperfectly, but much better than allowing monopolies. [Again, the timeout part of this all sounds like a good idea and was not what I was criticizing -- I complimented it in the previous post] CC: @unfa@mastodon.social Edit: in case it was causing confusion -- while the article I linked to has a headline emphasizing the timeout [again, the timeout is something I like], I'm focusing more on the other steps and how it is too confusing for "normies" to go through it all. Edit 2: yikes, your reply isn't showing up. Does Mastodon do that for long threads or something, or did unfa block you ~:|

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