Despite all the bad moves, one of the reasons why I use android and not iPhone is installing apps from places like fdroid.
If this stops, it fundamentally disallows me to have the privacy that Apple app store can't provide. The amount of garbage apps in play store is horrible. I don't try out any new apps from there cos of this. So I will just switch to iPhone.
Already degoogled for pretty much most things. This will be the last. And maybe switch my website from netlify which I think is using google cloud (need to check).
Instead it would be great if you join the fight against Google (and Apple) by using FOSS and independent distributions like GrapheneOS. It is the most secure and private option we have today. Most apps work as it is except a few those who purposefully use Google Play Integrity API to block independent platforms.
Yeah it would be nice to break away from the google ecosystem and install GrapheneOS on whatever device I like-
GrapheneOS has official production support for the following devices:
The GrapheneOS project is working to correct the problem. For more information see this comment written 18 days ago:
https://old.reddit.com/r/GrapheneOS/comments/1o32gpg/b/nivsx...
Useful info. Thanks for sharing!
It's been discussed previously, but pixel devices are chosen for hardware security feature sets. Other devices are either not compatible/open enough to use or a security downgrade.
As much as I'd like to, the vast majority of android phones are incapable of installing grapheneOS.
If you can switch to an iPhone, you can switch to a phone capable of installing grapheneOS though…
To me this seems analogous to the motivation of certain people, as soon as they were able to work from home during the pandemic, to move to some arbitrary other cheaper place only because they were no longer required to go into the office.
Specifically it's weird to me that those people, akin your statement about platforms, don't seem to have a sense of place within which they do their stuff, whether that stuff is talking to the friends in your neighborhood regularly or checking your email; there aren't any other reasons you prefer Android, iOS is the default?
I personally don't fucking like iOS at all, never have, but I've always let myself re-evaluate it when the opportunity comes up. I find the UI clumsy and primitive, lacking in personality, customization, versatility. It was just fine on my old iPad for a few basic tasks, and it's still just as fin and just as basic, relatively speaking, on newer devices. However I am a career-long macOS user by choice. I usually admire both macs and iPhones for their hardware design.
Likewise, even though I moved to my relatively high cost of living city for a job years ago, if my current one let me WFH exclusively, I'd move... nowhere, this is exactly where I want to be. There is always some threshold of course whereby favoring one choice over another is too costly to maintain, but even though this particular freedom topic is important to me, I'm not about to just switch platforms because I've secretly hated it otherwise.
> To me this seems analogous to the motivation of certain people, as soon as they were able to work from home during the pandemic, to move to some arbitrary other cheaper place only because they were no longer required to go into the office.
Because that is important to them. Everybody has different opinions on different things. Their priorities are different. I prioritise privacy. I had a workflow with convenience and privacy setup I can do with Android now. It had a lot of loopholes but it is something I am satisfied with. Its something I have developed it by making compromises and adjustments based on privacy, convenience and functionality. So FOR ME, it becomes valueless after this change. And the better would become iOS. So I would change.
I could also argue that yours is a boiling frog situation where you are fine with bad changes around you but you keep getting adjusted to it and making excuses.
For example, due to my privacy setup, I rarely see ads, I rarely get scam calls. There are convenience I get because of it.
All you have to think is... If whatever these companies do online... Will you be OK with it if they do it offline and in person?
Imagine I follow you everywhere and keep telling me to buy a burger from McDonalds. Stalk you around, noting everything you do. And about your family. How long will it take for you to call the cops on me or confront me? Why are you complacent when these companies do the same online? End result is literally the same. Only difference is scale and the fact that one is happening in your face while other is out of your view.
In conclusion, Everybody's threshold (like you mentioned) to different changes are different based on their views and priorities.
And most importantly, as a software professional, we definitely should hold ourselves to higher standards. I am doing what I CAN now.