Its about time an open standard happened for mobile OSes.
The Browser Wasn’t Enough, Google Wants To Control All Your Software
Submitted 3 weeks ago by mesamunefire@piefed.social to technology@lemmy.world
https://hackaday.com/2025/08/28/the-browser-wasnt-enough-google-wants-to-control-all-your-software/
Comments
Sanctus@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
candyman337@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
That’s what Android was and they keep trying to undo that any way they can
Kolanaki@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
We need a new one that isn’t made by a for-profit company that only was good to get total market saturation before flipping the enshittification switch to maximize those profits.
LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Makes me curious if they think their monopoly or whatever they were called cases making them split their browser are going to go though. If you are going to have to sell parts of the company, now would be the time to hammer home any last minute bad things that would make the companies more profitable. Shows higher income for the sale, and gets it out of the way so the new purchaser doesn’t look like the ones who did it, but rather the ones who will make announcements on how they will review things to make them better for the user base.
OctopusNemeses@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I disagree. Google has always been a thinly veiled Microsoft. A wolf in sheeps clothing. They embrace, extend, extinguish. It’s the same thing.
axum@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
We need open bootloader and drivers for phones to make any real progress on this. Thin is what’s holding back all initiatives.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
and many phone manfacterers, issuers(non google, samsung, or IOs) IS CONSIDERING locking down thier phones.
Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
I wonder if the generic tablets with made up Asian sounding names that you see on the big marketplaces could work? They could have slightly larger or smaller screens if they’re cheaper than current phone screens, and could have Linux with something like Signal on them for calling.
They’d probably be lower quality to begin with, but could potentially get better if people start to buy them. They seem to have generic hardware, so might be able to offer the drivers and unlockable bootloaders too :)
WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
the best outcome for the short term would be to forcibly take away android from google and give it to an independent foundation. as I heard antitrust proceedings in the usa were heading that way a few months ago
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Such things are solvable with a bribe in the USA.
Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
So basically remove Google integration from AOSP?
Lemminary@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
FuriOS?
Sanctus@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Not bad, it looks like I have to buy their phone though. Which is not cheap, or performant guessing by the specs despite what the advertising says.
toddestan@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Interesting. I’ve not heard of FuriOS, but if it actually can be used with US carriers, makes calls and supports SMS/MMS, and can do VoLTE that’s a actually a pretty big deal.
tomalley8342@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Whenever you see a linux phone advertise both security and android app support, you should be wary, since it’s likely waydroid or a waydroid fork, and their design goal of running android in a container instead of a VM has lead to some interesting security decisions.
zarathustra0@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I don’t know about anyone else, but I got into computers at a young age because it gave me a sense of control over something. I didn’t understand everything, but I could do a lot of trial and error, read things and experiment, and shared a sense of community with some random internet strangers based on that knowledge.
In a world where we are so powerless in so many other ways, why did we insist on bringing that power dynamic into the new bright tech sphere? Why did we have to do that? (N.B. this is rhetorical questioning).
KneeTitts@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
In the new Alien Earth TV show, 5 corporations basically run everything… unfortunately I suspect thats where we are headed as a species.
iLStrix@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
My university actually teaches about the “Meger Endgame theory” (yes, my professor had fun with that one), which states that industries will consolidate until 2-3 global market leaders dominate. So uhh, it’s not just you. Idk if that’s good or bad news for you haha
floofloof@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
There are at least two generations of us who are disappointed at the contrast between tech’s possibilities as envisioned decades ago and the corporate surveillance crap we have to put up with today.
DJDarren@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
The thing that really gets to me is how we’ve gone from “Here, let us sell you a computer that you can push to its limits however you see fit” to “We will sell you a device and ensure you use that device within a given sphere of acceptability”.
I own this phone/computer/tablet/console/whatever, so why the fuck do I have to adhere to their rules? Rules they’ve changed since I bought the device, of course.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
We, as in the average every day people, didn’t do shit. The corporations that make the shit we use are the ones who got us here. The only thing the people using the devices and software are guilty of is not making a fuss about losing control over the stuff becsuse the average person does not care that deeply about the tools and likely doesn’t even know about a good 75% of what was lost.
axum@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
Sadly the majority of normal people don’t want control. They just want it to do some trivial task without any fuss at any cost.
JeremyHuntQW12@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
This isn’t a computer, its a phone.
pirat@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
This isn’t a comment, it’s negative feedback.
zarathustra0@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Thanks for your low quality input.
Mika@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
When reading cyberpunk lore, quickhacks didn’t make any sense to me. Some programs that break cyberware because of backdoors, but why would people install cyberware with backdoors?
Now I look at the sad state of mobile market and, yeah ok, that makes sense.
okmko@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That makes sense and all but where does the poison come from??
emeralddawn45@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I mean the cyberware is a direct neural interface so presumably it must be able to manipulate and alter the levels and balance of your neurotransmitters. Im sure increasing aome to insane levels would have pretty toxic effects, like serotonin syndrome for example.
Mika@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Some really vicious backdoor that contains dangerous substance in a hidden chamber? Not a far reach when we are talking about corporate backdoors normalized.
SugarCatDestroyer@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Are you kidding me? How am I supposed to live in this damn Orwellian society that is coming?
FridaySteve@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Look up Microsoft in the early 90s and how we all got through it.
eve@evenyc.com 2 weeks ago
tbf, we all got through it by just going to other platforms. now there’s almost no other platforms to go to because big tech either pressures them until they fold, or sell to them and become part of their umbrella as some shill company or they remain independent but still use big tech software to run their backend, so your info ends up going to them anyway.
i think in the future, everyone will be forced into surveillance by default and those who don’t will have to either pay dearly for privacy or learn how to program their own security. checkout project gideon that’s already getting pitched to the united states government and other governments from israel. it’s literally that show “person of interest” plus
eve@evenyc.com 2 weeks ago
That’s just it. You’re not supposed to live. You’re supposed to be controlled.
BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
Always has been
FreddyNO@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Fuck google
Lootboblin@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Easily the most disgusting company in the planet and it’s funny that their old motto/slogan was ”Don’t be evil”.
suodrazah@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The year of the Linux mobile is coming.
spicehoarder@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
IS THAT A FUCKING HEADPHONE JACK!?
Let’s go 🔥🔥🔥
jukmehrk@lemmy.org 2 weeks ago
It’s nice, and good to see more of a push. However, I think kill switches for at least microphone and camera should be the new default. It’s absolutely ridiculous to walk around with an internet connected mic and a camera that looks at your face whenever you look at your phone. Personally, I’ll never carry a phone around anymore that doesn’t have mics and cameras desoldered or there’s a kill switch. For the back camera a cover with a slide is fine, but doesn’t really work with the front part.
mesamunefire@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Neat! And a removable battery.
Debian too! Always liked me some Debian, super stable.
ICastFist@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
As long as companies can keep pumping shitty, almost entirely closed off android phones that cost less than 200 dollars for consumers (selling hardware at a loss while making up for data harvesting and sale), “linux mobile” will be just another meme along with “year of the linux desktop”
pool_spray_098@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Sign me the fuck up!
The specs look quite decent, and it even has an SD card slot. I really would love to get away from android.
BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I want to believe, I really do. But I fear that the crypto apps people have grown dependent on will make it harder than the desktop battle. And IDK but I seem to recall every year since at least 2001 being proclaimed to be the year of the Linux desktop.
I rely on my banking apps (plural), governmental email app, government authentificator app and the governmental LMS app for public schools to make my everyday function.
Victoriathecompact@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
is this legit?
0x0@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
The EU’s been breathing down Apple’s neck for them trying to do similar shit, so i find the timing kinda weird.
Plus they’d need to force-update their spyware first, i wonder how many versions of android they’re willing to go back.derpgon@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
I think the update is already installed, just waiting for the kill switch.
poopkins@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yet Apple has been able to profit from their walled garden for decades now. Doesn’t that set a precedent that it’s okay? I honestly don’t blame Google for going this route—it’s inaction from our policymakers that has created the space for abuse.
thespawnkiller@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I feel like this is the new normal cycle of every software company. Once they become a leader, it’s never enough. It replicates the rise of billionaires. Just as the billionaires being rich beyond anything they and all of their succeeding generations could ever spend is not enough, being the industry leader and producing an amazing product that people want is somehow not enough. It always turns to control and power.
minkymunkey_7_7@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I can’t wait for AI to become a living corporate trillionaire entity and fuck us all to the end of humanity.
GreenShimada@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
At some point they get large enough that the whims of users cease to affect their decision-making. If Google, Meta, and MS tomorrow rolled out a social credit system that made the Chinese version look generous, 95+% of their users would not change a THING to avoid it. Maybe 98% of their users.
flemtone@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Already using GrapheneOs on my phone, so fuck Google.
themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Wait until Google locks the bootloader.
Lfrith@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
But, what happens when Google decides to no longer the option to unlock the bootloader for future phones? It’s the future that is the concern when it comes to the degoogle options available.
markko@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Sucks that it only works on devices made by Google though…
bluecat_OwO@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
now it’s just a race for the giant conglomerates to make the worst decisions for consumers
TwinTitans@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
As shitty as M$ is, it would have been nice to see Windows phone become moderately successful and be a third primary mobile os.
generator@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
they just want to confirm a malicious actor didn’t develop it
So Newpipe, SmartTube, Nintendo emulators…
Clones of opensource apps bundled with ads that violates license is OK, but restricting everyone to build and test apps from source so it can test new features and report any issues is too risky for the user
humanoidchaos@lemmy.cif.su 2 weeks ago
I came here specifically to ask about alternatives to Android now that google is becoming too abusive in the relationship.
Amoxtli@thelemmy.club 3 weeks ago
Don’t use it. Be smart.
Bongles@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I’m bothered that big companies, especially tech right now, no longer see their customers as people they need to please to stay in business, but instead as something they’ll inconvenience and squeeze as much as they can possibly get away with.
They all got to where they are making, at one point, amazing products. Now? Fuck making windows useful, we can throw ads and AI at you every place we can think of. Fuck all of the parts of Android that made it stand out, we tell you what to install. You don’t want all of your data scraped and sold? Fuck you, there’s 3 of us and we’re all doing it. In fact we’ll never stop finding new ways to harvest data.
Phones have basically stagnated entirely in the US. Sure you get moderately better chipsets, but what else? AI? I haven’t had a phone struggle with anything in… maybe 10 years. Instead features that people didn’t use enough just get removed.
Deflated0ne@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
And they can suckle upon my peener.
I’ll go to Graphine or something else before I let the company for whom “don’t be evil” was too bold a statement dictate my fuckin’ choices.
I already ditched Windows. Can’t be that hard to cut Google out too.
KindnessIsPunk@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Yeah of the Linux phone, I guess.
thedruid@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Fuck them. I have a guitar a pocket watch and a wind uo radio. Everything have is a nicety.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
google is pissed people were deleting that spying app on android phones, plus thier constant attack on adblocking on youtube wasnt working to well. since samsung and iphones pretty much walled in thier os, why not google.
chunes@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yeah well luckily for them, people don’t seem to know how to write anything but webapps anymore anyway.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
that spy app they were using a few months ago was just the first test.
Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Time to back to the analog world and short wave radios.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
chrome is at thier limits, since people can just use a different browser/
cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
of course google wants every developers id the second they get into bed with a fascist federal government
SonOfAntenora@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’m not giving up my off the market pixel dungeon mods.
cupcakezealot@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
just dont update your phone problem solved
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
okay well goodbye Google, then
what’s the alternative here?
Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 3 weeks ago
This sucks for the average person but, well, everything tends to. If you don’t look for avenues around literally everything “default”, you’re being scammed. They don’t, so they will be.
I do, so I’ll be carrying a Oneplus 6T and slapping a mobile Linux OS on it for my needs.
that’s not usable!
For you.
squaresinger@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Is this only google phones or all of android?
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
The infuriating part of the Google enshittification process is that there is nothing the user can do about it.
Literally the only thing that motivates Google is profit. Controlling side-loaded apps will almost certainly boost their profits by a infinitesimal fraction of a percent, therefore it will be done. Even if consumer uproar causes Google to back down in the short term, they’ll simply implement this a few months later. Late-stage Capitalism sucks.
blitzen@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
You can stop using all Google products. Now I understand their market share on the web means they’re going to continue to shape the web.
But make no mistake. There is something however, small that you can do. De-Google.
gdog05@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I will help hand hold anyone who wants to build servers or services (to the best of my ability) to replace Google services with their own.
grue@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
My public school – that my children are basically required by law to attend, remember – is badgering me to sign a consent form so they can have Chromebooks.
This fight is a lot fucking larger than mere individual boycotts!
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The complaint is side loading is being restricted and the only long term alternative Apple. Google already began the process of shutting down Graphene by cutting drivers out of AOSP.
androidauthority.com/google-not-killing-aosp-3566…
spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
That may be true for you, but other people face different realities. When Google implements the sideloading block it will eventually be pushed to everyone who doesn’t use a custom ROM.
Squiddork@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Honestly Googles products are terrible these days. I have been pretty lax about my privacy but after so much enshittification I switched my services to something that works and doesn’t harvest my data for the privilege.
When they kill off Graphene/Custom ROMs I’ll switch to a linux phone or brickphone.
paequ2@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
Uhh… how do we stop using Android? I mean, these recent attacks by Google seem like they’re going to break GrapheneOS and friends, no?
salacious_coaster@infosec.pub 3 weeks ago
Now that AOSP is closing, what are we supposed to do?
MrSmith@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
De-googling will break banking apps, since most baking apps rely on Play Integrity checks and bootloader status.
FenderStratocaster@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I was thinking of switching to Proton. I pay $2 a month for 100gb and unlimited photos on Google. It’s a good deal. The fact that I would have to find out out to make a server, buy storage, piece meal a bunch of open source software that will inevitably not work without tinkering all makes it so easy just to pay the $2 a month.
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
That’s barely a viable option without using apples own walled garden.
dreugeworst@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
if I don’t use android or iOS, I can’t use my banking apps, pay with my phone, access government services as they require an app to sign in, etc. it’s just not doable anymore for me
seralth@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The only people who can de google are basically single shut ins with a job that doesnt use anything google.
If you have kids or a company that uses google products. It’s a bad fucking joke to talk like it’s even a realistic option.
Google is basically shoved down your throat. In most cases by the law literally.
vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org 2 weeks ago
I think they are more conscious than to be driven by small margins (another example of such underestimation is Lenin’s “they’ll sell us the rope we’ll use to hang them”).
It’s like boiling frogs - a very slow process of attracting users, slowly killing competition and diversity, slowly making the ecosystem more and more controlled, then slowly making “neutral” systems not neutral anymore (like those features of Chrome making security exceptions for Google services found a few years ago), and slowly desensitizing people to leaps of faith they do trusting Google (and other companies), while the trust accumulates into total control.
OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
This is not late stage capitalism. This is mid stage at best. The entire economy and world population could be shrunk down to literally pennies, as the wealth gap widens. It could have us ending up like district 9, or Elysium as broad examples. The govt and entities have not even started cracking down on illegal activities, loop holes, bank accounts, cash spending, crypto, and more in the super strict enforced fashion they could be.
While rightly fucked up and enshittified. We could be so so much further down the capitalism rabbit hole of hell. Everyone should be boycotting and avoiding the largest companies as a whole. No change you make goes unnoticed. You might be less than 1 percent but the snowball effects happen. Movements, parties, resistance, change, software, everything adds up.
So what you can do. Don’t go mentally insane about it. Most things don’t require THAT much effort. A simple tweak here or there makes an impact.