Just use Linux?
How long do we have before PCs get locked bootloaders and corporations ban installation of "non-approved" software? (for context: Google is restricting sideloading worldwide on Android ETA 2027)
Submitted 1 day ago by DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
Comments
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
derpgon@programming.dev 1 day ago
It is entirely possible to lock down computer parts to only run Windows and signed drivers. However, the sheer amount of available computer parts, open sourced hardware, widely understood technologies, and not enough monopoly makes this unfeasible for anyone to really try to implement (yet).
If Intel started doing Windows only, they would lose so much revenue from big corporations and data centers it would ruin them, and everyone would just buy AMD instead. Consumer market in computer sector is secondary.
For phones, you really do not have enough alternatives. You choose between evil and more evil. Think of it as Linux in it’s starting days - missing features that makes it unusable for the common folk. Linux phones haven’t matured yet, that’s why you have to choose between feature rich vs heavily degraded user experience, as opposed to minor inconvenience of not being able to run some apps.
dan1101@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
For starters you do your research and don’t buy that hardware, or maybe better you buy it and then return it because it doesn’t allow you to install the software you want.
sun_is_ra@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Android is opensource. ROM developers like lineageos should be able to create nornal ROMs with sideload enabled
Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
This is only relevant as long as someone is selling hardware with an unlockable bootloader. The scenario where that isn’t the case in a few years is unfortunately realistic.
boydster@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
The scrolls tell of a new geohot that will come along and jailbreak again to save us all…
Azzu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Not really realistic at all. There’s a market for unlocked devices, and where there’s money, there’ll be a way.
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 1 day ago
…And have them able to run on zero consumer devices if the bootloaders are locked, and the manufacturers refuse to sign their ROMs for them. (Hint: they will refuse to sign their ROMs for them.)
barnaclebutt@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Bank software is the issue.
NoodlePoint@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Nah, PCs are easier to install anything we want. Corps trying to lock out Linux would be like shooting themselves in the foot.
Phones are what they would like to get a tighter leash on, because it has become a device that nearly everyone buys more than PCs due to them being more usable and cheaper, and thus a bigger revenue channel.
crimsonpoodle@pawb.social 17 hours ago
I mean they could always use VMs or docker vs locking the actual base level OS
NoodlePoint@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Yeah, but that’s not for everyone else, unfortunately.
I_Clean_Here@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
And Android phones will get a workaround to fuck over Google, the genie is out of the bottle. This shit will never happen to “all PCs”
quick_snail@feddit.nl 18 hours ago
The workaround has been around for as long as Android has been around: use AOSP and don’t use gapps
mrfriki@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
I see Apple doing it, not because they are Apple but because they control the whole manufacturing process, so they wouldn’t need to negotiate with third parties. That’s what has happened in the mobile industry. In the PC side of things you would need to sit in a table: the CPU, OS, and probably GPU and MOBO manufacturers to negotiate, and knowing how greedy they all are, I don’t see it happening anytime soon. But hey, anything is possible in this dystopian society we live in.
ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 18 hours ago
I have just one year before I pay off my phone and I want to get a degoogled phone. I wanted my current phone degoogled… but due to the breakage of my previous phone it was a bit of an emergency and I didn’t have time to do proper research.
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 9 hours ago
Honestly just get a fairphone. They are repairable, the work well with custom roms and their devs even contribute drivers straight to the linux kernel so the support for proper linux on those phones is great too. You won’t find more freedom than that on a phone.
bacon_pdp@lemmy.world 1 day ago
That is already a thing in ARM laptops
Tuuktuuk@sopuli.xyz 17 hours ago
I would say this is one of the things EU is doing quite a good job.
It would be difficult making Linux de facto illegal in EU. It could happen but most likely it won’t.
pfr@lemmy.sdf.org 22 hours ago
I’m honestly kinda sick of this. Sure, Google’s decision to try to lock down their devices to prevent installing unsigned apps is concerning for FOSS. But can we ask just calm down a bit?
Linux isn’t going anywhere, and neither is hardware that supports it. Yes, is possible that Microsoft or even Intel (now that Trump has bought into it) might try to do some sketchy shit. But the open hardware market is starting to look promising. Look at MNT, System76, Pine, Framework etc…
I agree times are scary and everything is looking kinda bleak, but your best option right now is to completely boycot (as much as possible) Google, Apple, Meta, Microsoft etc. Just stop using their shit.
Buy up old PC’s, turn them into home servers and self host as many services as you can.
I’m confident GrapheneOS will continue and we will still have f-droid after 2027. But I’m an optimist.
DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca 22 hours ago
Graphene? Meaning the OS where you have to have a specific range of devices that aren’t even very good for the sort of people who’d want an OS like that? I’d most likely be on Graphene already if it wasn’t for that annoying as hell limitation.
quick_snail@feddit.nl 18 hours ago
Just sub what they said with “Graphene, Calyx, iode, etc” and its true
foggy@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I imagine this will actually create competition. Android is open source. It can be forked.
warm@kbin.earth 1 day ago
The question is, who wants to fork and maintain android? That's a massive undertaking, one that wouldn't seem worth it until it started getting meaningful percentages of market share.
Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
Wasn’t amd pluton or something going to do that?
I just bought a new and CPU and Chinese motherboard and I could still install Ubuntu without problems
Luffy879@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
Google is not restricting Sideloading.
Its the same way Apple is doing it. You just need to buy a Signaturen from them via ID, and you have to sign every app.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 1 day ago
They are not restricting it, they are just adding these restrictions to doing it
nul9o9@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
They’ll have the power to revoke the ability to install any app for any reason. On top of the chilling affect on developing foss apps.
Danitos@reddthat.com 22 hours ago
And what will happen to apps that Google doesn’t like and removes the dev signature? i.e., Revanced
floo@retrolemmy.com 1 day ago
As long as it takes for the corporate manufacturer trace what you’re doing here and use this post to kill you
sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 1 day ago
An interesting take for somebody shit posting on fedi...
floo@retrolemmy.com 1 day ago
Interesting because I made a valid point, and your best comeback is gaslighting a tantrum.
HexesofVexes@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Eh, just means it isn’t plug and play. Once you have the hardware, you are the admin.
It may get tougher, but it’ll never be impossible.
tempest@lemmy.ca 3 hours ago
Tell they to the Intel management engine or secure platform module