Android is FOSS tho
this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2024
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Tell that to Google...
Google having their own proprietary crap embedded in their version doesnt make AOSP not FOSS.
Thats the entirety of the basis for things like GrapheneOS, despite Google gobbling it up.
Not technically no, though neither does it fully embrace the spirit of FOSS either. Anyway I was explaining the appearance of those two being at odds with one another in the meme. Anyone who does not enjoy meme content can simply block this community and move on with the serious side of life.:-)
Correct me if I'm wrong but does FOSS not simply mean the following?
software that is available under a license that grants the right to use, modify, and distribute the software, modified or not, to everyone free of charge
source: Wikipedia
From my understanding AOSP's license grants all those rights. I think what you might be opposed to is that it isn't developed out in the open, which is a fair criticism.
Well, they wrote the "spirit of FOSS" and you pulled out a completely sterile definition, which has no spirit at all.
At the very least, even with that sterile definition, embracing the spirit would mean making all the software you're distributing FOSS. Instead, Google has been doing all kinds of bundle deals and whatnot to ensure that most distributions of their FOSS software come with their proprietary parts.
However, going further in embracing the spirit, particularly the "free software" part of FOSS is idealistic. It doesn't just fulfill that definition to fulfill that definition. Rather, it sees that definition as the baseline, to help ensure that the freedom of users is respected.
AOSP, despite being under an appropriate license, does not respect that freedom.
For example, many users would want their keyboard app (which has access to their typed passwords) to not have internet access. AOSP has a myriad of permissions, but not for internet access, since Google wants their ads to be displayed.
In theory, the license ensures that AOSP can be forked, and Custom ROMs do soft-fork it (i.e. make slight amendments to what Google puts out), but due to how much development Google puts into Android rather than there being a development community, it's effectively not viable for anyone to truly hard-fork AOSP (i.e. take it into a new direction, independent from Google).
it can always be forked as a project that does. this is part of the point of foss and why you should be using lineage or graphene instead if you care about this
yeah, again, just like Chromium technically speaking.
Let's use the lesser, Foss version of Google's product so they can continue to have a monopoly, so then later they can force you to install a proprietary blob or account apps or services need.
nothing lesser about grapheneos or lineageos at all.
but im all ears if you have a usable alternative for a foss phone.
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yeah just like Chromium technically speaking
Android is FOSS, but is your phone FOSS?
i use a foss rom, so its software is.
Do android stans exist? Had always thought android was the lesser of two evils for most people
its most definitely the lesser, but there are still many people who would suck off Samsung and Google if they had the opportunity to.
trust me I've met them
Just as some Linux enthusiasts would from Mr. Torvalds.
It's like with every other fandom: There are haters, normal folks, lovers and the pesky hyper-fan.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What if I just like to suck.
Foss ftw baby
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GrapheneOS FTW
If I need to choose, I'll go with Android but to be quite frank, I would really prefer to have a "real" computer operating system on those devices. For 10+ years I've been waiting for a device that I can put in my pocket, use it on the go, with a data connection, and have the possibility to dock it and continue using it as a full fledged computer, with Linux if possible.
I know some high end Android devices can be "docked" and connected to a monitor, but they are far too expensive and/or too rare. Also, you still have to use apps instead of proper computer software. I don't like the "everything is an app" model, where they all have to have ads and/or paid versions. Android and "mobile" operating systems are a pain to use. I want to have control over my device.
And I also know there are some devices that can to this, but with the level of technology that we have, a device like this should be easy to find. Yet, it's all niche stuff that isn't really polished nor working really well. It's all damn phones and tablets with "mobile" operating systems that locks users. I wonder if phone/tablet manufacturers keep it that way because there's no demand for this, or if they simply want to continue the milking of the mobile users.
Absolutely this. I, too, go for android (pixel even, sigh) but would prefer a real os. android was aweful when it came out, grew much better, then declined again. And with each update they kill so many apps due to "security"-changes.
And what's worst of all, is the constant struggle to actually own your own device (=root). Noone would ever have bought a pc with no admin-pwd where you can only "refresh" your current windows-version and nothing more. You can't buy anything else than pixels (and even with those you need at least minimum tech-knowledge and are dependent on the continuing development of ONE app). Having any other brand makes it near impossible without luck, time and frustration-tolerance.
The coming generations will just pay 1000 for a phone they are allowed to use, not own, and think that is how it is and ever has been.
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Graphene OS changed my life, seriously. Completely changed my relationship to my phone and made it possible to focus again. Go open source
What specific features did you notice the most? (I'm assuming switching from Android?) 90% of my phone usage is through a browser, so I could probably install Graphene pretty easily.
#1 through #69: no push notifications, no feeds on my home screen, nothing I don't explicitly turn on and configure. No bloat whatsoever, the phone comes practically empty. I got this at the beginning of 2022, before then I kept finding myself reading articles about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Like I could not give less of a fuck about them, that story, whatever. I don't know who she is, and I don't particularly like JD movies except maybe Dead Man from the 90s, he probably beat the shit out of her idk. But for some reason I kept finding myself reading these articles on my phone absentmindedly. That kind of shit ended immediately.
Downsides? Not everything works, because there's no google play, and I couldn't get it even if I wanted it. I can use most google services on the browser, but for maps I have to use Osmand, which works but doesn't give me the fastest way to a place, and its kind of a trick to find a specific house or business without looking it up on a computer first and locating the nearest cross street. Schools, hospitals it has saved no problem, but not the optimal routes ore even anything relatively close. Great for my city where I can get myself 98% the way there already knowing the fastest ways around. Out of town we usually use my wife's navigation.
Those drawbacks are a little annoying but I will never go back to android, and I would never use apple in the first place. I love my phone, it feels like its mine in a way no phone ever has.
Hope this helps, ask if you have other questions
Interesting. Not having a good maps / navigation app might be a bit of a dealbreaker for me, since that's pretty much the last 10% of what I use my phone for. Degoogling myself there will require some effort....
As for push notifications and feeds, I don't really have a problem with that on my current phone with base android. I'm pretty aggressive about blocking random notifications or uninstalling apps entirely if they show me push notifications ads or "use me" reminders. And my home screen is just a clock and calendar.
GrapheneOS lets you choose whether you want to have a sandboxed google play installation. This way apps such as Maps work. Basically you are in control (except for Google Pay).
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android's at least open source
The base of it is, but you're not buying a phone with a fully open source Android OS on it
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"Google is insidious. They're really an advertising data-collection company, but people think they're a tech service company. Their whole strategy is to provide stuff like Chrome for free so that lots of people use it and it becomes a de facto standard, and then they flip a switch and quietly mine all of that data."
15 minutes later...
"Anyway, I prefer Android cuz it's FOSS."
People who prefer android because it's open source usually use open source android because that's what they want.
That being said, proprietary blobs and black boxes are a pox on basically every usable device these days. I hate it.
Apple and Google are both part of the NSA's Prism data collection program.
They pit us against each other in this arbitrary culture-war...the proprietary versus the open standards. And it's so wildly anti-consumer but we fall for it, year after year. Maybe one day Apple users will realize how anti-consumer it is, but I doubt it, they love the exclusivity of being half of the people with a smartpbone.
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I had a lot of hope for Android in the early days before Google dropped the n't from their "Don't be evil" corporate slogan.
Use what you like. Just like Windows, macOS and Linux for the vast majority of people, all these OSes are, are platforms to display apps and webpages. They all have sanded off most of the rough edges meaning that unless you have specific niche needs/wants, you'll just use what is familar and be happy.
Life is too short to have deep feelings about an OS.
Hush
Lineage OS fan here. I'm in the clear
This is the reason you shouldn’t choose a chat platform that requires the using the mobile OS duopoly—get your friends off of LINE, WhatsApp, & Signal.
while I agree, signal is also on Linux and is a more polished alternative
But it does require a cell phone number to get started, meaning your signal account is tied to your identity via your phone carrier
There are many services that will give you a temp number to sign up with for these services. I have many verified discord accounts, none of which are my actual phone number.
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Got this update message in signal earlier this week. Nice to see them moving in the right direction, but I guess the initial signup still requires a phone number.
"Your phone number will no longer be visible to anyone on the latest version of Signal unless they have it saved in their phone's contacts. You can change this in Settings.
A new privacy setting lets you control who can find you by your phone number on Signal.
You can now set and share an optional username to let people chat with you without giving them your phone number. "
Trillion.
Lol I can't understand how you get so many upvotes but when I make a meme everybody's like "what's a stan???" Linux users are some of the most antisocial people on the planet.
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