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That's a good news. I wish there was an Android phone with, let's say, a Firefox set as a default browser, and a Google Play Store available. But, although I'm

That's a good news. I wish there was an Android phone with, let's say, a Firefox set as a default browser, and a Google Play Store available. But, although I'm usually for EU in cases like this, I'm more and more disgruntled about how ineffective all that after-the-fact fines and penalties are. Maybe some more strict rules would be better? Like: any OS on sell in UE can not prohibit installing third party software and tinkering with the hardware, and the user should be asked about pre-installed software on the first launch. Something like that. We got browser choice screen in Windows for a while, and it was good. But it didn't affect iOS, nor Windows 10, nor Android.

tacomonstrous 10y ago
You can already set Firefox to be the default browser and disable Chrome on any Android device.
- Sylos 10y ago
  He's saying preinstalled as the default browser. Not installed and set as default after the fact by the user. Let manufacturers freely decide what software they want to bundle.
  - zigzigzag 10y ago
    You could make an Android phone that had things like that, and companies have done so (like Amazon). The downside is then you wouldn't be able to license the Google services on top. Android is both open source and expensive to develop. It seems like a reasonable compromise to me, especially as Google keeps the fragmentation problem somewhat under control this way.
    - stephenr 10y ago
      You call the current situation with android fragmentation "under control"? The single highest installed version according to Google is 3 major versions behind and 3 years old.
      - zigzigzag 10y ago
        I said "somewhat under control". You aren't qualified to complain about Android fragmentation unless you've tried to write mobile apps before Android/iPhone came along. I have. Trust me - no matter how bad you think Android is, it's much better than the previous state. And a big part of that is the ecosystem of sticks and carrots Google set up around the open code base.
        sangnoir 10y ago
        Most folk didn't have to deal with targeting MIDP profiles, J2ME and the incompatible vendor extensions... Give me a fragmented Android any day, 1 build will run across all OEMs 99.9% of the time, rather than 15%
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
51Cards 10y ago
I wish Windows came with Firefox installed as the default browser as well and without Edge but I don't think it will happen. I believe if you build and deploy a platform you have the right to make your products the default as long as you don't block the freedom to change.

tacomonstrous 10y ago

You can already set Firefox to be the default browser and disable Chrome on any Android device.

Sylos 10y ago
He's saying preinstalled as the default browser. Not installed and set as default after the fact by the user. Let manufacturers freely decide what software they want to bundle.
- zigzigzag 10y ago
  You could make an Android phone that had things like that, and companies have done so (like Amazon). The downside is then you wouldn't be able to license the Google services on top. Android is both open source and expensive to develop. It seems like a reasonable compromise to me, especially as Google keeps the fragmentation problem somewhat under control this way.
  - stephenr 10y ago
    You call the current situation with android fragmentation "under control"? The single highest installed version according to Google is 3 major versions behind and 3 years old.
    - zigzigzag 10y ago
      I said "somewhat under control". You aren't qualified to complain about Android fragmentation unless you've tried to write mobile apps before Android/iPhone came along. I have. Trust me - no matter how bad you think Android is, it's much better than the previous state. And a big part of that is the ecosystem of sticks and carrots Google set up around the open code base.
      - sangnoir 10y ago
        Most folk didn't have to deal with targeting MIDP profiles, J2ME and the incompatible vendor extensions... Give me a fragmented Android any day, 1 build will run across all OEMs 99.9% of the time, rather than 15%
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

51Cards 10y ago

I wish Windows came with Firefox installed as the default browser as well and without Edge but I don't think it will happen. I believe if you build and deploy a platform you have the right to make your products the default as long as you don't block the freedom to change.