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So reading through it, my understanding of what is going on is that they use MicroG + LineageOS and provide their own email/app store/other services. I tried to

by kop316 8y ago

So reading through it, my understanding of what is going on is that they use MicroG + LineageOS and provide their own email/app store/other services. I tried to go through to figure out what exactly they did to degoogle /e/ further than that, but I couldn't find the documentation to show me. If the folks from /e/ are here, is there some sort of documentation of how you degoogled it past LineageOS + MicroG? I would be interested, as I use AOSP without Play Services nor MicroG, and I would be interested in seeing what /e/ gets me that my current set up does not.

ForHackernews 8y ago
I think your understanding is correct, but what /e/ is trying to provide is a more consistent, unified experience. Lacking Google services, you're sort of on your own trying to get what many people consider "basic" smartphone features: email, maps, cloud backups, etc. I don't know if they'll succeed, but I fully endorse the idea of some umbrella project trying to put together a pleasantly integrated smartphone experience that doesn't rely on the tech giants. Maybe /e/ will become the Gnome project of smartphones.
- kop316 8y ago
  So then that brings a different set of questions. Like how are those things backed up? Is it client side encryption (I.e. they cannot access the data)? Can I point those services to a self hosted solution? If they had the ability to make a self hosted back end for online services back ups, I would actually be extremely interested.
  - ForHackernews 8y ago
    I think the project is in pretty early days. You could get involved and help build (or at least request) the features you'd like to see.
  - timbit42 8y ago
    It has NextCloud support built in and I think they offer a NextCloud account to users (fee?) but hopefully a person could self host.
Operyl 8y ago
The last time this company came up, I said the same thing I believe. I felt it was .. really weird.
indidea 8y ago
Interesting reading: https://hackernoon.com/leaving-apple-google-e-first-beta-is-here-89e39f492c6f https://hackernoon.com/leaving-apple-google-e-first-beta-is-... https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/wiki/en/wikis/faq https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/wiki/en/wikis/faq
- kop316 8y ago
  The hackernoon article was really good, thank you for that! It looks like it can integrate into a nextcloud installation, and nextcloud appears as the default for the /e/ install . That is a really nice feature for self hosting, but that also means that the data on the back end is accessible to the folks hosting it.
johnklos 8y ago
I agree that the web site leaves lots for the imagination. For instance, I can't see how 1) this is supposed to be all that different from a typical, yet cleaned up, Android instance, and 2) what does this have to do with Apple devices? Are they going to have a port to iPhones? Or are they just trying to make us think they're going to be an option for people who don't trust Apple? As it is, Android is already too much of a mess for me to trust. I wouldn't ssh from an Android to an important server, just as I wouldn't from a Windows machine. Too many moving parts into which I have little or no vantage.
jammygit 8y ago
Can somebody clarify specifically what risks the microg signature spoofing patch might entail in real world use? I know its conceptually bad, but its a bit abstract in terms of my actual phone

by kop316 8y ago

ForHackernews 8y ago

I think your understanding is correct, but what /e/ is trying to provide is a more consistent, unified experience. Lacking Google services, you're sort of on your own trying to get what many people consider "basic" smartphone features: email, maps, cloud backups, etc. I don't know if they'll succeed, but I fully endorse the idea of some umbrella project trying to put together a pleasantly integrated smartphone experience that doesn't rely on the tech giants. Maybe /e/ will become the Gnome project of smartphones.

kop316 8y ago
So then that brings a different set of questions. Like how are those things backed up? Is it client side encryption (I.e. they cannot access the data)? Can I point those services to a self hosted solution? If they had the ability to make a self hosted back end for online services back ups, I would actually be extremely interested.
- ForHackernews 8y ago
  I think the project is in pretty early days. You could get involved and help build (or at least request) the features you'd like to see.
- timbit42 8y ago
  It has NextCloud support built in and I think they offer a NextCloud account to users (fee?) but hopefully a person could self host.

Operyl 8y ago

The last time this company came up, I said the same thing I believe. I felt it was .. really weird.

indidea 8y ago

Interesting reading: https://hackernoon.com/leaving-apple-google-e-first-beta-is-here-89e39f492c6f https://hackernoon.com/leaving-apple-google-e-first-beta-is-... https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/wiki/en/wikis/faq https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/wiki/en/wikis/faq

kop316 8y ago
The hackernoon article was really good, thank you for that! It looks like it can integrate into a nextcloud installation, and nextcloud appears as the default for the /e/ install . That is a really nice feature for self hosting, but that also means that the data on the back end is accessible to the folks hosting it.

johnklos 8y ago

I agree that the web site leaves lots for the imagination. For instance, I can't see how 1) this is supposed to be all that different from a typical, yet cleaned up, Android instance, and 2) what does this have to do with Apple devices? Are they going to have a port to iPhones? Or are they just trying to make us think they're going to be an option for people who don't trust Apple? As it is, Android is already too much of a mess for me to trust. I wouldn't ssh from an Android to an important server, just as I wouldn't from a Windows machine. Too many moving parts into which I have little or no vantage.

jammygit 8y ago

Can somebody clarify specifically what risks the microg signature spoofing patch might entail in real world use? I know its conceptually bad, but its a bit abstract in terms of my actual phone