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I think my phone is not just about apps, but also services, tightly integrated with those apps, like chrome's browser history, password manager, Google docs syn
by devxpy 8y ago
I think my phone is not just about apps, but also services, tightly integrated with those apps, like chrome's browser history, password manager, Google docs synchronisation etc.
Perhaps the only reason why I cannot shift to other apps is due to the serious is the lack of cohesion across all platforms. Google has It's paws on every device, every platform. Which is a huge selling point.
Half my work is handled by this single Google account. I haven't seen any product lineup that lets me have this kind of one-ness across my devices.
- ams6110 8y agoInteresting, I don't want my phone to be attached to any other aspect of my life. I want it to be a communications device and that's about it. Maps and navigation are the one other thing that I think is really useful. I don't want my phone to be able to touch my bank account, my email (other than a phone-specific email account) or any personal or work-related files.
- devxpy 8y agoThis comment makes me wonder... What if you can spin up a personal server, and have it connect seamlessly to apps across all devices? I understand your concern on having 3rd parties touching your personal information, so what if the lineage OS, firefox OS or any other set of "libre" apps, also brought with them libre, self-hosted services?
- davidy123 8y agoYes, that's just it. It's gradually becoming a smart assistant, and that requires cohesion of data and services that Google provides now. I fully subscribe to that vision, and I want to able to participate in it, I just don't want Google, or Apple, or anyone else to control it, and of course it requires a secure foundation. I think there is going to be a new category way of thinking about this soon, for some people at least.
- remir 8y agoThis is what they're trying to achieve: phones are heavily tied to services, so if you want people to break free from Google, Apple, MS, you need strong alternatives. The /e/ Foundation is working on services that will go with their fork of Android. You'll also have the option to self-host those services if you prefer. This will not be easy to achieve, but I believe it's a great idea.
- devxpy 8y agoI didn't know you could self host these services with /e/ If they could support desktop devices, that would be great. It would one more step in the right direction.