4 ms·

The S in SD stands for secure. The technology was to placate media and copyright owners. As an Android user and developer, I appreciate why Microsoft did this.

by ergo98 16y ago

The S in SD stands for secure. The technology was to placate media and copyright owners. As an Android user and developer, I appreciate why Microsoft did this. With Android the SD is treated entirely as a free-for-all, untrusted grab-bag. There are no ACLs enforced on the SD storage. Android 2.2 finally added the ability to move installed apps to the SD, but only those apps that essentially give up any pretenses of security (meaning extremely few). In an ideal world if I added a 32GB SD to an 8GB Android device, I would have 40GB of first class storage. In the real world it is nothing of the sort, and instead you have 8GB of first-class storage, and 32GB of steerage.

WiseWeasel 16y ago
I think you just coined a brilliant new technical term. We should totally start using it. Steerage: n. A computer storage pool with more limited characteristics than the device's primary storage, commonly with inferior throughput performance and an inability to store a boot partition or executable software.
- carbocation 16y ago
  This is probably an intentional allusion by ergo98. On ships, "steerage" is the cheapest possible accommodation, which provides a stark contrast to "first-class."
mbrubeck 16y ago
Actually, Android 2.2 does provide some security measures for applications installed to the SD card. The "Move to SD" feature only moves the signed APK package. The package is encrypted with a randomly-generated key that remains in secure storage: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/07/apps-on-sd-card-details.html http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/07/apps-on-sd-ca... This is not perfect copy protection (nothing is), but it protects apps against tampering by other apps. But it also means any files outside of the APK cannot be moved completely to the SD card; those files remain in internal storage. This is why apps with native libraries (like Opera Mobile and Google Earth) still take up so much internal storage even when moved to SD. [The "apps2sd" feature found in some unofficial pre-2.2 ROMs like Cyanogenmod does not provide the same security features. Your criticism is accurate in those cases.]
kenjackson 16y ago
I have no issue with how the OS handles SD cards. But the way it is exposed in some of the hardware is a HUGE mistake. With that said, MS probably needs to fix this issue at the OS level (and new HW needs to not expose the SD card). Give users the ability to "eject" SD cards, and make them usable in other devices (although of course losing all data).

by ergo98 16y ago

WiseWeasel 16y ago

I think you just coined a brilliant new technical term. We should totally start using it. Steerage: n. A computer storage pool with more limited characteristics than the device's primary storage, commonly with inferior throughput performance and an inability to store a boot partition or executable software.

carbocation 16y ago
This is probably an intentional allusion by ergo98. On ships, "steerage" is the cheapest possible accommodation, which provides a stark contrast to "first-class."

mbrubeck 16y ago

Actually, Android 2.2 does provide some security measures for applications installed to the SD card. The "Move to SD" feature only moves the signed APK package. The package is encrypted with a randomly-generated key that remains in secure storage: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/07/apps-on-sd-card-details.html http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/07/apps-on-sd-ca... This is not perfect copy protection (nothing is), but it protects apps against tampering by other apps. But it also means any files outside of the APK cannot be moved completely to the SD card; those files remain in internal storage. This is why apps with native libraries (like Opera Mobile and Google Earth) still take up so much internal storage even when moved to SD. [The "apps2sd" feature found in some unofficial pre-2.2 ROMs like Cyanogenmod does not provide the same security features. Your criticism is accurate in those cases.]

kenjackson 16y ago

I have no issue with how the OS handles SD cards. But the way it is exposed in some of the hardware is a HUGE mistake. With that said, MS probably needs to fix this issue at the OS level (and new HW needs to not expose the SD card). Give users the ability to "eject" SD cards, and make them usable in other devices (although of course losing all data).