4 ms·

Would it be reasonable to you to get something like 2 years of monthly security/software updates included in your purchase of a phone and then pay a nominal (li

by bradfa 7y ago

Would it be reasonable to you to get something like 2 years of monthly security/software updates included in your purchase of a phone and then pay a nominal (like $25) yearly fee to continue getting only security updates beyond the first 2 years? If not, then how would you suggest funding the people who perform the software/security update process for your phone?

robocat 7y ago
Old Android versions do get some security updates. Android 4.4 still gets the latest version of Chrome (6 years later), and the Play Services is updated too. In comparison when an Apple device stops getting updates, you are stuck with an insecure Safari version, so the device becomes unsafe to use for browsing. Edit: Nokia phones are providing 2 years of version update (from release), followed by 3 years of security updates (and presumably browser updates for many years after that). Not bad for say the more expensive Nokia 7.2 at USD350. Disclaimer: I'm a Nokia 7+ owner (very happy with it too).
jraph 7y ago
Making people pay for security would be bad. A solution to this is having an upstream kernel (like mainline Linux) work on the phone, and having fairly standard hardware in the phone with in-kernel drivers and free / standard libraries instead of these shitty blobs we need on current phones, and crappy unmaintainable Linux forks. Android 9 works on my nine year old airis kira slimpad x86 tablet sold with Windows 7. It runs a standard Xubuntu though. And yes, the latest Ubuntu with latest security patches. I don't rely on the manufacturer. It just works with standard software. Have the OS builders and hardware device makers maintain each part for you. This is not the world we live in though. In our world, Qualcomm and Samsung make their messy Linux forks and don't seem to maintain their Shit on a Chip. The Librem 5 is promising on this matter though.
- freehunter 7y ago
  Making people pay for security isn't unusual. Windows XP is still supported by Microsoft... provided you're willing to pay extra for it.
  - jraph 7y ago
    Oh, yeah, absolutely. I can see a corporation / organization pay for Windows XP security updates. Regular people, not so much.

by bradfa 7y ago

robocat 7y ago

Old Android versions do get some security updates. Android 4.4 still gets the latest version of Chrome (6 years later), and the Play Services is updated too. In comparison when an Apple device stops getting updates, you are stuck with an insecure Safari version, so the device becomes unsafe to use for browsing. Edit: Nokia phones are providing 2 years of version update (from release), followed by 3 years of security updates (and presumably browser updates for many years after that). Not bad for say the more expensive Nokia 7.2 at USD350. Disclaimer: I'm a Nokia 7+ owner (very happy with it too).

jraph 7y ago

Making people pay for security would be bad. A solution to this is having an upstream kernel (like mainline Linux) work on the phone, and having fairly standard hardware in the phone with in-kernel drivers and free / standard libraries instead of these shitty blobs we need on current phones, and crappy unmaintainable Linux forks. Android 9 works on my nine year old airis kira slimpad x86 tablet sold with Windows 7. It runs a standard Xubuntu though. And yes, the latest Ubuntu with latest security patches. I don't rely on the manufacturer. It just works with standard software. Have the OS builders and hardware device makers maintain each part for you. This is not the world we live in though. In our world, Qualcomm and Samsung make their messy Linux forks and don't seem to maintain their Shit on a Chip. The Librem 5 is promising on this matter though.

freehunter 7y ago
Making people pay for security isn't unusual. Windows XP is still supported by Microsoft... provided you're willing to pay extra for it.
- jraph 7y ago
  Oh, yeah, absolutely. I can see a corporation / organization pay for Windows XP security updates. Regular people, not so much.