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Open source app can be compiled and installed without Google play store. If you are hosting on their platform, you adhere to their rules, you are not paying mon

by sniuff 7y ago

Open source app can be compiled and installed without Google play store. If you are hosting on their platform, you adhere to their rules, you are not paying monthly for your free app download bandwith and storage do you ?

icebraining 7y ago
That doesn't mean you can't question (and even criticize!) the rules or their application.
acollins1331 7y ago
Wow great point. Now why the hell can't they have a donation link?
- Spivak 7y ago
  Because you can't use Google's store as a sales funnel without giving them a 30% cut. It doesn't matter if you're a company taking payments or an individual accepting donations.
  - ViViDboarder 7y ago
    Wrong. You can’t even use Google with giving them a 30% cut since donations are prohibited from Google Payments.
  - BlueTemplar 7y ago
    I'm not a lawyer, but aren't sales and donations quite different? For instance donations tend to have negative taxes...
    - 0xEFF 7y ago
      Not unless your entity is 503(c) tax-exempt which is explicitly allowed by Google. These “donations” are more like tips, which are treated as taxable income. I don’t see the problem here. The outrage in this thread seems more about people wanting a different set of rules for OSS and possibly avoiding income tax than anything else. If there are a different set of rules for OSS, then that just makes it easier to abuse the platform. Google’s policy seems fair to me.
      - rleigh 7y ago
        "Tips" might well be taxable income. But that doesn't automatically entitle Google to a cut of them. Talk about a greedy land grab.
      - BlueTemplar 7y ago
        Hmm, yeah, I guess that if we want patronage to become a viable economic model, then it will have to be taxed at some point... Since I mostly give to (AFAIK) tax-exempt entities, I didn't think of this... But neither seems to have Google ! While the global license/patronage debates are already a decade old, and we have seen new companies get started and even established in this sector (Patreon). For instance this "donations" page only seems to cover non-profits ? https://www.google.com/nonprofits/offerings/google-donation-tools/ https://www.google.com/nonprofits/offerings/google-donation-...
zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 7y ago
> you are not paying monthly for your free app download bandwith and storage do you ? Do I have that option?

by sniuff 7y ago

icebraining 7y ago

That doesn't mean you can't question (and even criticize!) the rules or their application.

acollins1331 7y ago

Wow great point. Now why the hell can't they have a donation link?

Spivak 7y ago
Because you can't use Google's store as a sales funnel without giving them a 30% cut. It doesn't matter if you're a company taking payments or an individual accepting donations.
- ViViDboarder 7y ago
  Wrong. You can’t even use Google with giving them a 30% cut since donations are prohibited from Google Payments.
- BlueTemplar 7y ago
  I'm not a lawyer, but aren't sales and donations quite different? For instance donations tend to have negative taxes...
  - 0xEFF 7y ago
    Not unless your entity is 503(c) tax-exempt which is explicitly allowed by Google. These “donations” are more like tips, which are treated as taxable income. I don’t see the problem here. The outrage in this thread seems more about people wanting a different set of rules for OSS and possibly avoiding income tax than anything else. If there are a different set of rules for OSS, then that just makes it easier to abuse the platform. Google’s policy seems fair to me.
    - rleigh 7y ago
      "Tips" might well be taxable income. But that doesn't automatically entitle Google to a cut of them. Talk about a greedy land grab.
    - BlueTemplar 7y ago
      Hmm, yeah, I guess that if we want patronage to become a viable economic model, then it will have to be taxed at some point... Since I mostly give to (AFAIK) tax-exempt entities, I didn't think of this... But neither seems to have Google ! While the global license/patronage debates are already a decade old, and we have seen new companies get started and even established in this sector (Patreon). For instance this "donations" page only seems to cover non-profits ? https://www.google.com/nonprofits/offerings/google-donation-tools/ https://www.google.com/nonprofits/offerings/google-donation-...

zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 7y ago

> you are not paying monthly for your free app download bandwith and storage do you ? Do I have that option?