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Crazy idea: if you want a free as in speech App Store then why isn’t the request for a free as in speech mobile OS? The claim is there isn’t a company backing
by ianai 6y ago
Crazy idea: if you want a free as in speech App Store then why isn’t the request for a free as in speech mobile OS?
The claim is there isn’t a company backing it - presumably from lack of market demand for it. There have been attempts but they’ve not gained steam. Even Google is now moving away from Linux as the core of android.
I generally agree that we need some countervailing pressure against the monopolies of today. But I can’t help to suspect there’s an argument to be made that turns the argument on its head: in a free market it is valid to tell someone asking for a product to produce their own desired good. If it’s a popular idea the implementation has a chance at being popular.
The counter to this would probably include lack of hardware to really target. Apples not letting anyone side load an entirely different OS on its phones, for instance.
Maybe that’s an angle to counter these monopolies without needing to go so far as to dissect them into smaller companies? Simply pass a law saying hardware and software should always be self contained goods - you can bundle them but have to offer them separately too.
Ninja edit- I think in that universe with self contained goods that hardware companies would have to make source code for drivers OSS (why should they care where it’s ran?) or enough information to make writing drivers possible.
- cheph 6y ago> Even Google is now moving away from Linux as the core of android. Could not find much about this, could you link to something that provides more details on it?
- onion2k 6y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fuchsia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fuchsia
- pjmlp 6y agoBesides Fuchsia, that no one knows what it might be all about. Project Treble kind of isolates Linux kernel from modern Android drivers, where standard Linux drivers are considered legacy, while Treble drivers follow a mikrokernel like approach using Android IPC to talk to the kernel. https://source.android.com/devices/architecture/hal-types https://source.android.com/devices/architecture/hal-types Also note that Linux specific calls aren't part of the official APIs exposed to userspace, https://source.android.com/compatibility/11/android-11-cdd#3_3_native_api_compatibility https://source.android.com/compatibility/11/android-11-cdd#3...
- m9ma35 6y agoI think its a bit of a chicken/egg problem here. If there is no apps/appstore the OS will be a flop, but if there is no free OS there will probably not be a free app-ecosystem. Used to have a Nokia N9, awesome phone, great OS, but there weren't any apps to speak of which I think is a large part of why MeeGo died. Honestly the one way I see out of this is if web-apps largely replace native apps, which means that a new OS only needs to support a standards compliant web-browser. That or get the existing actors to agree on and support an open 'app-container' format ...
- parasubvert 6y agoYou’ve hit it. There’s a reason the web once was a threat to Microsoft’s monopoly: it led to rich experiences they couldn’t control. The web is so popular, Apple couldn’t block it. The trick to attacking them anticompetitively is to enhance the browser to take advantage of modern hardware capabilities and then go after the iOS browser restrictions as anticompetitive. Google Stadia is an example of this arguably. But with things coming up like WASM I could see the browser being a local experience for games too.
- DivisionSol 6y agoThere is nothing stopping the Browser from providing AAA experiences, today, other than... Most likely, only a 'good' game engine. JavaScript + WebGL are very capable, right now, and for the past ~5 years.
- ianai 6y agoI think that may be a non-legislative way out of it. But I see the current, bloated web stack in stark contrast against viability.