5 ms·

This is another good reason to have independent stores on mobile oses.

by yulaow 6y ago

kgwxd 6y ago
No stores at all would be better.
- fsflover 6y ago
  How? F-Droid has been a perfect store for me.
- input_sh 6y ago
  On one hand I would like to agree with you, but on the other I'm reminded of all the update services running on my PC back when I used Windows and... no thanks. I prefer to be able to install updates from one place.
  - rektide 6y ago
    In Debian, there is a package management tool, apt. One can update all services, install packages &c through it. But it is a tool, not a store, not a repository. One points apt at whatever repositories they want. Thus folks like Ubuntu can fork Debian but use the same apt tool; create their own repository & point /etc/apt/sources.list at their repository rather than Debians. Apt goes further still. Debian doesn't/can't provide Google Chrome in their repos, but I can add a Google repository to /etc/apt/sources.list, and now my package manager can install Chrome. One can also do wild things like have both Debian & Ubuntu repositories listed in sources.list, and mix and match packages from the two, & manage/prioritize where to prefer to install from if unspecified. In contrast, we see other comments mentioning F-Droid (which requires elevated permissions most users don't have access to, i believe) as a good shop, versus Play Store. But even if that is the case, there are now multiple separate managers running on a system, each tied to their own repository, where-as by contrast, if apt were running on a phone, it could manage whatever set of repositories/stores the user selected, in a consistent central fashion. This model seems ideal to me. There are multiple repositories (stores) where one can install from, using a common, local package management tool that interfaces with these repositories. It has the upside of creating a good way to manage the system, & that manager can interface & harness many different sources of software concurrently.
- sumedh 6y ago
  How would non techies get the apps?
  - zo1 6y ago
    Well how do they install "apps" on their computers right now without app stores? You know, there is really nothing magical about phones that requires them to need app-stores or marketplaces for software. Other than we've been putting ourselves into a corner that makes it necessary for them to be an ultra-secure computing device as opposed to our desktop devices.
    - EForEndeavour 6y ago
      They type a possibly inaccurate description of what they're looking for in their browser's default search bar and end up downloading and executing random programs from random websites without bothering to verify the trustworthiness of any of this process.
    - shuntress 6y ago
      You seem to be willfully ignoring the prevalence of malicious software and the necessity of at least some form of curated "software garden" in which users can have high confidence they are not accidentally installing malware.
    - sumedh 6y ago
      > Well how do they install "apps" on their computers right now without app stores? They depend on others or they install malwares on their computers, do you want the same to be happening on their phones?

This is another good reason to have independent stores on mobile oses.

by yulaow 6y ago

This is another good reason to have independent stores on mobile oses.

kgwxd 6y ago

No stores at all would be better.

fsflover 6y ago
How? F-Droid has been a perfect store for me.
input_sh 6y ago
On one hand I would like to agree with you, but on the other I'm reminded of all the update services running on my PC back when I used Windows and... no thanks. I prefer to be able to install updates from one place.
- rektide 6y ago
  In Debian, there is a package management tool, apt. One can update all services, install packages &c through it. But it is a tool, not a store, not a repository. One points apt at whatever repositories they want. Thus folks like Ubuntu can fork Debian but use the same apt tool; create their own repository & point /etc/apt/sources.list at their repository rather than Debians. Apt goes further still. Debian doesn't/can't provide Google Chrome in their repos, but I can add a Google repository to /etc/apt/sources.list, and now my package manager can install Chrome. One can also do wild things like have both Debian & Ubuntu repositories listed in sources.list, and mix and match packages from the two, & manage/prioritize where to prefer to install from if unspecified. In contrast, we see other comments mentioning F-Droid (which requires elevated permissions most users don't have access to, i believe) as a good shop, versus Play Store. But even if that is the case, there are now multiple separate managers running on a system, each tied to their own repository, where-as by contrast, if apt were running on a phone, it could manage whatever set of repositories/stores the user selected, in a consistent central fashion. This model seems ideal to me. There are multiple repositories (stores) where one can install from, using a common, local package management tool that interfaces with these repositories. It has the upside of creating a good way to manage the system, & that manager can interface & harness many different sources of software concurrently.
sumedh 6y ago
How would non techies get the apps?
- zo1 6y ago
  Well how do they install "apps" on their computers right now without app stores? You know, there is really nothing magical about phones that requires them to need app-stores or marketplaces for software. Other than we've been putting ourselves into a corner that makes it necessary for them to be an ultra-secure computing device as opposed to our desktop devices.
  - EForEndeavour 6y ago
    They type a possibly inaccurate description of what they're looking for in their browser's default search bar and end up downloading and executing random programs from random websites without bothering to verify the trustworthiness of any of this process.
  - shuntress 6y ago
    You seem to be willfully ignoring the prevalence of malicious software and the necessity of at least some form of curated "software garden" in which users can have high confidence they are not accidentally installing malware.
  - sumedh 6y ago
    > Well how do they install "apps" on their computers right now without app stores? They depend on others or they install malwares on their computers, do you want the same to be happening on their phones?