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This is the other side of the Play-store problem. The other side is the tax. Play store employee can ban your app = destroy your business at any time. The reas

This is the other side of the Play-store problem. The other side is the tax. Play store employee can ban your app = destroy your business at any time. The reason can be 'new policy', 'misunderstanding' or something more problematic, such as influence from your competitor to the employee. A 'power to destroy business', should not be a click away from some random employee.

curiousgal 6y ago
Except it's not, they give you time to comply with the policy.
- kenrose 6y ago
  How much time was given in this instance?
  - drcongo 6y ago
    I don't think they read the tweets.
avereveard 6y ago
"they should have built their own phone with their own app store" - the hn community, when it suited their political agenda
- throwaways885 6y ago
  What political agenda?
  - simion314 6y ago
    When the giants banned that app after the incidents in 6 January in US, you see a lot of comment like "free markets" and build your own platform from scratch including banks, ISPs and hosting. P.S. I am not from US so I am not in a blue or red camp, I just don't like it when some big corporation can lock you out of your account, decide what books you can read, what apps you can install or brick your application/device ( I am thinking at the case where Photoshop stopped working in Venezuela and how on some systems the device will contact the mother ships at boot/resume or when you launch an apo for "security" reasons that could be used in future to block you using the device or app)
    - throwaways885 6y ago
      The problem with that line of thinking is the book burners will automatically assume your politics. Sad.
    - unityByFreedom 6y ago
      I'm fine with banning apps that permit organizing violent insurrection in response to independently certified elections. That isn't the case here however and I expect some resolution will come.
      - throwaways885 6y ago
        Why didn't the primary app involved banned then? https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/opinion/facebook-far-right.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/opinion/facebook-far-righ...
        unityByFreedom 6y ago
        Not sure Facebook was primary but.. Did people really post about storming the capitol using their real names?
        throwaways885 6y ago
        Of course they did - after all, they wouldn't do it if they thought they were in the wrong. In fairness, the vast majority of those who went to the capitol that day were there for the Trump rally, not smashing up congress.
        myko 6y ago
        Parler's stated goal was to allow that type of speech while Facebook at least put a cursory amount of effort in blocking it.
        bavell 6y ago
        Hmm, so as long as the firehose of vomit continues to spew from the PR dept, it's all good? All you have to do is make it look like you're doing something? Never used parler and not defending them but idk why facebook gets a free pass from you, they are far more to blame for the events that transpired IMO.
  - tgsovlerkhgsel 6y ago
    My guess: when it was about banning right-wing focused apps like Gab.
- Shish2k 6y ago
  “Why are we punishing the guilty and letting the innocent go free? It’s hypocritical to treat different situations differently!” /s Or to try and raise the level of discussion: “The HN community” is thousands of people who rarely agree 100% on anything. Pointing out that you can find examples on both sides of an issue isn’t a huge revelation. (Personally I’m a fan of building an alternative to the google / apple duopoly, regardless of political affiliation :) )
FartyMcFarter 6y ago
> Play store employee can ban your app = destroy your business at any time No one forces / forced businesses to rely on apps for their business. Websites do exist and work well, so there are alternatives.
Blikkentrekker 6y ago
> A 'power to destroy business', should not be a click away from some random employee. It exists everywhere, it is called monopoly and this is only an example thereof. Businesses could also, for instance, be destroyed by ARM Holdings refusing to license the ARM architecture to them, or Valve deciding to pull a game from Steam. Especially with technology, there are a great deal of monopolies that exist.
- josephcsible 6y ago
  ARM can't unilaterally revoke a contract (and even if they tried, it'd end up in court; your production lines wouldn't just suddenly stop working one day), and there's plenty of ways to distribute games to users on PCs other than Steam.
  - Blikkentrekker 6y ago
    > ARM can't unilaterally revoke a contract (and even if they tried, it'd end up in court; your production lines wouldn't just suddenly stop working one day) And the only reason Google can do that in this case is because the terms were specified as such, and ARM Holdings could do that too. > and there's plenty of ways to distribute games to users on PCs other than Steam. And there is also a plenty of ways to distribute Android software other than the Google Play Store, but the effect in both cases is that one's business will likely die being denied access by either.
    - oarsinsync 6y ago
      > And there is also a plenty of ways to distribute Android software other than the Google Play Store, but the effect in both cases is that one's business will likely die being denied access by either. What's the rationale behind wanting multiple appstores on iOS, if multiple appstores on Android has no positive effect for developers anyway?
kjrose 6y ago
On the plus side there are multiple app stores for the android and the ability to simply install your app directly to the device. So even if Google play store bans you outright you aren't dead in the water. Now that being said. If you are dependent on google for revenues...
LorenPechtel 6y ago
And they can even do it inadvertently. I've run into multiple examples recently due to the Android file system becoming ever more locked down. Yes, the vast majority of apps have no business writing to any location other than their own storage, and in general even reading other areas should be subject to severe restrictions. However, there are some apps that have a *legitimate* need to be able to wander freely through the file system. Specifically, apps whose purpose in life is dealing with files. The latest run-in I've had with this: The Goodsync Android client, which now appears to be basically useless. It's a file synchronization tool, what good is it if it can't wander where the user wants it to? Now I have to plug my phone into the computer to do the same task (the file system lockdown doesn't apply to access from the PC) that I used to be able to do simply by having the phone in the room.

curiousgal 6y ago

Except it's not, they give you time to comply with the policy.

kenrose 6y ago
How much time was given in this instance?
- drcongo 6y ago
  I don't think they read the tweets.

avereveard 6y ago

"they should have built their own phone with their own app store" - the hn community, when it suited their political agenda

throwaways885 6y ago
What political agenda?
- simion314 6y ago
  When the giants banned that app after the incidents in 6 January in US, you see a lot of comment like "free markets" and build your own platform from scratch including banks, ISPs and hosting. P.S. I am not from US so I am not in a blue or red camp, I just don't like it when some big corporation can lock you out of your account, decide what books you can read, what apps you can install or brick your application/device ( I am thinking at the case where Photoshop stopped working in Venezuela and how on some systems the device will contact the mother ships at boot/resume or when you launch an apo for "security" reasons that could be used in future to block you using the device or app)
  - throwaways885 6y ago
    The problem with that line of thinking is the book burners will automatically assume your politics. Sad.
  - unityByFreedom 6y ago
    I'm fine with banning apps that permit organizing violent insurrection in response to independently certified elections. That isn't the case here however and I expect some resolution will come.
    - throwaways885 6y ago
      Why didn't the primary app involved banned then? https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/opinion/facebook-far-right.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/opinion/facebook-far-righ...
      - unityByFreedom 6y ago
        Not sure Facebook was primary but.. Did people really post about storming the capitol using their real names?
        throwaways885 6y ago
        Of course they did - after all, they wouldn't do it if they thought they were in the wrong. In fairness, the vast majority of those who went to the capitol that day were there for the Trump rally, not smashing up congress.
      - myko 6y ago
        Parler's stated goal was to allow that type of speech while Facebook at least put a cursory amount of effort in blocking it.
        bavell 6y ago
        Hmm, so as long as the firehose of vomit continues to spew from the PR dept, it's all good? All you have to do is make it look like you're doing something? Never used parler and not defending them but idk why facebook gets a free pass from you, they are far more to blame for the events that transpired IMO.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 6y ago
  My guess: when it was about banning right-wing focused apps like Gab.
Shish2k 6y ago
“Why are we punishing the guilty and letting the innocent go free? It’s hypocritical to treat different situations differently!” /s Or to try and raise the level of discussion: “The HN community” is thousands of people who rarely agree 100% on anything. Pointing out that you can find examples on both sides of an issue isn’t a huge revelation. (Personally I’m a fan of building an alternative to the google / apple duopoly, regardless of political affiliation :) )

FartyMcFarter 6y ago

> Play store employee can ban your app = destroy your business at any time No one forces / forced businesses to rely on apps for their business. Websites do exist and work well, so there are alternatives.

Blikkentrekker 6y ago

> A 'power to destroy business', should not be a click away from some random employee. It exists everywhere, it is called monopoly and this is only an example thereof. Businesses could also, for instance, be destroyed by ARM Holdings refusing to license the ARM architecture to them, or Valve deciding to pull a game from Steam. Especially with technology, there are a great deal of monopolies that exist.

josephcsible 6y ago
ARM can't unilaterally revoke a contract (and even if they tried, it'd end up in court; your production lines wouldn't just suddenly stop working one day), and there's plenty of ways to distribute games to users on PCs other than Steam.
- Blikkentrekker 6y ago
  > ARM can't unilaterally revoke a contract (and even if they tried, it'd end up in court; your production lines wouldn't just suddenly stop working one day) And the only reason Google can do that in this case is because the terms were specified as such, and ARM Holdings could do that too. > and there's plenty of ways to distribute games to users on PCs other than Steam. And there is also a plenty of ways to distribute Android software other than the Google Play Store, but the effect in both cases is that one's business will likely die being denied access by either.
  - oarsinsync 6y ago
    > And there is also a plenty of ways to distribute Android software other than the Google Play Store, but the effect in both cases is that one's business will likely die being denied access by either. What's the rationale behind wanting multiple appstores on iOS, if multiple appstores on Android has no positive effect for developers anyway?

kjrose 6y ago

On the plus side there are multiple app stores for the android and the ability to simply install your app directly to the device. So even if Google play store bans you outright you aren't dead in the water. Now that being said. If you are dependent on google for revenues...

LorenPechtel 6y ago

And they can even do it inadvertently. I've run into multiple examples recently due to the Android file system becoming ever more locked down. Yes, the vast majority of apps have no business writing to any location other than their own storage, and in general even reading other areas should be subject to severe restrictions. However, there are some apps that have a *legitimate* need to be able to wander freely through the file system. Specifically, apps whose purpose in life is dealing with files. The latest run-in I've had with this: The Goodsync Android client, which now appears to be basically useless. It's a file synchronization tool, what good is it if it can't wander where the user wants it to? Now I have to plug my phone into the computer to do the same task (the file system lockdown doesn't apply to access from the PC) that I used to be able to do simply by having the phone in the room.