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This is how the world works. I don't like the suburbs, yet people keep building them and I don't really have a choice to not live in them. If I go to the BMW de

This is how the world works. I don't like the suburbs, yet people keep building them and I don't really have a choice to not live in them. If I go to the BMW dealership they won't sell my an off-road version of a BMW equivalent to a Jeep. If I go to Wal-Mart and I don't like their prices I can't make them go down, but I can take my business elsewhere. I see this highlighted all the time. When people agree with how something works then there's no comment. When it doesn't work how they want they believe they're being forced into a novel love-it-or-leave-it scenario, when the reality is they are in those scenarios all the time (daily/hourly even) and support them as well. Don't believe me? Ok I want less battery life on the iPhone and for it to be cheaper. Now what? You'll say "cost is important to you there are cheaper alternatives like X, Y, and Z". Same song. tl;dr yea just buy an Android phone if sideloading apps is the killer feature for you. If I want the best battery life or the best camera I can base my purchase decision off of those product features. Sideloading apps is no different. That's a fact. Jack.

selfhoster11 5y ago
That assumes that side-loading is the only feature you care about. I care about a lot of other things besides that, and I decided I will be switching platforms because of that.
- ericmay 5y ago
  Ok great! I think this is exactly how things should work. Apple doesn't provide this "feature" in place of other features that it does provide (Apple Pay, sign-in with Apple, etc.). Similarly I could buy a phone that is GoogleFi enabled if that was important to me. I could buy a phone with the most megapixels, or that folds. Each of these devices makes trade-offs that I don't like, so I buy the product with the feature mix that I want the most. If side-loading is the only feature you care about, Android is for you. If it's one of many, you may have to make a trade off or pick between different mixes of features. This is just how the world works and always will work.
  - selfhoster11 5y ago
    Right now we have a duopoly of mobile platforms, and both of them are hostile to hackers and power users. If the only options are a bad option (Apple) and a somehow even worse option (the latter being Android), that is not a market showing signs of healthy competition. Let's not pretend that power users have a champion here. They don't, and they haven't had one for a long time.
    - ericmay 5y ago
      I don't think I care if hackers or power users have a champion mobile platform. Not all get to have a market specifically for them.

selfhoster11 5y ago

That assumes that side-loading is the only feature you care about. I care about a lot of other things besides that, and I decided I will be switching platforms because of that.

ericmay 5y ago
Ok great! I think this is exactly how things should work. Apple doesn't provide this "feature" in place of other features that it does provide (Apple Pay, sign-in with Apple, etc.). Similarly I could buy a phone that is GoogleFi enabled if that was important to me. I could buy a phone with the most megapixels, or that folds. Each of these devices makes trade-offs that I don't like, so I buy the product with the feature mix that I want the most. If side-loading is the only feature you care about, Android is for you. If it's one of many, you may have to make a trade off or pick between different mixes of features. This is just how the world works and always will work.
- selfhoster11 5y ago
  Right now we have a duopoly of mobile platforms, and both of them are hostile to hackers and power users. If the only options are a bad option (Apple) and a somehow even worse option (the latter being Android), that is not a market showing signs of healthy competition. Let's not pretend that power users have a champion here. They don't, and they haven't had one for a long time.
  - ericmay 5y ago
    I don't think I care if hackers or power users have a champion mobile platform. Not all get to have a market specifically for them.