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Can we as a hacker community say enough is enough and put our collective efforts into making something like PureOS a viable option for daily use? PureOS curren
by lordofgibbons 4y ago
Can we as a hacker community say enough is enough and put our collective efforts into making something like PureOS a viable option for daily use?
PureOS currently suffers from a tragedy of the commons. I, like many others am afraid of investing a lot of my time into developing for it for fear that not many others will adopt it and my efforts will be wasted.
How can we build/market PureOS as a credible alternative for other app developers to start building on top of it?
*Edit
It doesn't have to be PureOS - that was just an example. It could be Sailfish OS, or Plasma Mobile. We just have to pick one to create a self-sustaining ecosystem around.
- MomoXenosaga 4y agoYou can't. Microsoft, Samsung, Huawei- they all tried. Understandably because nobody wants more work.
- oorza 4y ago> How can we build/market PureOS as a credible alternative for other app developers to start building on top of it? Start by convincing paying customers that cyber security and/or their privacy are important.
- josephcsible 4y agoOne major hurdle is getting the existing app developers to stop intentionally hindering efforts to make their apps work through compatibility layers.
- lordofgibbons 4y agoCan you expand more on this? Are they deliberately trying to detect compatibility layers?
- josephcsible 4y agoModern phones have chips that can do hardware attestation that they're running an OS that's been blessed by Google. A lot of apps, e.g., McDonald's and most banks, will refuse to run if this attestation fails.
- lordofgibbons 4y agoIs this some kind of hardware based DRM?
- mike_hearn 4y agoIt's called SafetyNet I think. https://developer.android.com/training/safetynet/attestation https://developer.android.com/training/safetynet/attestation A lot of surprising apps use it because rooted devices are very commonly associated with fraud of various kinds e.g. credit card fraud.
- aaaaaaaaata 4y agoOr so they say.
- mike_hearn 4y agoIntegrating SafetyNet and maintaining that integration represents real work and therefore money. It's not like one line of code, it's a pretty complicated protocol and set of flows that require support in both client and server. If there was no actual problem to solve, why would organizations that are famously much more concerned with money than tech politics spend their money in that way? I really doubt McDonalds cares about the freedom to modify phones one way or the other.
- wmf 4y agoDoes PureOS solve this accessibility vs. malware tradeoff?
- josephcsible 4y agoThis question feels like asking whether DRM-free platforms like GOG solve the freedom vs. piracy tradeoff.
- mikae1 4y agoBy attracting only geek users that know better than saying yes to allowing a random shady flashlight app to take full control over their device.
- fsflover 4y agoIt's only at the beginning of the development. It will, if the community makes it.
- aaaaaaaaata 4y agoGrapheneOS.org
- ComradePhil 4y agoOr we don't slave away to maintain another community project and instead impose regulations on these companies to work for us. If you are a teenage hacker with nothing better to do, sure, spend your time hacking a new OS to run on closed ecosystems. If you are an adult with work and responsibilities, take political action.