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It looks like the world before app stores. Anybody can develop software and sell it to anyone, who can then install it on any compatible device.
by fallingknife 3y ago
It looks like the world before app stores. Anybody can develop software and sell it to anyone, who can then install it on any compatible device.
- astrange 3y agoYou couldn't easily install software on phones before smartphone app stores; the app developer had to make a deal with individual carriers to allow it.
- redserk 3y agoNot really. At least Windows Mobile and PalmOS let you install anything very easily. It was just difficult initially finding apps.
- MBCook 3y agoIt was POSSIBLE. Was it easy enough for the average user? I saw plenty of people who never installed anything because it was PITA. There’s a reason the App Store revolutionized things.
- cromka 3y agoNot really, if you consider Symbian pre-smartphone OS.
- fallingknife 3y agoI really meant before smartphones and the way software works on desktops/laptops.
- rpgwaiter 3y agoDownloading an APK from a website is just as easy as installing an exe on windows from some site, and millions of barely tech-literate people do that every day
- scarface_74 3y agoYes and they get viruses, malware, and ransomware from doing so. My mom searched for a printer driver and ended up installing some third party crap wars on her computer
- cbozeman 3y agoThen Mom needs more training on how to differentiate between legitimate sites and non-legitimate ones. I've said it before, I'll say it again, as many times as people need to hear it: There is no such thing as, "I'm just not a computer person!" We're over and done with that era of human history. Just like we're over and done with, "I just can't read and write!" Too bad. You live in a world were reading and writing is required just to exist. It's been that way for about 100 years, give or take depending on who you ask. Now you need to have basic understanding of computers and the Internet. That's the world we're living in now.
- scarface_74 3y agoAnd how has that worked for the last 40 years?
- rvba 3y agoIt worked pretty well. Should we ban cars since there are people who cannot drive?
- scarface_74 3y agoHave you really been paying attention to everything going on with the typical PC?
- cbozeman 3y agoWell for the first couple of hundred thousand years of our existence as modern humans, we didn't teach everyone to read and write. It's been essentially the past 400 years, give or take some decades. And as it happens, it's turned out beautifully, in my estimation.