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Since when does a UI need GPU acceleration to be smooth? It certainly doesn't on the linux desktop. Many smartphones are powerful (non-general purpose) computer

Since when does a UI need GPU acceleration to be smooth? It certainly doesn't on the linux desktop. Many smartphones are powerful (non-general purpose) computers these days; is it just energy/battery restrictions preventing them from being useful computers? But also: why does this matter? Android is a dead ecosystem. Smart phones are a dead ecosystem. Google literally just announced that no one is allowed to develop for it and actually have random people run their applications without paying a protection fee and doxing yourself for future leaks and/or government crackdowns. Just like Apple. On your "own" smartphones you won't even be allowed to run your own software. The only reason anyone would ever keep developing software for such platforms is if someone is paying them. And that leads to crappy software. The smartphone platforms will be entirely commercial and lose all the "scratch my own itch" software. Becoming merely a fancy bank/video/navigation/shopping terminal you have no control over.

rf15 1y ago
afaik at least half the things you said are simply not true. Android is not dead. It might be dead to you based on your values, but that doesn't change the fact that loads of people use it and develop for it. Stop exeggerating, please.
- superkuh 1y ago
  >Becoming merely a fancy bank/video/navigation/shopping terminal you have no control over. Eh? I'm pretty sure I qualified my statements and you're just agreeing with the qualification I made. Yes, people will continue to use them. Yes, corporations will continue to develop for them. But they're not general purpose computers anymore. And if you're a human person geek I doubt you're going to want to use them for computing. But it'll take a bit for everyone to wake up to the new situation. Just like it took a bit for everyone to wake up to the social media problems. https://xkcd.com/743/ https://xkcd.com/743/
intrasight 1y ago
>Android is a dead ecosystem. Smart phones are a dead ecosystem. Smartphones are going to become our legal digital identity. While I'm not greatly happy about that, I do see it's inevitability - as no good alternatives have emerged. At least there are two platforms and not just one.
- iamnothere 1y ago
  > Smartphones are going to become our legal digital identity. This is not a “done deal“ by any means and it’s a mistake to speak of it this way. I for one will reject such a mandate even if it makes life incredibly inconvenient. (I also know others who are switching away from big tech smartphones and who do not intend to return.) We can’t hand off something as essential as ID to these megacorps, as it will only further increase their leverage over governments (i.e. the people). While I’m not happy with many government actions lately, at least they are nominally accountable!
  - intrasight 1y ago
    I said that it's an inevitability not a done deal. Governments will probably provide a backup of sorts - like now when you fly you can say that you don't want your face scanned but the backup is to go wait in another line. The only backup that I can envision is to memorize a long passphrase.
- thewebguyd 1y ago
  > as no good alternatives have emerged. There's been a good alternative the whole time. It's called not requiring a "digital identity." Anonymity and pseudo-Anonymity on the web has worked, and would continue to work. We don't need device attestation that you are running a specific OS, from a specific vendor, with specific apps (or not) to interact with the digital world. People have been interacting with digital services from a computer web browser without that tech since the 90s. If a digital identity is a must (and I don't think it is), it should at minimum not be tied to a proprietary, locked down OS on proprietary hardware that you don't own or control. I'd rather my "legal digital identity" be a public/private key pair that I control, not tied to any specific device.
  - intrasight 1y ago
    > We don't need device attestation that you are running a specific OS, from a specific vendor, with specific apps (or not) to interact with the digital world. None of that. Just your ID.
throawayonthe 1y ago
> It certainly doesn't on the linux desktop. ...yes it does, when have you last tried daily driving an llvmpipe-rendered desktop?
- yjftsjthsd-h 1y ago
  Yes, I accidentally was doing that until last month because I messed up my drivers and didn't notice. It's fine. Seriously, I didn't even notice until I happened to open the about dialog in KDE and it cheerfully informed me that we were using llvmpipe. And having since fixed it to actually use the GPU... I can't actually tell the difference now.
nalinidash 1y ago
I understand your sentiment here, but > Smart phones are a dead ecosystem. is not true. Google and Apple think they can do it because they know they are a duopoly.When they keep doing things like these, I hope we will see someone else coming forward to better serve their customers. > The only reason anyone would ever keep developing software for such platforms is if someone is paying them Have you ever heard the name of f-droid?At least in android , this is not true. We can't let the bad examples be the only examples.

rf15 1y ago

afaik at least half the things you said are simply not true. Android is not dead. It might be dead to you based on your values, but that doesn't change the fact that loads of people use it and develop for it. Stop exeggerating, please.

superkuh 1y ago
>Becoming merely a fancy bank/video/navigation/shopping terminal you have no control over. Eh? I'm pretty sure I qualified my statements and you're just agreeing with the qualification I made. Yes, people will continue to use them. Yes, corporations will continue to develop for them. But they're not general purpose computers anymore. And if you're a human person geek I doubt you're going to want to use them for computing. But it'll take a bit for everyone to wake up to the new situation. Just like it took a bit for everyone to wake up to the social media problems. https://xkcd.com/743/ https://xkcd.com/743/

intrasight 1y ago

>Android is a dead ecosystem. Smart phones are a dead ecosystem. Smartphones are going to become our legal digital identity. While I'm not greatly happy about that, I do see it's inevitability - as no good alternatives have emerged. At least there are two platforms and not just one.

iamnothere 1y ago
> Smartphones are going to become our legal digital identity. This is not a “done deal“ by any means and it’s a mistake to speak of it this way. I for one will reject such a mandate even if it makes life incredibly inconvenient. (I also know others who are switching away from big tech smartphones and who do not intend to return.) We can’t hand off something as essential as ID to these megacorps, as it will only further increase their leverage over governments (i.e. the people). While I’m not happy with many government actions lately, at least they are nominally accountable!
- intrasight 1y ago
  I said that it's an inevitability not a done deal. Governments will probably provide a backup of sorts - like now when you fly you can say that you don't want your face scanned but the backup is to go wait in another line. The only backup that I can envision is to memorize a long passphrase.
thewebguyd 1y ago
> as no good alternatives have emerged. There's been a good alternative the whole time. It's called not requiring a "digital identity." Anonymity and pseudo-Anonymity on the web has worked, and would continue to work. We don't need device attestation that you are running a specific OS, from a specific vendor, with specific apps (or not) to interact with the digital world. People have been interacting with digital services from a computer web browser without that tech since the 90s. If a digital identity is a must (and I don't think it is), it should at minimum not be tied to a proprietary, locked down OS on proprietary hardware that you don't own or control. I'd rather my "legal digital identity" be a public/private key pair that I control, not tied to any specific device.
- intrasight 1y ago
  > We don't need device attestation that you are running a specific OS, from a specific vendor, with specific apps (or not) to interact with the digital world. None of that. Just your ID.

throawayonthe 1y ago

> It certainly doesn't on the linux desktop. ...yes it does, when have you last tried daily driving an llvmpipe-rendered desktop?

yjftsjthsd-h 1y ago
Yes, I accidentally was doing that until last month because I messed up my drivers and didn't notice. It's fine. Seriously, I didn't even notice until I happened to open the about dialog in KDE and it cheerfully informed me that we were using llvmpipe. And having since fixed it to actually use the GPU... I can't actually tell the difference now.

nalinidash 1y ago

I understand your sentiment here, but > Smart phones are a dead ecosystem. is not true. Google and Apple think they can do it because they know they are a duopoly.When they keep doing things like these, I hope we will see someone else coming forward to better serve their customers. > The only reason anyone would ever keep developing software for such platforms is if someone is paying them Have you ever heard the name of f-droid?At least in android , this is not true. We can't let the bad examples be the only examples.