4 ms·

Room for new competitors!

• pixl97 11mo ago
  "The market will fix itself!" Narrator: "In fact the market did not fix itself"
  • kachapopopow 11mo ago
    if the market is not solving the problem then the natural conclusion is that it is not a problem that needs solving, pretty sad about it that not that many people care about these things. The opposite is pretty much true when it comes to security I am generally forced to use an apple device since I can be relatively sure that my keys will be safe (not including state sponsored actors, at that point I would have bigger problems). Now something for the market to actually solve would be poor hardware security in general making locked bootloaders serve no purpose, having strong built-in security at the SOC would diminish the advantages gained with locked down systems and would allow us to have BYOK without compromising on the general populations security.
    • clot27 11mo ago
      market is stupid concept.
      • piekvorst 11mo ago
        It’s very common for dictators to call people stupid as an excuse for their power abuse.
        • clot27 11mo ago
          market is not people
          • piekvorst 11mo ago
            For real??
  • ixwt 11mo ago
    Narrator's Narrator: "The overwhelming majority of consumers don't care about the bootloader, so the market forces do not have an incentive to keep it unlocked. This leads to the market not 'fixing itselt'. "
    • throwaway48476 11mo ago
      People are not and cannot be rational actors in the market owing to imperfect knowledge. Externalities are common.
    • goku12 11mo ago
      This isn't the 'market not fixing itself'. This is the 'market being actively manipulated and enshittified'. Don't forget that it's much easier to leave the boot-loader unlockable or even unlockable by just the owner, than it is to keep it locked and under control of a remote corporation. They went out of their way to enshittify it.
      • jajuuka 11mo ago
        This isn't true. It's far more secure to lock the boot loader and block root than it is to leave them open. This is a basic security measure from the OEM. They didn't just wake up yesterday and go "let's mess with those nerds."
        • pessimizer 11mo ago
          Somebody said "easier" and you said "more secure." Then, your argument that it was more secure (which nobody was discussing) is that it is "basic." Then you added an irrelevant strawman with a slur in it against the person you were arguing with. Yes, it is more secure against the user. That is not a desirable characteristic for the user, it is a desirable characteristic for the controller of the operating system.
        • goku12 11mo ago
          I disagree. The answer to your counter is in the same comment that you're countering. It's easier to let the owner alone unlock it, rather than lock it to everyone and then control it remotely (at least for updates). At the minimum, they could have used the same mechanism to support owner unlocking. Also, this isn't a 'nerd' problem. The economics of smart phones would be much saner if phones weren't so deliberately anti-recycling. Thus it affects all consumers. Framing this as a 'nerd vs corporation' fight is misleading at best. I'm growing less tolerant of the use of security as a convenient excuse for these big companies to restrict their customers on their own devices. There are always alternatives that don't involve infringing on consumer rights. And most of the time, that alternative is rather trivial. But the OEMs just ignore it and never mention it while excusing themselves. That's intentional gaslighting.
  • phendrenad2 11mo ago
    I can buy a smartphone or tablet that's 100% unlockable and has all the bells and whistles right now, and get it delivered in 24 hours, and not pay significantly more than average. I think the market is working just fine. (To which people usually say "for now". Well yeah, the sun hasn't gone supernova... for now)
    • bigyabai 11mo ago
      Yes, and heroin users can go buy fruits and veggies if they want to improve their health outlook. The fact that better alternatives exist does not mean the market will reward them, which is the point the parent is making.
      • phendrenad2 11mo ago
        I disagree, that isn't the point the parent is making.
• preisschild 11mo ago
  GrapheneOS is working with an OEM that wants to support this (+ the added security requirements for GOS)
  • ysnp 11mo ago
    It's interesting because the OEM is quite likely to be in the 'Avoid at all costs!' bucket based on current information.
    • preisschild 11mo ago
      Hey, If they want to improve, they can always get a second chance. At least from me. But I'm also quite happy with my Google Pixel 9 Pro XL and I have no reason to change. And unless Google changes their bootloader-stance in the future I might continue buying Pixels anyways. But its always good to have more options.