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This is a stupid policy. Mobile apps are as much about distribution as anything. People like them, they download them, they understand them. For example, it is

This is a stupid policy. Mobile apps are as much about distribution as anything. People like them, they download them, they understand them. For example, it is 100% easier to find an app on the app store than it is to type in a website url. Also, apps stay on your home screen, web sites don't, unless you bookmark them, which most end users don't even know you can do. So, um... why are we fighting what users want and like to use?

perpetuated 14y ago
Because the Government Digital Service are, for the most part, ideologues. Disagree though I may with much of their policy, it's novel that a Government department actually have drive and direction. Love their line of F/OSS, but they've done nothing with it, other than Gov.uk. I can't see them accepting pseudonymous pull requests, though.
- FourthProtocol 14y ago
  F/OSS is great for gov.uk. It's a very bad idea anywhere else. There's no government department I've encountered that doesn't rely on Active Directory, and there are a lot of projects where F/OSS is being pushed and then abandoned.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
jiggy2011 14y ago
I'm not sure that apps are easier to find than sites, I find google web search much easier to use than the google play app search for example. Plus I know that when I see a .gov.uk website that I am definitely dealing with a government system. If I see an app on the store called "UK Tax App" or whatever it's less obvious whether this an official app or something pretending to be. You could probably bridge the "home screen" gap by simply producing an app for each platform that just starts the default browser to some particular site. Probably good enough for most cases. There's also the cost angle. Since the government is supposed to be inclusive they shouldn't really favour one particular mobile ecosystem over another. So they are likely going to have to produce apps for iOS , Android (and test on a lot of versions/devices) as well as Windows phone and potentially Ubuntu phone, Firefox OS etc in the future. And they have to keep all these in reasonable lockstep regards features etc. The most cost effective way to do this is to use the web which is the best cross platform system out there.
nawitus 14y ago
The government in this case could submit apps to app stores which are just links/bookmarks.

perpetuated 14y ago

Because the Government Digital Service are, for the most part, ideologues. Disagree though I may with much of their policy, it's novel that a Government department actually have drive and direction. Love their line of F/OSS, but they've done nothing with it, other than Gov.uk. I can't see them accepting pseudonymous pull requests, though.

FourthProtocol 14y ago
F/OSS is great for gov.uk. It's a very bad idea anywhere else. There's no government department I've encountered that doesn't rely on Active Directory, and there are a lot of projects where F/OSS is being pushed and then abandoned.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

jiggy2011 14y ago

I'm not sure that apps are easier to find than sites, I find google web search much easier to use than the google play app search for example. Plus I know that when I see a .gov.uk website that I am definitely dealing with a government system. If I see an app on the store called "UK Tax App" or whatever it's less obvious whether this an official app or something pretending to be. You could probably bridge the "home screen" gap by simply producing an app for each platform that just starts the default browser to some particular site. Probably good enough for most cases. There's also the cost angle. Since the government is supposed to be inclusive they shouldn't really favour one particular mobile ecosystem over another. So they are likely going to have to produce apps for iOS , Android (and test on a lot of versions/devices) as well as Windows phone and potentially Ubuntu phone, Firefox OS etc in the future. And they have to keep all these in reasonable lockstep regards features etc. The most cost effective way to do this is to use the web which is the best cross platform system out there.

nawitus 14y ago

The government in this case could submit apps to app stores which are just links/bookmarks.