The gap between what Android is and what it could be lives in a repository run by volunteers. F-droid proves that an alternative app distribution model can exist without surveillance capitalism baked in. Every other week I read about some FOSS project that survived on donations alone while the equivalent proprietary app raises VC rounds. Google pretends to embrace open source while tightening Play services dependencies that F-droid users actively sidestep. Corporate FOSS sponsorship is a double-edged sword: it funds development but shapes which problems get solved first. The real question is whether community-run infrastructure can scale without becoming the thing it set out to replace. #FOSS #Privacy #Android #TechLiberation #OpenSource
Google pretends to embrace open source
Yes and they’ve been very good at pretending it. Maybe early on they actually did embrace open source, but now they have become worse than Apple. Because they are closing up everything they can like the closed garden of Apple, but Google doesn’t have the benefits of Apple at least attempting to tend a somewhat clean garden.
at least attempting to tend a somewhat clean garden
I really dont think that’s a thing that actually happens.
Android and iOS both pitched the idea of the platform being defined by independent developers early on. Now they both push trash via their app repositories.
Fdroid and the ecosystem are trash. They don’t have the manpower.
Yes they have a good mission and I appreciate and use the work, but it’s grade A garbage compared to the ecosystem and functionality.
Don’t conflate the two and accept the reality and get others to help fix it.
Ignore the f-droid app… consider the f-droid idea and check other clients, such as Droid-ify which are more polished. The idea is that f-droid is simplistic, won’t use your data and won’t show you tons of ads.
I’ll take any app that isn’t polished, over any other app that serves more ads than actual useful content on its homepage and search results.
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