Post #4478888
2026-08-08 01:53 UTC
@GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social
Reminds me of some "open source" apps in China that use Tencent QQ and Baidu Netdisk for distribution.
That does not necessarily make them non-free, but somehow defeats the purpose of being open source, since users have to install other proprietary apps on their device and register accounts associated with real ID to get them.
No ethical FLOSS developer should ever do that. And apparently we can't expect that from Google.
Replies (1)
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@GrapheneOS@grapheneos.social 2026-08-08 02:53
@cismonx@mastodon.social It's incredibly backwards and very hard to understand why they want to drive away people from using their devices. Nexus and Pixel devices had a lot of Android enthusiasts using them who are increasingly being driven away by these decisions. They're driving a lot of people away to using iPhones rather than simply using other Android devices. The management making these decisions largely use iPhones, not the products they're gradually stripping of their actual advantages.