Apple isn't that much of an asshole, it only does all the dick moves it legally allowed to.
this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024
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No their ads told me they’re the heroic guardians of my privacy.
Can't think of any worse assholes except Google.
Just because they make nice looking hardware, you give them a pass.
Samsung finally ditched the stupid curved glass, so Androidland now has nice hardware too
Good luck with that. Their phones are filled with ads and Samsung’s crappy software that can’t be removed. Apple and Google do the same thing, but their apps are at least good. As good as Samsung’s hardware is, they mess up the package with their hot garbage software.
I do wholeheartedly agree that Samsung writes shit software tho, but their customizations for the last seven years stopped frying my phone. (S2 was okay, S3 was such a dumpster fire of a phone caused by Samsung's deplorable coding)
I have the impression that OS restrictions imposed by Google on latest versions of Android and - perhaps - the move to Kotlin improved it. I have been using a S10+ and had no issues with software. Crappy software can be removed without root using ADB and, in my region, Samsung does not bundle carrier crap (except stupid Facebook stuff that is still present in S10 and even S24 series)
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Apple’s new rules in the European Union mean browsers like Firefox can finally use their own engines on iOS.
Although this may seem like a welcome change, Mozilla spokesperson Damiano DeMonte tells The Verge it’s “extremely disappointed” with the way things turned out.
“We are still reviewing the technical details but are extremely disappointed with Apple’s proposed plan to restrict the newly-announced BrowserEngineKit to EU-specific apps,” DeMonte says.
In iOS 17.4, Apple will no longer force browsers in the EU to use WebKit, the underlying engine that powers Safari.
“Apple’s proposals fail to give consumers viable choices by making it as painful as possible for others to provide competitive alternatives to Safari,” DeMonte adds.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney called the new terms a “horror show,” while Spotify said the changes are a “farce.” Apple’s guidelines are still pending approval by the EU Commission.
The original article contains 285 words, the summary contains 142 words. Saved 50%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Wonder if you could get an eu iPhone in the us, or use a vpn, or something else…
Wow, right up front, they're being disingenuous:
“The effect of this would be to force an independent browser like Firefox to build and maintain two separate browser implementations — a burden Apple themselves will not have to bear.”
...No? Apple won't bear that burden because they're going to keep using WebKit. Firefox can keep using WebKit. Not using WebKit is a choice, with pros and cons.
Well maybe Apple shouldn't be so hostile to other browsers. Honestly I don't see why Firefox would bother will web kit. If they might as well not make a iversion.
But then you read on and it says Apple is allowing the kit to not be used in the EU only. Outside of the EU, presumably, Firefox will still have to use the Webkit or whatever. So, while Apple uses its own engine in both the EU and the US on its phones, Firefox will be able to use its own engine in the EU, too, but will have to continue using Webkit in the US and other markets outside of the EU.
I'm not sure what disingenuous about that.
It’s disingenuous to act like this is some huge burden. You ship two browsers — one for the EU and one for other markets. Firefox already ships on a number of different platforms. Adding one branch isn’t going to kill them.
Or if it’s such a pain, you don’t bother and just ship the WebKit version everywhere.
Tbf, it would be a completely new & different browser from the ground up since they would have to make it from Gecko and such. And they are already struggling with their Android browser already.
But yeah, they could keep the WebKit version everywhere.
Would it be completely new and different? The only thing that changes is the rendering engine. The UI/windowing stays the same as the other iOS app. And the rendering engine has already been built for MacOS, so it’s not like they have to start from scratch — it’s the same base platform.
Lol just a different rendering engine. So easy!
It’s disingenuous to act like this is some huge burden.
Having to double your software engineers, UI/UX designers, QA engineers, DevOps, and localization/accessibility specialists to handle a second browser is a HUGE burden for a non-profit.
If you don't care about quality, security, or user experience, sure you can just pass a "does it compile" test and push to prod. You'll quickly find that nobody wants to use this under resourced browser.
Or if it’s such a pain, you don’t bother and just ship the WebKit version everywhere.
This is exactly what Apple wants. They don't want to give people a real choice because they're scared of real competition.
Looking forward to the day I have the cash for Fairphone or some other alt to Android/iOS
Oh I didn't know about fair phone. Thank you for making me aware of this project.
Very welcome, my friend.
Be aware that their hardware has cross gen problems and their support is very bad. /e/os has implemented tracking id into their update service. They are calling cleanapk, they update OS and Webview extremly slow resulting in a very insecure OS.
they update OS and Webview extremly slow resulting in a very insecure OS.
I've recently got monthly updates. The last one from 2024-01-09 containing Android security patches until 12/2023.
@torbjoern @Undertaker 💡migrate to #grapheneos on a #degoogled #pixel and enjoy lightning fast ⚡ OS updates for #android14 whilst using an excellent piece of mobile hardware without #tracking
Yeah, well, I'm not gonna give up my potentially long-living #Fairphone (due to excellent repairability) for a Pixel crafted from rare-earth minerals of dubious origin, just because you're #shilling it.