FunctionallyLiterate

Ugh. I was unaware, although I guess I should have realized it from the fact they have to be vetted by the Senate. Can you tell I'm no legal eagle? I hate how laws are treated by most people as if they're the very definition of what's right and wrong when so many of them blatantly aren't.

That's a nice ideal, but we both know the vast majority of users aren't up to the task. Especially when so many popular devices are locked down to prevent it. Even those who are capable of dealing with it (such as myself) just don't have the time for it anymore - especially when we have to learn/figure out so much (how to do it, which ROM is going to work - as well as contain the features we want, how to deal with issues that may crop up like app compatibility, hardware that doesn't function properly, etc.) just to accomplish something we're only ever likely to do once in a blue moon. I used to love all the custom ROMs back in the day, but it's become such a headache nowadays for anyone but the most hardcore to deal with.

Which is, of course, exactly how Google wanted things to go.

i think there are quite the range of users, and that neither of us should assume our personal experiences are "the norm." That said, why do you think there's been so much discussion about this? There's obviously a good amount of people concerned, seemingly for good reason.

I've not done any significant comparisons between the two app sources, but in what little experience I do have seeing apps in both locations I'm going to guess about a third of those from smaller developers (i.e. not the Mozillas of the world) had ads in the Play Store incarnations. That's a completely unscientific personal guess, however.

Not that it's relevant, anyway - the point is having options taken away without legitimate reason for doing so. Google's own history with malware regularly being found on the Play Store proves that their "justification" is control-freak bullshit. If this is allowed, who knows what other profit-enhancing rules Google will impose further down the road when they've eliminated most any escape routes? Open source devs may have to choose to use ads in order just to pay for the privilege of being installable without having to dig too deeply into their own pockets.

Nah, it started well before Faux Nooz existed. I don't remember the details I read somewhere a while back, but basically this started in the early/mid 1970s when some Republican strategist realized they could use abortion as an extremely effective "wedge" issue to attack liberal politicians. Additionally, they learned to use brain-dead, but charismatic figures like Reagan to be the likeable face of the Republican party when they couldn't find a smart one who was popular with a wide audience.

Fox's success was made more possible by increasing knowledge and expertise of effective strategies to manipulate people that newer psychology and data science fields brought to the table. Conservatives have always been quick to jump on new methods of controlling people - ones that liberals by their very nature aren't all that prone to taking advantage of.

Really was ~~amazing~~ eye-opening, revealing, & disgusting to see.

FTFY

Without rooting, there's Shizuku for some limited rights access. Otherwise I know there (was?) a way to connect another phone via USB to act as a the "development PC" to issue ADB commands from, but I've never personally done it so I can't tell you much more than that.

ETA: Wireless debugging is a thing, too. It being enabled (along with actually being connected to some kind of Wi-Fi) is required for Shizuku to start up (& can be shut off without ill effect once you've started Shizuku).

Google will ignore this unless there's an absolute fuck-ton of backlash over it (and with so much currently under Republican control, even that's quite iffy), so get everyone you can to give it to them. If you have any ideas on how to get even the corporate boot-lickers against this, please spread it far and wide. Quickly.

I get that you can only relate your personal experience, and that many people such as yourself don't know enough about things outside their personal experience to factor them into their perspectives on things.

But, really?!? Just because you don't do those things - let alone frequently - doesn't mean there aren't plenty of others who actually do.

ETA: Not only that, but I think you're missing something as regards to ad revenue. The apps installed from Play Store virtually always come with ads added for Google to profit from. Not so much on F-Droid.

The Republicans have managed to insert enough of their sycophants throughout the American legal system - most notably including the Supreme Court - to ensure corporate interests will always win in the end going forward. The invasion of the Supreme Court is especially insidious because those are lifetime appointments, and they've ensured their recent additions to it are young enough to stay in place for a very long time.

This has already had effects in allowing Trump get away with literal murder by them expanding the power of the Oval Office to absurd amounts with recent "decisions."

When they squeeze out the option of installing from the ad-free sources like F-Droid, and everybody who isn't techie enough to use ADB has to install from the Play Store, then yes - Google will be increasing profits.

Not quite what the other commenter was saying, I'll grant, but effectively the same end result.

That doesn't help those of us users who don't want to go through the hassles involved with trying to select a device that:

1. Allows installation of custom ROMs
2. Will not only currently have, but also retain long-term support of custom ROM developers
3. Doesn't have the inevitable instabilities and/or incompatibilities so often involved with such ROMs.

I don't have the patience or time for that shit anymore - I just want a device that works as it should, while also allowing me to install whatever the fuck I want without the Nanny state's approval.

This crap of Google's is purely for show and doesn't really solve anything. It's a lame distraction from the fact they can't (or won't) make a fucking secure sandbox for apps like they should.

Right-wingnuts are rabidly racist assholes driven over the edge by the mere reality that there was a (half) black man in their precious WHITE House.