Proposed antitrust legislation bans companies from making pre-installed apps unremovable

[Danny101]

I think about how fast our devices will be after having the right to remove all software bloat. The need for newer hardware would most certainly lessen as well, and consequently less E-wastes overall. (Linux has been helpful in that regard.) Reducing vectors of communications would also reduce privacy leaks as well.

 

[trparky]

I think about how fast our devices will be after having the right to remove all software bloat.

At least on iOS, apps aren't running all the time in the background, they largely only get to be able to do background operations through a very strict set of background processing APIs that Apple provides to developers. This leads to the idea that if apps aren't shown in your task switcher, they aren't running.

This is in stark contrast to Android in which background apps is like the wild west, anything and everything can run in the background and very often does. People talk about how Apple iOS devices have such little amounts of RAM yet when compared to that of Android devices, iOS even with such little amount of RAM, can still run circles around Android devices. This is what you can achieve when you marry the hardware with the software the way only Apple can.

Yeah, I know... I sound like an Apple fanboy. By the way, I'm typing this on a fully tricked out self-built desktop running Windows 10. Try to figure me out, boys. Besides my iPhone and my AppleTV, I have no other Apple devices in my home.

 

[arrowflash]

That's RIDICULOUS.

so you're telling me I'd be able to remove Phone, SMS and Maps from my phone?

That's a base function of my phone.

Hell, I'm still trying to make sure the base STOCKS app is on all my devices.

If you don't like it - DON'T BUY.

Apple should not capitulate in this communist stupidity one bit.

You'd be removing the app, not the functionality. 🙄

I use an alternative phone dialer/contacts app on my Android phone, and have used a third party SMS app in the past, yet I couldn't remove the ones that came bundled with the phone. I should be able to, if I wanted.

 

[ZedRM]

Don't know if it's been mentioned above(TLDR), but this would apply to all OS platforms, including Windows! US Congress please pass this bill ASAFP and ENFORCE it!!

Put all the companies in their place in one fell swoop!!

 

[Shadowboxer]

This smells like technophobes making policy. I generally like the idea of being able to remove almost everything. But you shouldn’t be able to remove core functionality on a phone. You just know that some boomer somewhere (possibly your grandad) is going to delete the phone app by accident and won’t be able to make calls. And then they will accidentally delete the App Store aswell so they can’t re-download anything.

For us techies, we know how to install and remove things. But there are a lot of (mostly elderly) people who would appreciate pre-installed apps.

P.S. screw Facebook being preloaded, that sh1t tracks your movements and other app activity. Boomers shouldn’t use it anyway, their opinions tend to go against Facebook community guidelines.

 

[ZedRM]

This smells like technophobes making policy.

Incorrect. This is a government doing it's job for once and actually protecting the rights of the citizens before the rights of business entities.

 

[Shadowboxer]

Incorrect. This is a government doing it's job for once and actually protecting the right of the citizens before the rights of business entities.

You are incorrect. All this will do is increase the profits of corporations. Users will suffer.

 

[ZedRM]

You are incorrect.

Oh? How so?

All this will do is increase the profits of corporations.

FORCING OS publishers to respect the RIGHTS of the public to REMOVE software they don't want on devices THEY OWN will increase profits how exactly?

Users will suffer.

Oh sure, us users being able to REMOVE software and apps we DON'T want will make us suffer terribly... /s

Perhaps you need to actually READ the PDF copy of the bill that Techspot auto-downloads to everyone when visiting this page. Yes, reading is GOOD!

 

[ron baer]

Soooo you mean like Android before 3.0 when you could do that. even back then you could move apps to your sd card and keep the phone clean AF

 

[ZedRM]

Soooo you mean like Android before 3.0 when you could do that. even back then you could move apps to your sd card and keep the phone clean AF

Except without all the imposed limitations.

 

[PinothyJ]

What about Windows?

It is a lot easier to do so on a Windows' Box than a phone.

 

[arrowflash]

Relevant to the subject. Is anyone aware of this?

Google sunsets the APK format for new Android apps – OSnews

www.osnews.com

Next step, cease support for sideloading on Android. You know it's coming.

 

[ZedRM]

Relevant to the subject. Is anyone aware of this?

Google sunsets the APK format for new Android apps – OSnews

www.osnews.com

Next step, cease support for sideloading on Android. You know it's coming.

Not completely it's not.

 

[Danny101]

Not completely it's not.

From what I'm seeing, it seems to be a bundle of APK packages rather than just one and so the best APK is installed for your device. The benefits supposedly is smaller files and better performance. Much like the different packages you would see for Windows, except it's usually more versions. With Linux, it is said that if you compile it on the targeted machine rather than installing it, it's supposed to run better on that machine.

 

[ZedRM]

With Linux, it is said that if you compile it on the targeted machine rather than installing it, it's supposed to run better on that machine.

That is HIGHLY dependent on what you run and how you run it. It's not a universal truth for the whole of the Linux world.

From what I'm seeing, it seems to be a bundle of APK packages rather than just one and so the best APK is installed for your device. The benefits supposedly is smaller files and better performance.

What you're talking about has been around for some time. The version of an app you get depends greatly on what hardware you're running Android on. If the devs have compiled for differing platforms, Google Play will send you the version that most closely matches your device. ARM 5, ARM 7, X86 etc. None of this has anything to do with the installer package itself.