My wife is upset every time there is an iOS update. No non tech users really don't want to have to relearn how to operate their phone on a semi regular basis...
I can say I really hated iOS11 as it killed a lot of my 32-bit apps. Some took many months to get a 64bit replacement or update. A minor few but important ones still have no replacement and I had to abandon and change how I was doing things.
Re:The European Commission versus Android
by JumpCrisscross on Thursday July 19, 2018 @02:09PM
(#17568904)
> Android will become more fragmented
There are deeper factors driving homogenization than Google Play Services. Those will probably remain, driving most Android users to a single fork. What this ruling does is make it possible that the next Android isn't dominated by Google.
Re:The European Commission versus Android
by enitihas on Thursday July 19, 2018 @02:16PM
(#17568964)
It's not just about google play services. Once manufacturers are free to custimize things as they want, why will they not want to install something like UC browser by default which may pay money. Similarly for a mobile assistant of their own. I know people who had mywebsearch as their default search engine and didn't want to change it to google as they didn't think their was any difference. Given that all of these are solid monetisation opportunities, why would any of them bother to install google apps? Not saying this is bad in itself, but the fragmentation is going to happen.
I'm not seeing the problem. The APIs are still going to be the same; developers are still going to be able to write apps that work for everyone.
Re:The European Commission versus Android
by enitihas on Thursday July 19, 2018 @04:01PM
(#17569752)
The comparison people will make will be against iOS, which will be able to provide a seamless and consistent experience due to the same default apps on each device.
That's not a concern. As long as the APIs are the same, one should be able to install whatever apps they want to use.
Re:The European Commission versus Android
by HillaryBriss on Thursday July 19, 2018 @03:30PM
(#17569528)
> Given that all of these are solid monetisation opportunities, why would any of them bother to install google apps?
Google could also pay them to install Google apps
Android? Your cousin's Android may share nothing with yours, and so may your next Android phone with your current. You may not count on the same browser, assistant, mail, or maps being available in all Android devices.
You may argue that people will be sure to differentiate between Android A and Android B, but sadly, people have enough going on in their lives and want their phone to just work. Guess which OS provided the most consistent experience among devices and the most homogeneous app ecosystem?
From what I have learned with my interactions with non tech friends of mine, they don't want to know why such and such app is better than the default one. They just want things to look and feel the same and just work as long as possible.
You can argue that android already had custom skins on most brand's phones, but at least some platform apps used to be common. This may change even that.