Not clamping dawn is user hostile. These are phones and messaging platforms that are under constant attack by bad actors. Semi-ok means the bad actors have succeeded many times on hundreds of millions of devices.

Stop mistaking your unique desires for those of the vast majority of smartphone users. Very few care about alternate push notification services, or sideloading, they are happy to use the default app stores and services.

You're being close minded. Neither of us have any idea what would have happened if computing was left open, if the doors didn't keep getting closed, & the presumption that I'm greedy & everyone want & must have stupid, as not just a foregone conclusion, but that this was the only possible path towards that conclusion, that no space could have been created, is tragic to see in people.

Looking at the piles of malware which litter the Windows PC world and the web, we have a pretty good idea of what would have happened if smartphones were left wide open. Also, Android started far more open than it is now. Over the years been getting more and more restrictive in terms of security because privileges were abused. In the early years Android battery life was particularly bad because of bad performing software.

Even with the restrictions in place, Facebook and other apps have been caught abusing privileges to get more CPU rights and burn up battery life (and get collect user information).

This post just landed, & it's a glorious takedown of this clutching of pearls desperate "we need lockdown!!!" close mindedness,

https://cheapskatesguide.org/articles/techno-cage.html

There has to be space for more. General purpose computing getting snuffed out under the new security regime is accepting the abyss, & we must strive for more.

Yeah we would, it’s call the Linux desktop.

I'd say that things would get terrible if Linux were the popular OS, that we'd become a target for malware, & that we are not now.

Except since our community actually knows stuff & we have users interests at hearts & it's open source, places like Debian would be largely immune to most of the horseshit.

> There are bad actors abound but many users were navigating the environment semi-ok, checking for information on how bad their apps were acting.

I truly hope Pine phone picks up share (and performance/ functionality) so people who want this level of control over what their phone runs have a platform.

A lot of people don't know how to manage their phones. I know how to manage performance on my computer but would prefer to not have to do the same on my phone. I suspect I'm not the only computer professional who wants to leave that sort of administrative detail to their work life and not have to deal with a phone that crashes due to a poorly written app.

I suspect this is why the iPad is so popular. It has much of the power people expect from a PC, but removes much of the headaches associated with them.

My feeling here is there is space for managed platforms such as the phone and the iPad; less managed platforms like the Windows/ MacOS; and truly open platforms like Linux. I'm not sure open platforms are very well suited to phones myself, but I'm not against them either.