zlacker

>>kotaKa+(OP)
This is the worst thing to happen to technology in recent times since there is only two major phone OS's.

It isn't possible to ban encryption, so the governments have to chip away at security and privacy using these techniques.

From: https://developer.android.com/developer-verification

"You may also need to upload official government ID."

This won't end well for Google or the governments involved when the people get so angry that they are forced to roll this back. Switch to an alternative phone OS.

>>Ms-J+Mt
> This is the worst thing to happen to technology in recent times since there is only two major phone OS's.

I don't think that's it. The desktop OS situation has historically be similar with 2 major large players and a bunch of insignificant ones.

This comes down to user expectation.

>>wvenab+qI
No, it's not similar.

There are two OS platforms for desktop/laptop usage: MacOS Windows

These both contain ways to run arbitrary compiled code from an arbitrary source -- like a computer should. Losing this feature of our smartphones should have everyone concerned.

>>jayofd+XP
> These both contain ways to run arbitrary compiled code from an arbitrary source

And they're both working towards taking that away.

For now we have Linux as a 3rd option, but that only exists so long as there's hardware available that'll let you run it. Can easily imagine a near-future where you can only get 'Windows hardware' or 'Apple hardware' and nothing modern that'll boot a 3rd-party OS.

>>bluesc+ET
Is that really realistic? Apple very specifically allowed booting unsigned, and even non macOS, operating systems on their ARM devices. Sure - they don’t document the hardware, but making it possible was intentional.

>>bpye+DU
Yes, making it possible was intentional. But it just goes to show easy it would be for them to remove that option. While they are currently specifically choosing not do that for their own hardware, they could change their mind tomorrow.

For precedent, Microsoft locked down their own ARM hardware to Windows.