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Cross-Platform P2P Wi-Fi: How the EU Killed AWDL

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223 points stusmall | 2 comments | 28 Mar 25 13:13 UTC | HN request time: 0.415s | source
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joshstrange ◴[28 Mar 25 15:01 UTC] No.43506331[source]▶
So it's lightning all over again? Lightning was better than micro-usb, then USB-C came out and was even better and people get pissy at Apple for creating something better than the standard (and donating some of that back to the standard).

I know this will not be popular here but I really do not like the EU's most recent round of "no, you have to open up this feature".

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fransje26 ◴[28 Mar 25 15:13 UTC] No.43506475[source]▶
> I know this will not be popular here but I really do not like the EU's most recent round of "no, you have to open up this feature".

The EU did not ask Apple to open up AWDL to competitors, they asked Apple to comply with the Wi-Fi Aware 4.0 standard.

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joshuaturner ◴[28 Mar 25 15:41 UTC] No.43506802[source]▶
"Asked" might not be the correct word here, "demanded" is more fitting.

I'm pretty torn, and I know this conversation has been beaten to death on HN, and I have nothing new or novel to contribute to it, but even though this pushes Apple in a direction I'd personally like to see them move - it just feels like regulatory overreach.

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1. carlhjerpe ◴[28 Mar 25 15:48 UTC] No.43506880[source]▶
In Europe we like our regulators to step in and force megacorporations to do the right thing every now and then.

What makes this overreaching? We already regulate RF heavily since it's a shared space that would all go to shit if everyone could roll their own incompatible thing

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2. joshuaturner ◴[28 Mar 25 19:47 UTC] No.43509261[source]▶
The "right thing" is, of course, subjective, but you're completely correct in the wider point. This is something European elected officials have enacted; they were voted into office _by_ Europeans, and if Apple wants to sell their products there, they have to abide by the rules passed there. I completely agree with that. People have the right to decide how companies behave in their countries/regions.

I just personally don't like the idea of governments dictating product decisions when no harm or risk is involved. If Apple wants to sell a product without a feature, it's my belief that they should be able to do that. This is doubly true when Apple developed and patented the feature they're being forced to drop in favor of an implementation they would rather not adopt.