The recently lost file upload feature in the Nextcloud app for Android

(nextcloud.com)

410 points morsch | 2 comments | 14 May 25 05:38 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

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AmazingTurtle ◴[14 May 25 11:06 UTC] No.43983064[source]▶

We feel your pain at Nextcloud. Our team at Everfind (unified search across Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc.) has spent the past year fighting for the *drive.readonly* scope simply so we can download files, run OCR, and index their full-text for users. Google keeps telling us to make do with *drive.file* + *drive.metadata.readonly*, which breaks continuous discovery and cripples search results for any new or updated document.

Bottom line: Googles "least-privilege" rhetoric sounds noble, but in practice it gives Big Tech first-party apps privileged access while forcing independent vendors to ship half-working products - or get kicked out of the Play Store. The result is users lose features and choices, and small devs burn countless hours arguing with a copy-paste policy bot.

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theodric ◴[14 May 25 12:42 UTC] No.43983826[source]▶

>>43983064 #

Sounds like it's time for an(other) antitrust lawsuit. At least Nextcloud is based in Europe, which has recently shown an appetite to stand up to tech giants on some things.

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HPsquared ◴[14 May 25 13:04 UTC] No.43984053[source]▶

>>43983826 #

The question to ask is: do Google apps have an advantage here over others?

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brigandish ◴[14 May 25 13:52 UTC] No.43984560[source]▶

>>43984053 #

According to the article, and according to many of the comments here, yes they do.

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1. observationist ◴[14 May 25 14:23 UTC] No.43984923{3}[source]▶

>>43984560 #

And unicorns shit rainbows, and we're all going to win the lottery tomorrow.

Nothing google does is in good faith. They're a corporation - a bundle of regulations, laws, rules, and incentives executed on a mixed substrate of human brains and digital computers, beyond the control and sensibilities that govern individual rationality, seeking to maximize profit. If it's not illegal, they'll do it, and if it is illegal, they'll still do it if the penalty is less than the profit.

We have to stop pretending corporations are people. We have to stop pretending like CEOs can affect what these companies do - the only way to restrain them is laws with teeth. If you want CEOs to behave, enforce laws that come with jail time and lost fortunes. Otherwise, this is what we live with.