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2071 points K0nserv | 6 comments | | HN request time: 1.186s | source | bottom
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divan ◴[] No.45088415[source]
> It should be possible to run Android on an iPhone and manufacturers should be required by law to provide enough technical support and documentation to make the development of new operating systems possible

As someone who enjoyed Linux phones like the Nokia N900/950 and would love to see those hacker-spirited devices again, statements like this sound more than naïve to me. I can acknowledge my own interests here (having control over how exactly the device I own runs), but I can also see the interests of phone manufacturers — protecting revenue streams, managing liability and regulatory risks, optimizing hardware–software integration, and so on. I don't see how my own interests here outweigh collective interests here.

I also don’t see Apple or Google as merely companies that assemble parts and selling us "hardware". The decades when hardware and software were two disconnected worlds are gone.

Reading technical documentation on things like secure enclaves, UWB chips, computational photography stack, HRTF tuning, unified memory, TrueDepth cameras, AWDL, etc., it feels very wrong to support claims like the OP makes. “Hardware I own” sounds like you bought a pan and demand the right to cook any food you want. But we’re not buying pans anymore — we’re buying airplanes that also happen to serve food.

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wkat4242 ◴[] No.45088609[source]
> I can acknowledge my own interests here (having control over how exactly the device I own runs), but I can also see the interests of phone manufacturers — protecting revenue streams, managing liability and regulatory risks, optimizing hardware–software integration, and so on. I don't see how my own interests here outweigh collective interests here.

However the interests you mention aren't collective at all but very singularly the ones of the manufacturer only

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1. HDThoreaun ◴[] No.45088633[source]
Its only the manufacturers interests because they dont want people to brick their phone on accident. Really theyre only a secondary party of interest, the real interested party is grandma/anyone who can fall victim to malware. Apples decision to ban sideloading is a huge part of how they became the most popular phone maker in the us
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2. wkat4242 ◴[] No.45088704[source]
The real interest is their protection of their sweet 30% revenue stream. There are many ways to protect security, leaving all your keys in the hands of one party is not the only one.

And there should also be the right to be able to opt out of the manufacturers' protections of course.

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3. zapzupnz ◴[] No.45088983[source]
> because they dont want people to brick their phone on accident

Or worse, blow them up.

4. HDThoreaun ◴[] No.45089137[source]
Youre not wrong about the real interest but security is another very real one.

> There are many ways to protect security, leaving all your keys in the hands of one party is not the only one.

When youre dealing with idiots its a bit harder than you might expect. Tons of idiots own phones and if apple allowed them to be the victim of security vulnerabilities they get terrible pr.

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5. tcfhgj ◴[] No.45092010{3}[source]
Yeah, I see it all the time that car companies get terrible PR, because someone killed someone with their car.

In reality the victim is the first being blamed, the driver second and the government third

6. Zak ◴[] No.45092121[source]
> Apples decision to ban sideloading is a huge part of how they became the most popular phone maker in the us

I'm skeptical. A robust permission model limiting the damage an ill-behaved app was surely part of it, as was the existence of a curated app store. The relative rarity of people directly installing apps on Android suggests Apple didn't really need to force the use of that curated store.