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We should have the ability to run any code we want on hardware we own

(hugotunius.se)
2071 points K0nserv | 10 comments | 31 Aug 25 21:46 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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AdamN ◴[01 Sep 25 11:01 UTC] No.45091636[source]▶
Here's the deal for you young'ns. Richard Stallman (rms) had it right on this topic and alot of people had to fight to have the limited stack we have.

It's not enough though.

All we can do is make all the decisions possible to keep an open stack as viable as possible - even though what we have now is woefully incomplete. We need to push for this within our teams, within our companies, within our governments, in civil society, and everywhere else that we can because the corporate crowding out of a free technology stack will crowd out everything else if it's allowed to.

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1. rollcat ◴[01 Sep 25 16:15 UTC] No.45093977[source]▶
It's not the devices, or the operating systems. RMS didn't see TiVo coming, but TiVo was never the problem: by the time GPL3 was ready, the industry (e.g. AOSP) has mostly moved to MIT/BSD. In the end, none of this mattered.

The real problem is that @gmail.com or @icloud.com are now required to participate in society. I'm happy to use an iPhone, it's in my subjective opinion the best device on the market. My concern is that I need an iCloud account to talk to my bank. It's become nearly as powerful as my ID card.

replies(1): >>45094554 #
2. toasterlovin ◴[01 Sep 25 17:11 UTC] No.45094554[source]▶
> The real problem is that @gmail.com or @icloud.com are now required to participate in society

They absolutely are not, though. I've been fully bought into the Apple ecosystem for nearly 2 decades and have used a Fastmail email address with it for the last decade (when I ditched my MobileMe email address). Similarly, I have never had an @gmail.com email address, though I've used various Google products.

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3. const_cast ◴[01 Sep 25 17:28 UTC] No.45094724[source]▶
They meant an apple or Google account, not literally the email address.

Try to live without an Apple ID or Google account. Probably about as difficult as living without an ID.

replies(1): >>45095979 #
4. toasterlovin ◴[01 Sep 25 19:47 UTC] No.45095979{3}[source]▶
Then the argument is just that you need an Apple or Google account to use Apple or Google products. But that's widely true across all kinds of companies and product categories. I need a Microsoft account to use XBox, I need an account to pay my water bill, I need an account to use my home security system, etc. People expect products and services to have internet connected features. Accounts are what allow that to happen.
replies(1): >>45100600 #
5. rollcat ◴[02 Sep 25 08:58 UTC] No.45100600{4}[source]▶
> People expect products and services to have internet connected features. Accounts are what allow that to happen.

Why do I need an Apple/Google account to use my bank account? I can't even log in from a web browser anymore.

That's my entire original point.

replies(2): >>45101182 #>>45106868 #
6. skeezyboy ◴[02 Sep 25 10:28 UTC] No.45101182{5}[source]▶
the issue is with your bank then. the fact mobile hardware is restrictive is a problem caused by hardware manufacturers. there are speciality phones that arent like this I imagine.
replies(2): >>45102788 #>>45103102 #
7. const_cast ◴[02 Sep 25 13:21 UTC] No.45102788{6}[source]▶
No, no there aren't, and of the ones that are, they're more or less useless.

You can't just infinitely hand-wavd restrictive actions. No, it's real, and they're happening.

8. rollcat ◴[02 Sep 25 13:49 UTC] No.45103102{6}[source]▶
> the issue is with your bank then.

What next? Change jobs? Ride a bicycle? Move to a less oppressive country? Buy land and grow your own food? We're trapped into a vortex of *multi-trillion-dollar* global corporations wedging themselves into our lives and clawing away our freedoms, and we're supposed to *vote with our money*?

> the fact mobile hardware is restrictive is a problem caused by hardware manufacturers.

The manufacturers are complicit because the alternative is to be ousted. Every "alternative mobile OS" that tried to directly compete with Android/iOS got crushed.

Google now wants indisputable dictatorship over Android. Manufacturers can try creating alt-stores but you know exactly where it ends.

replies(1): >>45116855 #
9. toasterlovin ◴[02 Sep 25 18:09 UTC] No.45106868{5}[source]▶
> Why do I need an Apple/Google account to use my bank account? I can't even log in from a web browser anymore.

What bank? I have relationships with various banks. I can log into all of them with a web browser.

> That's my entire original point.

All we can do is respond to what you write. If you want people to respond to what you're thinking, you have to write it down correctly first.

10. BlueTemplar ◴[03 Sep 25 15:21 UTC] No.45116855{7}[source]▶
> Change jobs? Ride a bicycle? Move to a less oppressive country?

Well yes, why do you seem to frame it like these are impossible ?