Comment by lunar_rover
21 hours ago
> What should Google do when a change they are making to protect regular less-technical users breaks functionality needed by more advanced users?
Put it behind an USB ADB only toggle and be more transparent to avoid slippery slope?
That requires having a PC to unlock basic functionality on your Android device, assuming the change we're talking about is still app installs.
I don't think OS vendors should be expected to keep people from doing dangerous things. A warning label saying "hey that's dangerous because..." is reasonable, but anything more and they're trying to be my sysadmin against my will.
The sysadmin part is their value-add. One reason my current phone being an iPhone after being 100% Android for a decade are the better walls and nicer garden.
These are sold as consumer devices and not general computers. It sounds like you want something different. They’re selling cars and you want a motorcycle.
Android was very open when it was released and for some time after. Installing APKs directly was easy. Most devices had unlocked or unlockable bootloaders. An Android phone treated its user much like a PC did.
More sysadmin-as-a-service type stuff is fine as long as the opt-out is easy. This isn't. I'm upset about the rug pull.
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