Comment by bilkow
1 day ago
Ah you're right! You were actually very clear by saying Android 9 or below, but I misinterpreted while multitasking here, sorry for that.
> If you're arguing that it is Google who is dropping support/making people have insecure browsers, we're in agreement. As with Safari (or at least those at Apple who control/fund Safari), the Android team is very anti-Web/Chrome. Lots has been written about all of that at https://infrequently.org.
Oh, haven't seen that blog before. Incredible resource, thanks! And yeah, Google, Apple, and also a situation with vendors (e.g. Qualcomm, due to drivers) that makes it so miserable. Not only due to the way they favor their stores, but also indirectly due to how hard they make to have updated or custom OSes for older devices. I believe it's a consequence of the amount of control they exert, Apple by plainly not allowing bootloader unlocking and Google by gatekeeping essential APIs (especially Play Integrity) on "secure" (read: controlled by Google) OSes.
It's a bit insane that we live in two completely different realities on desktop vs mobile, where it's easy to install a current OS and browser in 15+ year old computers but can't even have an up-to-date browser on an 8 year old device, much less and up-to-date OS.
Yeah it's the best web-focused blog on the web. As such, it regularly argues that the focus and battleground must be for browser access to device apis etc... Unfortunately the world is distracted by alternative native app stores.
I similarly don't think that bootloader unlocking and installing custom OSes is the solution - sure, would be nice. But it only helps like 1 in 10000 users, whereas a powerful web platform helps 100% of people.
> where it's easy to install a current OS and browser in 15+ year old computers
That's true unless you're using Windows or Mac!