>Open source Android vs. closed iOS

Google have slid back on this from day one. A pure-AOSP build of Android is borderline unusable, to the point that the dialer UI, various essential apps such as contacts and the like are now proprietary Google code, stripped out of AOSP. Additionally, AOSP has gone to a source-dump release pattern, rather than an open build. Last I knew, even basic things like the Camera and clock app had been made Google-Properietary.

You have to go to a completely independent distribution like LineageOS, which has maintained a step by step fork of Android, in order to have a "google free" environment that is vaguely useful.

However, the thing the courts have gotten very angry with is that in order to use the Android trademark, you have to get certification, which requires you to exclusively ship a series of Google applications (Chrome, Gmail, Youtube, the Google Photos app, etc) even if you have your own replacement (e.g. Samsung's browser, a native photo app, email client, etc.) and you Must ship with the Google account system up front.

> Install apps from any source on Android vs. total restriction on iOS

Going with the previous one: The apps you install then are going to require the Google services that may or may not have been shipped with your phone. Additionally, the hoops that an application must go through to get the same level privileges as a Google application -- even for things on the local phone -- are far and above what most people would be willing to go through: Since Google apps are installed on the system software end, they are given privileges that no other application could have.

> Switch default app for browser (and many other things!) vs. No choice but Safari tech on iOS

See previous: If you want to ship with Google's blessed market, you must ship with Chrome and it must be the default. The power of defaults is strong here.

> Open source Android vs. closed iOS

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/07/googles-iron-grip-on...

This article lays out in painstaking detail in one place most of the criticisms about Android you'll find in this comment thread.

And this was published in 2018! That Google still maintains "a better actor" aura despite all that we know now is the greatest trick they ever pulled.

i have a pixel phone, but google is not the good guy here. Like in this example, it basically bundles stuff in a way, so if you want for example the store, you have to take other stuff also and that other stuff has its own requirements.

For the record, none of those are objectively "better". You and I may think they're better. Lots, lots, as in billions of people, couldn't care less:

> Open source Android vs. closed iOS

Almost no one outside specific tech circles cares, and even if they understood what it meant, still wouldn't care.

> Install apps from any source on Android vs. total restriction on iOS

That's one of the primary reasons I suggest that my relatives buy iPhones. I have older family who would absolutely install an APK from hackerz.ru if they got a phishing email claiming they won the Facebook Lottery and that's how they claim the prize. For that matter, I'm glad my bank has to publish their app through the App Store, because otherwise they'd almost certainly be hosting it on sketchysounding.bankservices.biz if no one made them.

The walled garden is an enormous advantage for a huge chunk of the world. I understand why it's a PITA for others. I'd love to install unsanctioned software from GitHub on my iPhone, but I'll happily accept that tradeoff in exchange for my uncle not being able to install "Real Actual Gmail.apk" from god knows where.

> Switch default app for browser (and many other things!) vs. No choice but Safari tech on iOS

I might agree with that, although part of me is glad that there's at least one major platform that Chrome hasn't taken over.

> Easy switch of search provider in Chrome vs. countless dark patterns pushing Edge and Bing on Windows

Five years ago, I'd have agreed. Today Chrome seems like the King of Dark Patterns because it can get away with it. It's the one single app on my Mac that makes me specially configure cmd-Q to quit it. Manifest v3. Web Integrity API. Etc., etc., etc. Google does this because they can. They haven't been the better actor in ages.

Android is hardly open source if it’s developed behind closed doors and final version released. It’s pretending.

Android is not open source and has not been for years. There is AOSP that contains small part of Android source. But the product that Google sells to OEMs is not open source.

No one could use the open source OS because the closed source play store was off limits unless you complied with google’s terms. It is like someone saying here is candy for you for free! But you can’t unwrap it unless you buy my dental insurance.

It seems the probability of being guilty in the current justice system is a function of how many persistent enemies you have and not how just or unjust your actions are.

Please add Dr.Evil's air quotes around open in "open source Android"

With Apple, they are the manufacturer of the phone and the software, so they get to decide what goes on the hardware.

Google makes the OS, but not the hardware. Why should they be able to decide what another company puts on the hardware.

This is exactly the same playbook Microsoft tried in the 90s, and it is going to court for the exact same reason. It's using your market power to prevent competition.

We've decided that just because you are the maker of a piece of software does not mean you get to decide what runs on someone else's hardware.

The EU fined Apple a couple of days ago, because their app store restrictions violate the Digital Market Act (DMA).

Similarly the EU forced Apple to allow alternative browser engines and to add a default browser selector.

At this point, an Android phone without Google Play Services is mostly useless. You can't use maps, you can't even use notifications!

I've learned that to a lot of people, perfect is always the ideal enemy of good.

Android is source partially open, not anywhere close to true open source.

> It continues to baffle me that Google gets harassed by the courts for being a better actor in almost every area it participates.

Doesn't mean much in a duopoly. Anyway, there's no real alternative to using google services which basically ruins the phone.

> Google gets harassed by the courts for being a better actor

Please just stop

Yes, please break up Apple, too! Who do we have to call to start the antitrust suit?

They're being harassed for lying about being a better actor. Apple gets to be a controlling asshole because there's no legal requirement for tech companies to not be. Google tried to have their cake and eat it too.

iOS is a package deal: you use our OS on our phones with our App Store and browser. Very straightforward and honest, even if we rightly hate the deal. This all relies on basic protections of IP law that the state is so far unwilling to roll back.

Android is a confusopoly[0]. For every point you mentioned, Google has a hidden deal or catch that subverts the intention of the words in question and makes it as bad as iOS.

Yes, Android is FOSS, but the app store everyone uses is proprietary; and Google's licensing terms for the proprietary store contravene the licenses on the FOSS portion. You specifically agree not to ship devices with "Android forks", even if you don't put the proprietary store on those specific devices. And what's actually released in AOSP shrinks every time a Google engineer puts a Google client in an app. Let us also not forget Android Honeycomb, which actually was not released to AOSP. There is no legal requirement for Google to ship source, and they've already tried out a fully-proprietary release of Android in the past.

Yes, you could install non-Google-Play apps on Android, but updating them required you to manually approve every update. Third-party app stores were a nightmare to use until Epic sued about it and Google provided APIs to actually deliver updates in the same way that Google Play can.

Yes, Google Play lets Mozilla ship Gecko. But Google is also paying phone manufacturers lots of money to make Chrome the default. Oh, and to not ship any third-party app stores. Combined with Google Play not letting you distribute other app stores through itself, it makes actually finding and using an app store a pain.

And Chrome is specifically designed to make you use Google Search with the same dark patterns Edge uses.

Please do not fool yourself into thinking that any actor in this industry is good. They all suck, and you should be happy when any of them get their noses bloodied.

[0] A term coined by the writer of Dilbert, Hatsune Miku, for deliberately confusing marketing intended to make you sigh in frustration, open your wallet, and let the sales guy decide what product you buy.

Aren't those first two points being phased out?

E..g. Google recently announced that it will be moving Android development entirely to its private internal branch, no more development sharing. They say they'll still be open source, but Google has been caught lying about a lot of things lately.

(Sent from my Android.)