alt Hacker News> I think MicroG - which provides dummy no-op implementations of Google Play tracking APIs, and allows you to select alternative Location Providers and notification backends - is a better option than running first-party Google software.
microG still forwards the requests to the Google servers. Not sure what you mean by "tracking APIs"? microG is a reverse-engineered, open source implementation of a subset of Play Services, right? It's not obviously a better option: for instance, some things that are supported in Play Services are not supported in microG, and microG sometimes breaks (because of changes in the API).
> allows you to select alternative Location Providers
GOS does that, too.
> I do think GOS lulls users into complacency by focusing on the security angle only and encouraging users to install sandboxed GApps
I don't get that. It does not encourage them to install Play Services, it makes it available. Because for many (most?) users, it is important to have it.
I am not sure what you are trying to say: is your opinion that there is no point in using an alternative OS (like GOS, /e/OS, LineageOS, IodeOS, ...) or are you trying to say that GOS is not the most secure/private alternative OS?
I'm trying to say the same thing I said up at the top: GOS's approach to privacy is obtuse. They deliberately conflate security with privacy (you even write "secure/private" as though they're the same thing) in a way that does a disservice to users.
My opinion is that GOS is very successful at its own stated goal of having an extremely secure mobile OS that rolls out patch updates quickly. I think it's far less successful at protecting user privacy because — as you even admit, many/most of them will find their phones unusable with vanilla GOS and immediately follow the GOS user guide to install Google Play and help them securely upload their personal data to the world's biggest adtech firm.
I think iodéOS and /e/OS are more in line with what I want from a mobile OS.