MESSAGE
| DATE | 2016-05-13 |
| FROM | Rick Moen
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout-NYLXS] Android app ecosystem (was: Worlds Biggest
|
Quoting Ruben Safir (ruben-at-mrbrklyn.com):
> Never ever do any business with this company
[...]
> download JCrush appdownload JCrush Android
> Privacy Policy
[...]
> In order to register, you will be asked to create an account. When you
> create your account you are required to authorize us to access certain
> Facebook account information about you, including information about
> your Facebook friends who might be common Facebook friends with other
> Jcrush users. If you complete registration you allow us to access your
> Facebook account and you understand that we will obtain and share your
> name and a profile picture, as well as the name and profile picture of
> your Facebook friends who are common Facebook friends with other
> Jcrush users in your network or geolocation.
[...]
I'm hoping to generalise this discussion to one about the Android
application ecosystem, where I've belatedly arrived and found that it's
1985 again.
What I mean is: I bought used a Nook Tablet (nice little thing: Texas
Instruments OMAP4 CPU -at- 1GHz, 1GB RAM, 2 x 16 GB flash storage, 7"
diagnonal touchscreen) when my throwaway Nook Original died. The
earlier Nook was essentially a dedicated ePub book reader, so I never
fooled with it, but the newer one is a Real Computer, so I reflashed it
with CyanogenMod / Android 5.1.
CynanogenMod is genuinely open source Android, you understand. Yet, I
was asked immediately if I wanted to provide Google Account credentials
so I could get to the Google Play (formerly Android Store) online store
and whatever. (I said no.) And then the Web browser _also_ wanted me
to provide a Google login (no to that, too).
At this point, I did a little remedial reading about Android APK app
bundles (filename extension .apk):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_application_package You can get
these puppies one way or the other; they're Zip archives where the main
offering is Java-like compiled bytecode for the local Android Runtime
(ART), successor to Dalvik. The APK can optionally also contain
native machine binary code for any of several Android-supported CPUs,
but I'm guessing the processor-specific code extents are rare(?).
So, you mostly have Google's analogue to Java bytecode in a compressed
app bundle. HTTP-fetch an APK to the Nook Tablet, and the UI asks if
you wish it to be runnable as an application.
Doing the above with either application files or data files (e.g.,
digital books) is called 'sideloading'
Which brings me to the other part of the code ecosystem:
The bit where it's 1985 again is that Google Play and (on a quick check)
half a dozen online 'stores' classify code as 'free' (gratis) or not
but say nada about licensing, punting entirely on that. 'You want to
know if an APK is open source or not? Research it then; knock yourself
out.'
So, are there also collections of APK codebases that _do_ take the
trouble to clarify licensing? Or do we need to start one?
I could be perfectly happy merely collecting on my Nook Tablet every
book ever written -- but it'd be nice to efficiently find other leading
open source applications for Android. I notice VLC for Android exists
and logically tops my list, but I wonder what else.
Suggestions? Places that curate / catalog / reveiw open source Android
applications?
[1] The CyanogenMod people occasionally have feet of clay
http://review.cyanogenmod.org/#/c/5677/
Notice the pushback was that giving users full control over 'privacy
mode' permissions and allowing the user to feed empty lists or falsified
data to data-miners would 'piss off developers, carriers, and probably
Google'. Of course, any user is free to apply such a patchset to a
local fork.
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