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I currently tolerate Google apps on my phone because Android is just open _enough_ for me to get by. If Google were to put walls around Android in this way, I'd never use anything Google ever again.

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I can't find the article but I remember reading how Google is closing the platform more and more. That's the reason why many people are forced to use MicroG since things are routed through Google Play Services. So in many ways you already "need" Google in your phone for certain apps to work correctly. There's also a rant from CopperheadOS' twitter about how Google make things worse and worse for ROM developers.

I would love to see an updated article about this whole subject.

The alternative is an un-updatable phone that is full of security holes. Remember the good old days when somebody would find a uxss in webview and we'd all just shrug our shoulders at the 80% of users who'd never see the fix because the oems wouldn't ever push updates to people?

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