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Comment by thewebguyd | Hacker News Reader

> it would be ironic if it were easier to run software of your choice via a VM on Android than simply install an apk

That seems to be the road we are heading down, but I think some of it may be intentional. It's a way to shut up the masses without relinquishing control of the OS back to the user.

Google's way of going "Here, we'll just "let" you run Linux" but it's also getting people used to the idea that Linux is just an "app" you run, the underlying OS still remains locked down as ever. The dangerous parts of Google's change isn't just not being able to run your own software, it's device attestation and the power that gives them (and Governments) to control what your computer can and cannot do.

If Microsoft ever implements similar changes to Windows I'll view WSL the same way.

It's just an illusion of freedom to placate us nerds.

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Termux is the only thing making Android nerd-useful and Google could make it useless at any time by just tweaking some permissions (e.g. come up with a few more ways to restrict app access to the file-sysye m). I don't want a phone without convenient ssh or rsync support (or git or fossil), or having to find some app to use instead of all the already existing command-line tools that Termux provides.

It is good enough that I am not in a hurry to try to go back to use some more open linux-based phone again, but definitely held back by not being allowed to be better integrated in the OS.

That's the world we are in. Operating systems in modern computers are pretty much just sandboxed apps being run by the firmware.

On lower end phones, it is already common to have the OS that the firmware runs be a realtime hypervisor that multiplexes Android with a higher priority realtime OS to help drive the radio.

> device attestation and the power that gives them (and Governments) to control what your computer can and cannot do.

Device attastation is probably the least scary form of this. You still get to run whatever software you want; all you lose out on is the ability to interact with external services that demand attestation. This is a much more pro-consumer way of implementing DRM than actually locking down computers, which looked to be the way the industry was heading for years.

> all you lose out on is the ability to interact with external services that demand attestation.

That's the problem "lose out on the ability to function on modern society unless you use an approved device or an approved OS." Not looking forward to a world where I have to have two phones, one "approved government and bank services phone" and one that's a device I actually own and control.

> This is a much more pro-consumer way of implementing DRM than actually locking down computers

No such thing as pro-consumer DRM, it's an oxymoron.

And Google IS locking down computers, requiring identity verification and Google to sign any app to run on Android, which conveniently they could pull at any time.

What happens when online services stop even doing business via their website and forces the use of a mobile app? Suddenly now all Linux (and Mac and Windows) computers are locked out of interacting with most of the commercial web and you are forced to have a tracking device to simply exist.

Maybe it's a "lesser evil" but it's still evil, and not something we should just settle on and accept.

> one that's a device I actually own and control.

Where do you find such a device today? Pixel with GrapheneOS? Any decent mobile Linux hardware I don’t know about?

https://murena.com/products/smartphones/

/e/os is just lineage os fork? What does it give me over my one plus with linage os? Also if this is de googled probably banking apps won't work.

> one plus

If you are concerned about privacy, why are you using a firmware-backdoored chinese phone?

https://puri.sm/products/librem-5

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