It seems a bit of a hollow argument so far. You can choose to stick with open source apps on Android as well (granted, itâs not a really good option quality wise) but the thing is, open source doesnât automatically mean âgoodâ, nor does it mean âfairâ (whatever that may mean), nor does it mean âsafeâ (as long as you havenât completely audited and compiled the code thatâs being executed on your device yourself).
There also seems to be a general âGoogle is badâ vibe with a lot of people. Why is this? Privacy concerns?
Privacy concerns is one, certainly. Tendency to silo is another. Centralized control a third, especially given the country itâs from. But all of those wouldnât be that much of a problem if you were not locked in, if you had the choice at any time to step away, or to group together and take the software in another direction (or: pay somebody to do that). Having people forced into one specific set of software is not good for the long-term quality of it. The only option left is to get another phone, which would be a shame, since the phone itself is quite nice, and there really is no reason to tightly couple it to one specific OS.
It did not try to argue scientifically, it is more a âgut feelingâ. You what people prefer about Firefox OS this is what i tried to answer to. You are right about security, but i did not want to get into that discussion, but on firefox os, i could try to audit the code ;-).
good idea, I support. To do that, we would have to make the Fairphone guys aware of our desire. Thats why I opened the âhey, let us have sailfishâ thread, to ask for supporters. Did not work. But there are at least two.
I wonder if Fairphone has already considered (officially) supporting alternative OSes for the FP. Apparently over 120 people think they should.
Personally i think, it is extremely vital, that Fairphone an live up to itâs promises and enable multi-os support for the next edition (If possible the current editions as well).
Because only if you are able to decide which os and version you have on your phone, you really have a factor against planned obsolescense. Especially the multi-os compatability was something I always emphasized when I talked about the Fairphone project and what many people I talked with thought to be important as well.
I know Itâs not easy, but thatâs about the only thing Iâm really disappointed with the current model and what definitely has to be resolved in the next one.
I definitely would prefer an OS fully separate from Google (i. e., choice 3), but after costly failed attempts with OpenMoko and Blackberry, and a detailed examination of the ongoing Meego, Iâm very pessimistic. Letâs vote Open Source alreadyâŚ
Having been a user of open source software for many years and following the communities, I do not think that #3 is a viable option. On the other hand what #2 really means in my mind is that future fairphones should be build using components with as open specs as possible, making it possible today to run cyagenmod or other alternative versions of android, using something different, as jolla, firefoxos or ubuntu touch (or whatever their phone OS is called) but also making it possible for anyone interested now, or later, to start making their own OS. In my opinion, having a phone with hardware that is as open as possible is also important for the environmental impact of the phone, as it makes it possible to maintain an OS for current hardware also in a few years when then contemporary OS and apps possible are too demaning for the phones made today. (I really get furious over the boot loader lock on the old Sony xperia I am using at the moment, the phone is filled with crapware from sony that makes it impossible to install the apps I want and need - having a phone with closed hardware ends up in the same way a few years down the road)
We canât just decide to use a fairphone os or worst the Firefox os!
Iâm going to explain this in few points:
1)you need to know that android is open source
2)even if you think that Firefox community is cool, well, their phone (that you can buy on their website) is built at foxconn exactly as all the other smartphones makers.
3) Firefox os doesnât support most of the games and apps that you are using on android, first of all WhatsApp
4)if you donât want to be tracked in any way from Google you can just donât use the play stores (is not a big deal, really )
So Iâm totally ok with cyanogenmod or any other version of android but if we start to produce a smartphone without android we will sell phone just to a little niche of people, and we will never achieve our goal: change the way how phones are made in all the market!
Exactly! What people want is apps - apps for buying train tickets, using their bank,or playing that new cool game. Which means that a phone that does not support either android apps or iphone apps (HAHAHA, dream on!) will only be sold to very few people. (I should know, I have been using a Nokia N900 a few years, a great phone, but pretty frustrating not to be able to use the apps that âeverybodyâ are using.
I think I have heard that Sailfish/Jolla is able to run a vm that can run android apps.If that is transparent, that sounds like a great thing - but for Fairphone to develop a new OS seems not like a possible project - a close cooperation with those who does would be great and also probably extend the usable life of Fairphone phones.
Is there a need to choose between #2 and #3? If the hardware specific kernel mods etc are available to the OSS community then they can be used by multiple coexisting, or even cooperating, projects.
I voted for #2 because I think this is the OS which should come preinstalled: itâs more practical for most people due to the large number of Android apps that already exist. However thereâs no reason a custom Fairphone OS canât exist too.
Surely part of openness is being able to choose which OS you run on your phone?
Actually, not just a community developed open source OS, but an explicit commitment to Software Freedom https://gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html would be welcome
Hi, I am a new FP user and would like to emphasize the need to keep the newbies like myself on board. Although I have some stone-age linux experience, I am very much hesitating to experiment with the OS of a Smartphone which I am (shame on me) still struggling to master.
So, for those who like to experiment, there should be an option to do so, but for the newbies and people who do not earn their living with mobile technology, there should be an option to have Android updates in a reasonable schedule to ensure long-term usability of the phone.
All the best,
Markus
Voted option 3, although I admit that itâs not very realistic at present. But in my opinion, software development should be appreciated (also monetarily, and not only by âthanks metersâ), without the software being proprietary. So couldnât option 3 be a continuation of the way Mozilla, Ubuntu and Fedora are created?
oh come on, 151 votes for a not Android OS? are you kidding me??? firefox os is the worst OS that human race could do! is worst than Windows phone! there are no apps on firefox os (or really limited)! why I should buy a 325⏠smartphone if I canât even use apps??? If in the end FairPhone will decide to use an OS not based on Android, it will determine the failure of this amazing project.
@demetrio - Itâs an unofficial poll within the community. It doesnât mean FP are going to do this, so donât worry your FP isnât going to be changing OSâs. Nobody is saying that youâd have to switch OSâs anyway, and the FP would continue to be able to run on Android as it does today
