Malware should be the backdrop behind this move - it's an absolute joke and Google know they need to do something about it.
I take umbrage with the statement 'You bought an Android phone because Google told you it was open. You could install what you wanted, and that was the deal.' - No, I bought an Android because it was cheap, as did 99.9% of other users globally. Hugh Sent from my iPhone On Sat, 6 Jun 2026 at 13:21, Terry Coles <[email protected]> wrote: > On 06/06/2026 12:13, Hugh Frater wrote: > > As someone who's spent ages cleaning malware and junk off relatives' > > Android phones, I'd prefer it if Google actively spent more time > targeting > > junk in the play store, rather than pursuing developers this way. > > > > I genuinely don't understand why they aren't policing the Play Store... > > When I read Hamish's post, I did wonder if malware was at the back of > this move from Google. It would be difficult to do anything about this > without some form of control on the quality of the code submitted to the > Play Store. > > It seems to me that they have three options here: > > 1. Leave things as they are and spend time and money tracking down and > cleaning up the Play Store. This clearly doesn't work and would be > very difficult to do. > 2. Provide for a developer network, as they appear to be doing. The > problem with this is that it requires additional spending to vet the > developers; so they have decided to charge for this. > 3. As per 2. above but close the source. I suspect that's the part > that is raising the ire of the current developers but Google have > every right to do that, except if they've accepted free > contributions from developers prior to this change. > > Of course Google's reasons may be more evil than I suspect and if so, I > doubt if anyone will be able to change their minds. > > -- > Terry Coles > -- > Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2026-07-07 20:00 > Check to whom you are replying > Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... https://dorset.lug.org.uk > New thread, don't hijack: mailto:[email protected] > -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2026-07-07 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... https://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:[email protected]
