Thing is, not that many apps use Google Play Services. In fact, afaik F-droid explicitly forbids the use of gsm. I’d understand blocking sideloading of the apps that do use it, but if they are going block every single one, that seems a bit draconian and spiteful. Like I understand why they would be displeased with the harsh treatment they received from the US, but I don’t think revenge is a good reason to hamper the user experience.

Honestly I like ribbons quite a lot as a design framework and hell, even padding can improve the UX, it’s just a shame that neither of these elements have been used well in a decade.

Dunno man, it is possible to accept they make good games while still condemning their corporate bs…

They gotta be desperate for the money considering how much of it they’re hemorrhaging every waking minute.

Fair enough. I sure hope that “business” feature stays business-only or opti-in.

In a way I get it since from my experience the C-suites really like not writing their emails themselves so this is their way of trying not to lose existing corporate customers, however I do see how their lack of transparency is concerning.

Oh, ok my bad 😅

Hmm… Is that a problem with their more recent endeavors? I myself have only used their email and pasword manager services and I find their feature sets to be sufficient.

Also, marketing containig the letters “A” and “I” does not invalidate the product. While I absolutely despise seeing AI plastered everywhere, it is true that ML algorithms are often incredibly useful (even if LLMs aren’t)

You know, people are mad at this for some reason, but while I don’t see myself using this ever, I’m really glad a more privacy conscious alternative to the google ecosystem is growing.(Even if this product of theirs doesn’t compete with them, many others do)

Honestly I think that it’s models like these that output things that could be called art.

Whenever a model is actually good, it just creates pretty pictures that would have otherwise been painted by a human, whereas this actually creates something unique and novel. Just like real art almost always ilicits some kind of emotion, so too do the products of models like these and I think that that’s much more interesting that having another generic AI postcard.

Not that I’m happy to see how much SD has fallen though.

Oh no! Poor people!

Oh no! Now one incredibly wealthy corporation has slightly more money than another incredibly wealthy corporation :(

Oh, I see :) Thank you for clarifying.

It’s really impressive what they’ve been able to achieve then.

Wow, had no idea the first one was made with such budget constraints… Though I am curious where you got the budget estimate for 2 as I haven’t found anyhting.

Ehhh well, I’ve kinda regained a bit oh hope after starting Alan Wake II, but yeah the big three (EA, Activison, Ubisoft) are hilariously bad.

B-but you don’t understand! Rockstar has been hinting at it with the moon phases and the constellations present in some random promo art! It’s happening any day now!

It’s not about karma. It’s about sending a message.

I’ve had a pretty similar journey to yours and I’m currently using Qwant, although the only reason I’m using them is because they’re based in Europe and haven’t had any scandals that I could find. If you’re really concerned about privacy I’ve heard good things about Kagi.

boo hoo

Yeah, sorry if I came out harsh. In all honesty I am just frustrated by the incredible growth of Apple. It really confuses me how with such a tight ecosystem and anti-consumer practices they have managed to attain such mindshare that it’s not even funny. And I am saying all that despite this very comment being sent out of an iPhone.

Not much of a surprise, at least to me. Granted, my knowledge of the place is limited, but from what I’ve heard they really care about symbols of status (Fancy watches, jewelry, and, of course, expensive phones). Add that to the fact that kids nowdays aren’t as patriotic (a good thing imo) and care less about local brands and the fact that tech literacy is not great either… Well it puts thing in perspective.