Ahh yes,the slow boiling continues.

So if I want to release a free android game my options are.

A: Hope Google doesn't change course again.

B: Give Google a copy of my apartment lease,

Would be too hard for them to ya know actually implement sandboxing which would prevent this.

Anything aside from full bootloader access means I'm renting my device.

Too late now though.

Southeast Asian scammers - they could've directly said from India/Pakistan.

The current title of this submission is

> Google will allow users to sideload Android apps without verification

Which seems to be false. As far as I understand, Google still requires verification.

..does Valve wanna make a phone any time soon?

Imagine you could do with your hardware what you wanted. Brave. Innovative. Revolutionary.

/Old man laughing at "cloud" that is my baremetal.

The Tyranny of the Marginal User strikes again.

We need Linux phones stat.

That blog post really downplays the issue that people have with the verification requirement and is tone-deaf. The resistance to get Google's blessing for app distribution is definitely not limited to students and hobbyists - and I don't think that's even the biggest affected group.

Over the long run this might help Android a lot

That's by far not good enough. Google's reasoning is principally flawed.

First of all, there is principally no good reason why adult people should be patronized by Google or other companies and kept from installing the software they want to install. Limitation of numbers just means that I cannot publish my .apk and let users install it freely. However, anyone who is allowed to smoke, drink alcohol, or get a motorcycle, should also be allowed to install whatever application they want. It's a matter of basic individual freedom.

Second, the majority of reasonable users cannot be restricted from using their device as they wish just because a small minority falls for scams. A minority of people also drink themselves to death, die in motorcycle accidents, or smoke. There is nothing wrong with taking risks and taking responsibility for one's own life. We don't need for-profit corporations to hold our hands.

Third, if they believed their own arguments, then they'd make certain functions such as intercepting SMS messages and installing a custom keyboard subject to stricter requirements with potential developer verification and keep the OS open and free otherwise. This would be a piece of cake since the technical infrastructure is already there on Android. The fact that they don't clearly indicates they're hypocrites and want to control users and developers, make 3rd party app stores harder or impossible, control which apps they "allow" as part of anti-competitive behavior, and possibly extract some extra cash from developers in the future.

It's a pity how private computing is destroyed and that's the reason we all have to use inferior web apps until browsers are closed down in the same way in the name of security theater.