> Desktop GNU/Linux programs are either unusable or a terrible experience on a mobile device with a small screen and no mouse.

Is this an assumption or coming from your experience? Because I'm typing this on a GNU/Linux phone in a desktop browser and use a bunch of desktop applications daily and haven't noticed.

Of course if you run GIMP or something like that it won't fit unless you plug an external screen and a mouse in, but all the applications I use daily are perfectly usable. There's a lot of Kirigami and libadwaita programs these days that just work well on a phone, and if I need to launch my bank's application there's always Waydroid.

SailfishOS (from Jolla) runs Android applications via Alien Dalvik.

That's true, but is contingent on you running those Android apps for it to be meaningful. I have a very small number of interactive things I do with my phone. For me what matters is that writing software isn't a pain in the ass, my usual expectations on storage (eg remote filesystems) works and works well, maintaining my system works, my non-interactive system scripts work, etc. Almost all of this is broken on Android, and it doesn't really make up for it by breaking it to make it better. I find much of the design choices of the operating system to be completely tasteless.

If you say, rely on google maps, banking apps, apps for your IoT appliances, etc. it's certainly relevant. I don't have any of that though.

For me the most and truest pressing issue is that cell modems are very, very tightly coupled with Android. It's still true for the Jolla Phone that it simply is a worse phone because the modem drivers are buggy. This is a complicated issue that isn't getting better, and is mostly to do with legislation legally mandating the tivoization of cell modems, a weird line in the sand on what responsibilities fall to the hardware or to what software, as well as the modem manufacturers themselves not really caring.

Also Play Integrity (if you run sandboxed Google Play Services), but it only passes at the basic level, which is enough for most apps that use Play Integrity.

The irony you fail to realize, the differences listed in fact would be typical of a random Unix system in the 80s, where it's just a mountain of bad and random opinions stapled on top of a Unix system. Some random and half-baked libc? You got it! Some bizarre and overly convoluted greenfield filesystem structure? It's right there! Completely different and frustrating custom linker behavior? Yep!

Everything I listed was an advantage. Now see, I don't think Unix is the be-all end-all of operating systems design. I don't particularly care for Linux, the BSDs, macOS, etc. But Android is a definite regression in the strongest terms. Give me a PIMOS or Genera or Squeak phone that works well. I'll be happier than I would with a Linux phone.

It's very simple, this is about the threat model.

If you are worried about big players profiling you (hard to avoid, high likelihood of happening, low likelihood of damage), then you want Sailfish.

If you are worried about apps profiling you (easy to avoid, high likelihood of happening, moderate likelihood of damage), you want Android or iOS.

Graphene and Sailfish sit on different points on that spectrum, just like OpenBSD and Linux do.

It doesn't have any web browsers. Who you are replying to wants Firefox.

It’s a sensitive topic for the US because it is an an EU-backed and funded project to move away from US tech, which undermines US interests globally. which is why you might see some unusually intense anger/vitriol hurled their way and Goebbels-level fabrications

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolla

"It acquired new investors in 2016, among them the Russian company Votron. In March 2018 they were joined by Rostelecom (which is state owned) as investor, which took over Votron and OMP."

Note that was after 2014 russian invasion into Ukraine.

No, Jolla. They worked with the Russian government. But they cut ties even before the 2022 invasion:

https://forum.sailfishos.org/t/plea-for-official-statement-f...

Ahh, thanks for the correction, it's the window manager that's closed (lipstick-jolla-home). Regardless, I will stand by my statement that a fully open-source build of AOSP is significantly more complete and useful than a fully open-source build of Jolla.

If we're going to start counting forks, we get to count LineageOS and GrapheneOS for Android, and then the goalposts really move.

I kinda wish NemoMobile would be default UI… current SailfishUI with force gestures is (for me) highly annoying…

I think people got too used to bundling by Apple and Google. For most of the core apps there are good and open source alternatives available.

The main point is that AOSP as a system (modulo firmware) is open source and SailfishOS is not. Also, even though Sailfish has an Android compatibility layer (though only for official devices), compatibility is most likely always going to be worse than 'real' Android.

That said, I hope that Jolla Phone becomes a success, more competition is good. Hopefully being funded better will move them to fully open source the base system.

Yes and most people don't realize that the current "AOSP" apps are the LineageOS apps.

A true AOPS image is missing most core Apps.

The Email app had been forked into K-9 Mail, which later became Thunderbird for Android. AOSP Browser no longer made sense to develop after Chromium was ported to Android. And so on. The barebones applications in AOSP have been succeeded by better open source apps outside the AOSP repos. It doesn't make sense to maintain them when nobody putting together an Android distribution would choose to use them over those alternatives.

Because no one was using them. Everyone was replacing them and shipping other apps. AOSP is very modular and customizable letting you configure what apps get included in the OS.

> Seems like a lot of European tech companies are kept afloat by "digital sovereignty" and maybe EU grant money

woah indeed.

To be fair to Jolla, their brand predates the concept of "digital sovereignty" as we know it today. They were making Android alternatives even before China or Apple did.