Slashdot Mirror
Why the Kill Switch Makes Sense For Android
Technologizer writes "It came out this week that Google's Android phone OS, like the iPhone, has a kill switch that lets Android Market applications be disabled remotely. But it's a mistake to lump Google's implementation and Apple's together — the Google version is a smart, pro-consumer move that avoids all the things that make Apple's version a bad idea."
Congratulations on your purchase of a brand new nigger! If handled properly, your apeman will give years of valuable, if reluctant, service.
INSTALLING YOUR NIGGER.
You should install your nigger differently according to whether you have purchased the field or house model. Field niggers work best in a serial configuration, i.e. chained together. Chain your nigger to another nigger immediately after unpacking it, and don't even think about taking that chain off, ever. Many niggers start singing as soon as you put a chain on them. This habit can usually be thrashed out of them if nipped in the bud. House niggers work best as standalone units, but should be hobbled or hamstrung to prevent attempts at escape. At this stage, your nigger can also be given a name. Most owners use the same names over and over, since niggers become confused by too much data. Rufus, Rastus, Remus, Toby, Carslisle, Carlton, Hey-You!-Yes-you!, Yeller, Blackstar, and Sambo are all effective names for your new buck nigger. If your nigger is a ho, it should be called Latrelle, L'Tanya, or Jemima. Some owners call their nigger hoes Latrine for a joke. Pearl, Blossom, and Ivory are also righteous names for nigger hoes. These names go straight over your nigger's head, by the way.
CONFIGURING YOUR NIGGER
Owing to a design error, your nigger comes equipped with a tongue and vocal chords. Most niggers can master only a few basic human phrases with this apparatus - "muh dick" being the most popular. However, others make barking, yelping, yapping noises and appear to be in some pain, so you should probably call a vet and have him remove your nigger's tongue. Once de-tongued your nigger will be a lot happier - at least, you won't hear it complaining anywhere near as much. Niggers have nothing interesting to say, anyway. Many owners also castrate their niggers for health reasons (yours, mine, and that of women, not the nigger's). This is strongly recommended, and frankly, it's a mystery why this is not done on the boat
HOUSING YOUR NIGGER.
Your nigger can be accommodated in cages with stout iron bars. Make sure, however, that the bars are wide enough to push pieces of nigger food through. The rule of thumb is, four niggers per square yard of cage. So a fifteen foot by thirty foot nigger cage can accommodate two hundred niggers. You can site a nigger cage anywhere, even on soft ground. Don't worry about your nigger fashioning makeshift shovels out of odd pieces of wood and digging an escape tunnel under the bars of the cage. Niggers never invented the shovel before and they're not about to now. In any case, your nigger is certainly too lazy to attempt escape. As long as the free food holds out, your nigger is living better than it did in Africa, so it will stay put. Buck niggers and hoe niggers can be safely accommodated in the same cage, as bucks never attempt sex with black hoes.
FEEDING YOUR NIGGER.
Your Nigger likes fried chicken, corn bread, and watermelon. You should therefore give it none of these things because its lazy ass almost certainly doesn't deserve it. Instead, feed it on porridge with salt, and creek water. Your nigger will supplement its diet with whatever it finds in the fields, other niggers, etc. Experienced nigger owners sometimes push watermelon slices through the bars of the nigger cage at the end of the day as a treat, but only if all niggers have worked well and nothing has been stolen that day. Mike of the Old Ranch Plantation reports that this last one is a killer, since all niggers steal something almost every single day of their lives. He reports he doesn't have to spend much on free watermelon for his niggers as a result. You should never allow your nigger meal breaks while at work, since if it stops work for more than ten minutes it will need to be retrained. You would be surprised how long it takes to teach a nigger to pick cotton. You really would. Coffee beans? Don't ask. You have no idea.
MAKING YOUR NIGGER WORK.
Niggers are very, very averse to work of any kind. The nigger's most
Okay, some guy writes an article that pretty much just amounts to, in effect, "Google's kill switch is better than Apple's because Google says it is, and I trust Google to do the right thing". There - I've saved you from reading a couple thousand words.
I think Slashdot needs to stop posting links to pieces that are submitted by the authors of those pieces. They're almost invariably a waste of time.
#DeleteChrome
You can install other apps on the iPhone, too. It's called Jailbreaking.
The thing is that Android allows for installing programs from -- hear and be astonished! -- other sources than Google itself, unlike Apple.
By "Apple" I assume you mean "iPhone".
Which would mean you would be wrong - jailbroken phones can install applications from sources other than the Apple App Store.
And, Android's kill switch is only for the programs that come through Google's own app store.
So does Apple's
So, you can probably pretty much bet that it's only going to be used to regulate malware, or Google's app store won't last long. Or if Google does misuse it, you'll just have to download the program in question directly from its developer.
Just like the iPhone and it's third party application sources. If Apple exerts too mcuh control that users and developers find distasteful, they will seek another route.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
McCain thinks "Tax Cuts" mean that you pay less in taxes.
Obama thinks "Tax Cuts" mean your taxes are higher, but there are tax credits to be had if you shape your life according to his will.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Jailbreaking DOES void the warranty, and if somehow the install ends up messed up, you are screwed with an unbootable iBrick that has no warranty.
jailbreaking the iPhone is hardly inconvenient. Run program, choose firmware, hit next a couple of times and voila. If you screw up, you can easily restore your iPhone/iPod touch.
ps. There's an application for "jailbroken" iPhones that disables the killswitch.
I find it amusing in a dark sort of way that anyone even thinks it's OK to buy a phone that has to even be 'jailbroken' in order to have any measure of freedom with it.
I find it even more amusing that people would not buy a fantastic device because in theory it is closed, when the reality is that it is open...
And you have a great deal of freedom asa developer with the iPhone, you can deploy anything you like. Why wouldn't I want to buy great hardware I can do anything I like with?
Your argument is confounding, on the order of someone telling you a door is locked and then you being unable to go through it even though you could just turn the knob.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley