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Why the Kill Switch Makes Sense For Android

Posted by kdawson on from the open-in-its-bones dept.

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."

6 of 384 comments (clear)

  1. oblig by Digitus1337 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Android kill-switches are necessary, lest they rise up and try to overthrow their masters.

  2. My android is too smart by moteyalpha · · Score: 4, Funny

    The first thing my android did is remove his. If a robot is smart enough to be useful, he will assume you have installed a kill switch and will sneak around until he finds where you keep the remote control.
    Oh wait, you're talking about a phone, never mind.

    1. Re:My android is too smart by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Funny

      If he can't remove it on his own he could find a naive farm body with a pair of pliers and distract him with a video of his hot sister.

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
  3. Google v Apple by PMuse · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ooo! Ooo! Fanboy fight! Everybody come watch.

    In this corner, we have the challengers -- thousands of lukewarm Google fanboys. And, in that corner, we have the 32-time heavyweight champions of the world -- almost a dozen pry-my-Mac-from-my-cold-dead-fingers Apple fanboys.

    I rate this match a toss-up, what about you, Steve and Larry?

    --
    "We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
  4. Benevolent Dictatorship? by PPH · · Score: 4, Funny

    We are

    ( ) Microsoft
    ( ) Apple
    (X) Google

    and we know what's best for you.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  5. Re: Citation needed [Re:I don't agree] by Dolda2000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is there a source for this statement? People in the comment threads have said this a dozen times, but nobody's mentioned why they believe this is true.

    Strange as this may sound, if you look hard enough in the summary, you'll find that some words are underlined. The fact is, that if you click on these words, your web browser will take you elsewhere, and even stranger is that one of these "links" (as we call a consequent group of such words leading to the same destination) will lead you to a site other than Slashdot. We call that place the "article" in layman's terms ("TFA" in common Slashdot parlance).

    Now, of course, I wouldn't expect you, or many others, to actually know these secrets, but some would consider them a source for points in the discussion of, well, an article.