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CyanogenMod Installer Removed From Google Play Store
sfcrazy writes "[Wednesday] Google asked the CM team to voluntarily remove the [CyanogenMod installer] app from the store or they would be forced to remove it administratively. CM team chose to remove the app voluntarily. According to the CyanogenMod team, Google initially said that the app was in violation of Google's Play's developer terms. When the CM team reached out to the Play team, they found that 'though application itself is harmless, and not actually in violation of their Terms of Service, since it 'encourages users to void their warranty', it would not be allowed to remain in the store.'" You can still install manually, though.
This doesn't' seem all that voluntary to me. My reaction was yeah sure you go ahead and remove it, why should we do you any favors?
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
Note from the article "Removed reference to Google stating the app was not in violation of TOS – this was a mischaracterization of Google’s statement."
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
The difference is that Apple only allows you to install apps from the official app store. To allow unofficial apps on an Android device, all you need to do is tick a box in the settings menu.
which is totally what she said
How about being outraged on the premise that installing of software is a warranty violation. I'd not be at all surprised that Verizon was involved.
They didn't "reach out to Google", they contacted Google. Using "reached out to" in this context makes it sound like they are trying to make an emotional appeal to an elderly stroke patient. The perfectly usable verb "contact" is also one word instead of three.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
Well, the CM team is free to distribute their app in other ways. Apple is a little more strict about only allowing apps from their store to be installed. I know jail breaking and all that, but if you're going to jail break your apple device you should already understand the risks and be technically savvy enough to do it.
Google shouldn't have to allowed a known "potentially" dangerous app in their store. Anyone with the expertise required to use this firmware can go and get it from the Cyanogen website. It doesn't need to be advertised in the app store for non-technical people to download. Without researching it I'm sure a laymen would think firmware is some kind of a game and could mess up their device without knowing it. Then who's going to take the blame. I suspect it would be Google for distributing it, a laymen will never take responsibility for using something they didn't understand.
If you want to gain traction, 'distribute in other ways' won't fly because it's far simpler to install an app from Google Play than to download from a site into sd card, tick a box in some settings, get a file manager to navigate to app and tap click to install it.
Your argument hinges on the belief that the users who want CM are unable or unwilling to perform those actions. That assertion is unproven at best. You also don't need a full file manager; you can simply use an APK installer. Some of them are truly teensy tiny. Also, web browsers will sometimes install APKs directly. I don't use Chrome, because it sucks, but Fennec will do it. And you can also open downloads directly from the downloads manager if you download them with the included crap browser.
Now, personally, I do use ES File Explorer for this purpose, both for downloading and for opening the APK, but there's no actual need.
I am running CM nightlies on Franco's kernel. I flashed recovery manually, though.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
So you have basically the choice between a phone (or tablet) where you can install stuff that you don't want and one where you can't install what you want.
Modifying device firmware should never be a one click download from an app store. If you want to modify your devices firmware than you should know how to "download from a site into sd card, tick a box in some settings, get a file manager to navigate to app and tap click to install it" otherwise there are going to be a lot of spoiled teens out there with broken phones and tablets and parents blaming Google for messing up their kids $400+ device.
/. is a good way to gain traction with the people that actually have the expertise to use this product, but I'm absolute miffed by the number of comments, already, on this story where the commented doesn't know the difference between software and firmware and doesn't understand why that would void a devices warranty.
I really want to say just getting their story on
When I read an article it suggested that even just rooting the device was a warranty violation.
which is totally what she said
Just unplug the router, fashion a tinfoil hat and wear it while crying yourself to sleep in a corner. Google is the internet, get used to it.
...
There are plenty of alternatives to the official Google App Store.
I'm not sure if it's a good thing they removed it from the official store or not. If it was up to me I'd probably allow it with big red letters saying "THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY AND MIGHT BRICK YOUR PHONE". OTOH people installing stuff from official Google App Store don't expect these things to happen, so maybe it's a good thing for the masses that this app was removed... And tech-savy people will find ways to get Cyanogen installed anyway.
--Coder
And there are ample anti-malware/anti-virus apps available for Android in the Play Store. I'm on my 4th Android phone and have installed all kinds of software, legit and less so, and have yet to encounter any malware or viruses. Know how many are available in the Apple iTunes store? Zero. If they allowed one to be listed, it would be admitting that their precious iPhones are vulnerable.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
HTC and Samsung don't cover damage caused by unauthorized modification (which would include installing another OS), but lacking anything which would point to that as the cause, there's no disclaimer. Google's Motorola, OTOH, specifically says they won't cover the product at all, damaged or not.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Oh do fuck off. Warranties are limited in nature. It's got nothing to do with stopping you from doing what you want with your own property and everything to do with the fact that if you fuck up your own phone, it's not the manufacturer's problem to solve.
Google deciding not to distribute an application is not akin to making you into their slave. Pointing out that a warranty might be voided if you do certain things is not akin to making you into their slave. All your analogies to "walking off the plantation" do is highlight that you have absolutely no sense of perspective on this matter.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
It isn't a one-click method to install the CM firmware though - just a method of making the installation via PC less painless. All the app does is basically enable USB debug and help with the ADB setup.
Ars did a pretty decent writeup of the installation process here; http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/11/android-roms-the-easy-way-testing-the-new-cyanogenmod-installer/ - it's certainly not a one-step job.
Moderation Total: -1 Troll, +3 Goat
The peripheral legal implications aside, and at the risk of sounding like a Google apologist, I really can't say I have any problem with this.
The sort of people who want to install CM will still have absolutely no problem going to the website and doing it manually. This presents no barrier to them exercising their choice of how to use their hardware.
On the flip side of that, having it in the Play store presents something of an outright danger to people who don't know any better (aka "the vast majority")... "Oh, a new version of Android? Hey, I have an Android, I should grab this!". Ten minutes later, their battery dies, or they get sick of watching the installer screen and interrupt it. Oops! Partial brick-time, and now Google (via Samsung/HTC/etc, via Verizon/Sprint/etc) gets to deal with thousands of self-inflicted warranty issues.
Again, at the risk of sounding like an apologist, Google has made compromises that let power-users do whatever the hell they want, while providing 99% of the "walled garden" experience most users want.
Whereas the Nokia 1011 has 0% of all mobile malware. Clearly it uses a superior operating system than any of its more modern competitors.
Actually, that rule changed a few weeks ago: http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/11/21/motorola-will-longer-void-warranties-developer-devices-owners-request-unlock-codes/ Unlocking the bootloader on motorola devices no longer voids the warranty.
-Glitch "We all know Linux is great...it does infinite loops in 5 seconds." - Linus Torvalds
Even if it is irrelevant, stock Android provides only two choices: only APKs signed by the phone maker's preferred curator, or every APK from every source. There's no way to add a third party as a curator the way one can with, say, any Linux distribution using APT. If you turn on "Unknown sources" for Amazon Appstore or F-Droid, for instance, you add the ability for apps to pose as Amazon or F-Droid and present an "update" that's actually a trojan.
Know how many people get viruses or malware on their iPhone (without jailbreaking) ... 0.
Looks like you don't know enough people. It has been done, without jailbreaking, and we only know because the developers publicized that fact themselves.. If you want to keep the same answer, perhaps you could rephrase the question as "How many times that Apple admit that they served up viruses or malware in their App Store?"
So you think its better to run extra software, waste more ram, cpu and storage space ... so that you don't get something that iOS users just aren't going to get in the first place?
But what if I don't _want_ a misplaced sense of security based on faulty assumptions?
You utterly fucking fail at understanding security. [...] The only known threats on iOS devices have come to jailbroken phones and the jailbreaks themselves.
It ain't just a river in Egypt.
And that's not even considering threats that come from Apple itself, without any need to install apps or change settings. Something magical happens and things just work.
Until then [I] just make it obvious [I'm] nothing more than a fanboy.
No argument here.
Are there examples of software that are available for Android but not for iOS.
I can think of a few things Apple forbids under its guidelines:
The only known threats on iOS devices have come to jailbroken phones and the jailbreaks themselves.
Apparently you utterly fucking fail at understanding security. Those jailbreaks exploit holes in the walled garden to install tools that do other things, like allowing users to install their own software. Malware authors can exploit those same holes to install their crap.
Even if the garden wall was perfect and didn't have holes, you still have to trust the guard who doesn't work for you, but for the gardener.
When Android doesn't require essentially every app you install to get access to private data BEFORE YOU CAN EVEN FUCKING INSTALL IT, then you MIGHT be able to start talking differently here. Until then you just make it obvious you're nothing more than a fanboy.
Well that time is now because Android doesn't require this. There are so many problems with every security model but by defending iOS in such a half-assed way, you have proven that you are nothing more than a fanboy as well.