Spyke

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Apple Hits a Major Roadblock as EU Targets App Store

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Let's say you want to buy a printer from a retailer. The retailer also sells replacement ink cartridges, and so does the printer manufacturer. The manufacturer prefers that you buy the ink cartridges directly from them, because their margins are higher when they don't have to pay the retailer a cut.

To encourage customers to buy the cartridges directly from them, the manufacturer provides a link or QR code to their online ink cartridge store on the product box, printer manual, and another paper insert inside the box. The manufacturer might offer more competitive pricing than the retailer or some other enticement, like a coupon.

However, the retailer implements an anti-steering rule, preventing the printer manufacturer from providing a link or QR code to their online ink cartridge store on the product packaging, printer manual, or anything inside the box, as a requirement for the printer to appear on the retailer's shelves. (As a result of corporate consolidation, there is only one other retailer in the entire country.) This is the equivalent of what Apple is doing to apps in their App Store: preventing developers from disclosing that users can purchase subscriptions or other app-related digital goods on the developer's website.

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Buy Once Software

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Proprietary software is also notoriously low-quality and can disappear at any time when the developer loses motivation. Additionally, because the software is closed source, nobody else is able to continue the development of proprietary abandonware. On the other hand, abandoned FOSS projects can be forked and continued, which is something I see often.

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Opinions on best Linux phones available today

The FuriPhone FLX1 meets all of your requirements:

  • It runs the Debian-based FuriOS, which is FOSS.
  • Among phones with Linux (excluding Android) preloaded, its specifications are among the best available, including a camera with PDAF and OIS, a 120Hz screen, and a replaceable 5,000 mAh battery. It also supports 5G and VoLTE, and has IP68 water resistance.
  • FuriOS includes Android app support via a fork of Waydroid.
  • The phone and the Linux distro are actively maintained.
  • Furi Labs is based in Hong Kong.

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Grayjay for desktop has arrived!

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Proprietary source-available software existed before open source software, and that's what these restricted licenses are. The FOSS community does not appreciate businesses co-opting the term open source to promote software that doesn't grant users the right to use the source code for any purpose.

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Why Mark Zuckerberg wants to redefine open source so badly

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Software licenses that "discriminate against any person or group of persons" or "restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor" are not open source. Llama's license doesn't just restrict Llama from being used by companies with "700 million monthly active users", it also restricts Llama from being used to "create, train, fine tune, or otherwise improve an AI model" or being used for military purposes (although Meta made an exception for the US military). Therefore, Llama is not open source.