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Penny Arcade - Comic - Primary Source
Dog
Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
Penny Arcade - Comic - Primary Source
Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.
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https://www.npr.org/2020/07/17/892277592/federal-officers-use-unmarked-vehicles-to-grab-protesters-in-portland
I think things have gotten pretty fucking Orwellian.
Epic Games didn't want to play by Apple's (admittedly bonkers) rules so Apple pulled Fortnite off its devices. Epic made an as specifically referencing Apple's ridiculous 1984 ad from back in the day and sent out a call to mobilize its fanbase against Apple, the killers of freedom and open platforms. Which is especially gauche since Epic's entire goal is to lock as many games as possible to its platform.
And yeah, the fact that *actual* Orwellian stuff is going on just makes the whole thing that much more ridiculous.
That particular incident was done by NYPD officers.
Furthermore, no actual authoritarianism is really Orwellian because 1984 is more a reflection of Orwell's cultural and sexual hangups than an accurate reflection of how authoritarians really behave.
But, but, but our gulags have nice cement floors, and the food is slightly less cold. :biggrin:
IMHO, it's all winners here. Smashing Apple's walled garden, if successful, is nothing but a positive. Epic and Apple wasting at on of money on lawyers is a net positive. Less kids playing Fortnite... well that's probably the best part of all.
Is this a sex joke? It's been a while since I read the Cliff Notes for 1984.
Apple put a way into Mobile Fortnite that allowed them to circumvent both the Apple App Store and the Google Play store, and extract money from its players without any of the cut going to Apple/Google. They didn't like that and pulled the Fortnite listing from both stores.
I've seen articles online that claim the whole thing was a carefully laid trap by Epic, with the intent of bringing antitrust judication against both of them, since in both evironments the only way to get your app out to people is through the two platform's stores. By circumventing the store, Epic angered both of them. And I guess they're willing to go to war over this in the courtroom.
I wouldn't go so far as to say "carefully laid trap". Apple and Google are no strangers to litigation (or negotiation, or just business in general). They had to know their actions in banning Epic would result in lawsuit. It seems like a negotiation more than anything else. I'd be very surprised if this wasn't an eventuality that had been discussed internally at Apple and Google. The "what do we do when a big player stops playing by the rules".
This comment brought to you by Big Brother.
-Tycho Brahe
Authoritarian behaviour is fucking infested with - if not founded on - cultural and sexual hangups though, even if not Orwell's personally specific ones
The negative white space in the first panel kinda looks like a Demetri Martin-esque head kissin' Tycho
White FC: 0819 3350 1787
PSN:Furlion
I think their argument is that google throws up a whole bunch of scary warnings (at least, scary for non-techies), strongly implying that any sideloaded app is probably going to steal all your data and spy on your camera and break your phone and make your chewing gum lose its flavor, so this significantly reduces potential usability of this path. And that they make it intentionally that bad because they don't want it competing with their cash cow.
Even as a techie when I install F-Droid I need to go back and disable the ability for my file manager to install unknown apps. And I'm more than a bit relieved for certain family members when they switch to iOS despite loathing Apple as a company.
Both the strip itself and the commentary accompanying it have almost nothing of substance to say on the subject, is more what I meant. It's a very safe comic.
White FC: 0819 3350 1787
Enh, I might have more sympathy for Google if their own permission-related stuff wasn't such a total shitshow. It took them forever to even get android to the state it's in now regarding permissions, and even so it's nothing to be proud of. They've never really seemed to consider protecting your stuff from apps as a high priority.
Google didn't design (and doesn't maintain) Android out of the kindness of their hearts. They want access to every bit of personal data they can glean from your phone so they can use it to make money. Any design decisions that might interfere with that goal are not going to happen unless they are forced kicking and screaming to.
The side loading issue is nothing to joke around with. The majority of people have no real clue how to spot an app from an actual dev versus spyware. Google choosing to make that scary warning is fitting I think. And at least on Android it is possible, on iOS you are shit out of luck.
PSN:Furlion