Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by hoopleheaded | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

hoopleheaded

I tend to avoid accounts as much as possible but this seems a juvenile response. Do you use a smartphone?

View on HN

> this seems a juvenile response

Why? Why not wanting to associate your computer with some Microsoft account is juvenile?

> Do you use a smartphone?

What does that have to do with anything?

> Do you use a smartphone? >> What does that have to do with anything?

I would bet 99% of iOS and Android users sign in with their Apple or Google account. Signing into an account for an OS is par for the course in 2021.

Smartphones being shitty isn't really a good excuse to make PC operating systems similarly shitty.

I think the real question here is - do you buy the cheapest phone or do you get a decent one that fits your needs.

Because Microsoft _is_ releasing a version of this operating system that fits your needs. You just don't want to pay for it.

I bought an Android phone (Palm Phone) for under $100 that rarely bothers me at all, definitely the least annoying Android device I've ever had. Still not really an Android fan, but it has the least shovelware of any Android device I've had.

Meanwhile, I have a Surface Book 2, an expensive laptop from Microsoft running Windows 10 Pro. I actively removed all the ads in when I got it, yet still it periodically fucks with my OS and creates new ads, such as a new not-so-helpful keyboard shortcut with Win10 1903 that advertised Office at me that had to be disabled with a Registry Edit.

So even though MS does some cool shit, I do not trust them. I paid the money, I got the pro version, and they still come up with bizarre new ways to advertise at me.

I sign into my phone with an account, but not my primary personal one. I use a secondary one I use for this and some other throwaway uses. I'm sure this isn't the norm, but I bet it's not that unusual, at least among tech people.

Android does not require a Google account, I’m not sure about Apple and iOS but I think also not?

But if you want get android app from playstore, you still need google account. Same for iOS, and it's even worst than android, since you can't sideload apps

Yes, ONLY if you want to download them from the playstore. As you already noted, on Android you can sideload apps and get them from other places other than the playstore. So you can still get the same app from another source without an account.

Some companies like DJI actually let you download from their site directly and bypass the playstore. Notice the apple version links to the apple store but the Android version downloads the APK directly from DJI: https://www.dji.com/downloads/djiapp/dji-fly

Bypassing the Play Store is also a bad sign, especially from chineese company. This is bypassing the Play Store rules about permissions granted to the app.

From experience, companies that provide apps directly have some malware to hide.

Here is an example: GAN Cube is the world leader in Rubik's Cube. They provide an Android app by direct download [1]. Strangely this app has the permission to install other apps. That's obviously something not allowed to publish on the Play Store.

[1] https://cubestation.com/

I used android for 5 years without an account. You can side load, use fdroid or apkpure.

Why not create a throwaway account? When you setup the phone, just go through the process of setting up your fake Google account, and don't use it for anything aside from the Play Store for easily downloading and updating apps.

Because once you have that account, it links all apps data to it, and you give enough data about yourself to be indentified somewhere else even without the account.

That sounds like a "Pro" feature. Too bad MS isn't releasing a "Pro" version of Windows 11. Oh wait.

>But if you want get android app from playstore, you still need google account

nope, just use aurora store

From the terms of service https://auroraoss.com/de/download/AuroraStore/terms-of-servi...

> You agree to defend, indemnify and hold us harmless from and against any and all costs, damages, liabilities, and expenses (including attorneys' fees, costs, penalties, interest and disbursements) we incur in relation to, arising from, or for the purpose of avoiding, any claim or demand from a third party relating to your use of the Service

I'm not sure what is the worst: being tied to Google or being tied to a company which wants to push me in front of Google's lawyers if they get annoyed.

>[...] relating to your use of the Service

That seems... pretty reasonable? I'm not sure what kind of developer would want to foot the legal bills caused by one of their users.

@cronix, @BiteCode_dev, @gruez: I know we can sideload, but it's inconvenient. Fdroid have limited number of apps, and store like apkpure is security risk. Most of regular people just get an Google account.

However, we are not discussing what's more or less convenient, but what can you do and what are you forced to do. Big difference.

Suppose you are correct that neither actually requires an account but suspect the user experience is not great without.

Correct in that you can at least get through setup to have a functional device though.

Does the Google Play Store allow you to install apps without an account? I can't imagine it would

Requiring an account to use the Microsoft Store sounds completely fine to me.

How do you use an android phone without installing applications?

A smartphone isn't a desktop OS. You're free to think it's juvenile, and I'm free to prefer a desktop OS that doesn't require an account like win10 or linux.

That's fair. I think I took issue with your tone which is 100% on me. My tone was not terribly constructive.

I would certainly prefer it to not require an account.

I use Android with no Google account signed in. For the two or three Play Store applications I need, I use Aurora Store to download them.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com