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Comment by colordrops | Hacker News Reader

I'm confused, I thought the ability to install apps outside of Play is supported by the OS. In fact there's a permissions dialog that pops up when an app tries to install another app. This is critical functionality for, say, the FDroid app store, as well as the browser, which is how most people would acquire FDroid. Seems like a bad omen.

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Agent Smith: Tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is a phone call when you are unable to speak?

Here's why software freedom is about much more than licenses and open source. Positive (enabling) freedoms must match with negative (freedoms from tyranny) if they are to mean anything.

> I'm confused, I thought the ability to install apps outside of Play is supported by the OS.

It is.

What this is doing is forbidding apps that can install other apps from being in the Play store. Basically, if Total Commander wanted to give the finger to Google and refuse to remove the function, Google would remove them from the Play store, meaning you'd likely have to either use your browser to find and download the APK or install it over USB with ADB.

Your browser is also an app. A general-purpose file manager is pretty clearly not trying to become an app store.

The difference is that the browser can't install the app, AFAIK. You have to open it in a file manager to do that.

You don't, you can trigger the installation directly from mainstream Android browsers. When the download finishes, there's typically a notification that it finished, and that notification allows you to open the downloaded file directly without having to go through a file manager.

But what if Google says your browser isn't allowed? Then you'd have to use ADB.

Basically google doesn't allow app store competitors on their own app store.

Selectively, at least

If you're mozilla or google then it's fine to publish apps that can download apks from a very convenient interface indeed. If you're total commander, well...

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