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Comment by cecexacjrgec | Hacker News Reader

If only Graphene had a better marketing team. It pains me to say this but it is the absolute truth: the public does not know Graphene and does not care about Graphene. Even it’s name is absolutely awful. This is like the Linux distro hell: “you should use BingaBoingoKonohaOS_v34 or Peppermint_Cinn4monR0ll with the OutOfThisWorld DE, but steer clear of the Pancake package manager, use openMsPacMan with GrassFaceWhazzit frontend instead.” How is anyone (as in not us, the tech nerds) supposed to reason about this?

Things will keep as is for as long as they keep making these OSs FOR the tech nerds.

Downvote me all you want. You know it’s true. An OS made for nerds and by nerds will never reach mainstream and will not, ever, move the needle anywhere. Tech is no longer a hobbyist’s game.

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GrapheneOS has a growing userbase, and of course many of the people who would like to switch to GrapheneOS are extra mindful of their devices' privacy and security. Maybe a majority of those people are more technically capable, but I can assure you our users aren't all "nerds."

We (yes, "we," not hiding who I am, check my bio) have seen many users from all walks of life asking for assistance. For example, I remember multiple times newcomers in our community asking for help self-identified as old, or retired, or grandparents switching to GrapheneOS. It's not hard to use, and we have a fairly large community of people who are happy to help others learn the ropes.

GrapheneOS is easy to use, just ask the grandparents rocking it. Our userbase will only continue to increase as we continue to deliver features that people want, with the latest being Secure Paste. Many of users are very excited about the feature. More are planned.

As for the complaint about the name, okay? GrapheneOS is open source. You can change the name everywhere and build it yourself.

Marketing team? You only need to market something if you're selling it. GrapheneOS isn't a product, people buy device brands not OS names. People don't buy OneUI they buy Samsung, they don't buy PixelOS they buy Google, they don't buy OxygenOS they buy OnePlus, people don't buy SteamOS they buy Steamdeck ad infinitum.

Great way to demonstrate you don't know the general public and think and speak only nerd.

That being said people DO buy Google Pixel for GrapheneOS and they WILL buy Motorola for GrapheneOS too.

That is the power of GrapheneOS that all the other BingaBoingoKonohaOS can only wish for.

What a weird angle to have a pop over.

> How is anyone (as in not us, the tech nerds) supposed to reason about this?

People have more than enough brain power to reason about this. "There are several distributions, I recommend this one" is not exactly rocket science.

We really need to stop treating people like they have an IQ of 30 and only 5 minutes of free time per day, or we'll never defeat Google et al that purposefully maintain us in this belief.

Well, Motorola's next flagship is shipping with GrapheneOS, so we'll see.

And I don't see how the name "GrapheneOS" is any worse than "Android". Really, the biggest barriers to adoption are:

- No phones come with it pre-installed (yet)

- They only work with Pixel phones (for now)

- Some apps like certain banking apps don't work

Google will destroy any OEM which ships an Android fork out of the box. Google only permits alternative ROMs as long as they are niche and keep developers distracted from creating real competition.

Samsung is already largely free from Google's egregiously anti-competitive licensing rules for Google Mobile Services. Why do you think it's going to survive for the rest? It's already unsustainable to have different rules for the largest OEM and that's without even taking into account future court victories similar to what happened in South Korea.

The MADA has been illegal for a long time, but you'll still find nobody willing to cross it. Samsung is indeed the only company with the power to actually escape Google and survive its penalties intact, which is why they are paid so lavishly to stay in.

People can buy Pixels with GrapheneOS preinstalled from a bunch of companies despite it not being shipped that way from the factory.

Pixels are currently the only devices providing the required updates and hardware security features. There will be at least one Motorola flagship with GrapheneOS support in 2027 meeting the same requirements. It will expand to more Motorola devices from there. iOS only runs on iPhones but that's hardly a barrier to adoption for it. Pixels aren't quite broadly available enough and it will take time before we can support lower end Motorola devices in the same price range as an 'a' series Pixel.

The vast majority of Android apps do work. Banking apps are a special case where around 10% don't work due to banning using a non-Google-certified OS. Most banking apps definitely work on GrapheneOS.

It's the OS every drug dealer uses and the government can't break it. In privacy circles you can't get better marketing than that.

If only privacy circles were big enough to matter.

I still dont get your point, its designed for the security audience and it has a very good reputation there. Its not aimed at normal people, by your own admission they wont even understand what it does and why they would want it. So why are you talking it down for not reaching more normal people?

This was literally a comment:

>GrapheneOS is not made for nerds, it is made for normal people.

It is not the OS "used by drug dealers". The vast majority of criminals use the stock OS on whichever device they purchase. It is pure make believe to think that people are installing any alternate OSes to commit crimes.

There is also no statistics resulting from surveys, studies, reports, etc., that would indicate such a conclusion about user demographics.

> An OS made for nerds and by nerds will never reach mainstream

By your own definition, is it meant to make the mainstream?

GrapheneOS is not made for nerds, it is made for normal people.

You don’t know any normal people, do you?

What's particularly bad about the names of Graphene, Mint and Cinnamon? Especially compared to Android and iOS!!

On their own? Nothing.

But Graphene doesn’t mean anything to the general public. People aren’t buying “an iOS device”, they are buying iPhones. People aren’t buying “an Android phone”, they are buying “a Samsung/Galaxy” or a “Pixel”.

Mind you, when I say people, I mean the general population. Not those actually interested in these subjects.

My point is: people don’t care about these specifics, people care about having a frictionless experience (or as close to frictionless as possible). Having to explain what Graphene even is is friction enough for most people to not even bother listening to your explanation.

> People aren’t buying “an iOS device”, they are buying iPhone

Well, they kinda do. Apps are available on Android and iOS. They are not "available on Android, iPhone, iPad and Apple watch". iOS is actually used and recognized by the general public.

> They are not “available on Android, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch”.

No. They are available on the “Play Store” and the “App Store”. OSs are rarely mentioned. Store tags only feature store logos and store names, for device specific ones you get the device itself. The OS remains irrelevant in this scenario.

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