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Comment by 51Cards | Hacker News Reader

My initial thoughts (without having a ton of time to really absorb this yet) is that Apple's closed operating system may have just become a liability. The open 'intent' model of Android is really at the core of making something like this possible. In turn though does this also allow Facebook to take over "too many" aspects of Android and cut into Google's revenue streams as well? All things I'm still pondering.

As an aside... I am a big HTC fan. Nice to see them able to get on board at the ground level of some new projects.

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I'd call the inability for Facebook to usurp control over Apple's vertically integrated platform to be a market advantage, not a liability, as long as too many users don't start clamoring for a facebook-iphone.

[edit] Remember browser toolbars? Now that Facebook is doing this, I expect this is just the beginning.

I don't think a launcher app like Facebook home can be associated with the Android home button automatically when it is installed, so the browser toolbar comparison isn't perfect.

I don't think a launcher app like Facebook home can be associated with the Android home button automatically

Automatically, no. But it will give you a prompt that will allow you to set the home button to go to Facebook Home.

Put another way, once installed, you press the Home key, and are 2 TAPS away from having it permanently set. It is a great solution to the problem, and something sorely lacking on iOS (for things like browser and email defaults).

I don't think I understand. You can install different home apps, and you can select which one will launch when you hit the home button. I do this, often.

What he means is, a big problem with browser toolbars is that they are installed automatically.

With different home apps, the user is always in control. (Although resetting a default once you've chosen it could be made a lot easier)

So comparing it to browser toolbars doesn't really work.

"(Although resetting a default once you've chosen it could be made a lot easier)"

I imagine most customers reset the default simply by uninstalling the new launcher. The way through the app settings is really well hidden.

android homescreens behave very differently than browser toolbars do. You can not set a homescreen secretly or in the background, and you can only have a single home screen set at any given time.

If the user decides to install a homescreen, and he does not like it, He will simply uninstall the app.

> You can not set a homescreen secretly or in the background, and you can only have a single home screen set at any given time.

A great many toolbars aren't "secret", they just engage in indirection to trick users into agreeing to installing them.

> If the user decides to install a homescreen, and he does not like it, He will simply uninstall the app.

Assuming the user even remotely understands what happened.

You seem to assume this is something people want. This is just an app trying to take over the whole OS experience. Being closed system is a good thing in this case as I don't want facebook to change my OS experience. I like apps to behave like apps. In fact I would go as far as saying that this is one way Android could become sucky over time - Too many apps trying to push for a new experience.

A good percentage of my friends spend 90% of their phone/tablet time inside of the Facebook app too. They don't use RSS or Twitter or go to actual websites. They just follow people or sites that post stuff, and then read it from Facebook. I can't see why they wouldn't want the Facebook app even more prominently featured.

This is at the core of the differing philosophies about software. You see something you dislike and look for a white knight to prevent said bad thing from existing. I see something I dislike and don't use it.

If you don't want it then don't use it. I personally don't want it either but I'm sure there is someone out there who would like to use Facebook Home. You can easily replace homescreens on Android, you don't need your device rooted or anything like that.

I'd say that having the choice is the more important factor here. I'm not sure how "Well someone people are not going to like that" is a compelling argument for not having the option in the first place.

Yes, of course this isn't something everyone would want. However, I for one know of lots of people that this would suit down to the ground. People who solely use their phones for calling, texting and Facebook.

At the end of the day, it's an option. You don't have to install it and you don't have to use it. The beauty of Android is that if this isn't to your liking, you can uninstall it and install any number of other launchers, home screens, etc.

It's not as if you're forced to use this as a new home screen. It's an option available to the users. So likely anyone who is using this wants it. I think it is good when users are offered a choice. Let people have the experience that they want.

Isn't that the point though? What you don't want is exactly what facebook is trying to offer: A different home screen experience. How is having too many experiencial options a bad thing? Is curation the problem? Is the default home screen app so good it should not be touched?

Being a closed system doesn't solve this problem, because the problem is already solved by simply choosing not to install the app. A closed system prevents you from making changes that you would actually like to, so it's strictly worse.

No, Apple's closed platform is still an asset. Google's target market with Android never was you, the end user; it was handset manufacturers and carriers. Android is deliberately designed to be flexible enough to enable those parties to "customize the end-user experience", i.e., install crapware. Apple's closed platform, designed to be pleasant to the end user instead of making it easy for third parties to monetize the end user's eyeballs, will become even more distinguished and desirable.

What you say is only an assumption. And if it's true, then I wonder how Android actually got the better user experience lately. I have access to all of iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy S2 and a Galaxy Nexus. For me both androids are quite a lot better than the iPhone (disregarding the industrial design which is best on the iPhone). And I actually have a hard time deciding between Samsung's modded version and the original Android on the Nexus.

Note: Of course, I probably fit into the category of power users. Knowing which apps to disable, which to install, and which to configure (and how) is a good thing to know.

In this case it's not intents, it's that the homescreen is a replaceable app. This is the most thoroughly rethought homescreen replacement I've seen.

The launcher communicates with the rest of the framework through Intents. It's mostly the same point. If the launcher was responsible for the actual app management (launching via zygote, maintenance of the registry and permissions databases, clean up on uninstall...), you'd never be able to replace it. The Intents framework is what allows the launcher to be "just a replaceable app."

I guess you're right, but there's nothing about intents that assumes the homescreen would be replaceable. That the homescreen is launched via intents must have been a conscious design decision, right?

It was definitely a conscious design decision.

It's basically the intent of what happens when you press the Home button. The UI for the end-user is identical as for every other intent (and managed the same way in the settings). If you install a new application that handles the Home intent, the next time you press the Home button you get the usual "What app do you want to use to handle this" dialog with the "Just once" and "Always" options.

More importantly, if I've selected "Always", how do I change it back to the old way later? Are intents something I can access and change in the normal system settings?

Yup. The system is a lot easier to work with than file associations in Windows.

Well, there's still a pain point there. To change it back to the old way you have to go to settings, then hit "Apps", then scroll to find the home screen app you no longer want, then hit its "Clear Defaults" button.

There's never any text that explains "this will let you choose a homescreen again", or really anything that will help you know to look for the Clear Defaults button.

Uninstalling it will also accomplish this, which I expect most people will do if they want to get rid of it. I do agree that it should be more straightforward within Settings, though; It would be nice to go to Settings > Home Screen and have the first option be something like "Choose which Home Screen software to use".

While that works in this case, it's only because Facebook breaks their functionality into multiple apps. If "Facebook" registered a homescreen, instead of "Home" registering it, then how would you remove the default? Sure, you could uninstall facebook and then reinstall it, but that's a pretty painful workaround.

Another use-case that should be fixed, the instagram app has registered to intercept browse intents for its domain. So, clicking on a link in twitter will show you that picture in the instagram app. The problem is when badly written apps do this, urls like http://instagram.com/developer/ will also open the app, but it will notice it doesn't know how to handle that url, and either quit or crash.

Sure, developers should know better. But I'd really love a way of saying "for the next intent that fires, let me chose the default again".

You could toggle this flag and then hit home to reset the homescreen app. Or you could toggle this flag then hit an instagram link and say "just for this one link, use chrome".

Unfortunately, while that would be a fantastic tool for developers, it's probably not a practical solution. There are enough edge cases that it would be hard to implement, and very hard to educate users on how to use.

I've always had a ton of problems with defaults and intents. To this day I still have certain intents that ask me every single time, no matter how many time I choose a default.

Do you have an example by any chance? I've noticed this but it hasn't happened to me in a while.

The intent system is what is behind the pluggability of Android, it's the thing that makes it possible to have several home screen apps installed in parallel.

I'm pretty sure that the homescreen is actually launched via an intent, though. At least, if you have multiple homescreens installed it prompts you which one to launch through the same interface that intents use. (Until you set a default.)

Apple is working on something similar to Android intents (afaik) for cross app data sharing, etc.

Although Facebook essentially monitoring most if not all of your mobile communications would really set off Apple's Privacy warning system.

Apple isn't worried about your privacy. They are worried about third parties busting their exclusivity of privacy violation on Apple devices.

It looks like were entering the second Apple vs PC era. Just replace "PC" with "Android", and you'll get the same:

- majority of the market uses PC/Android - Apple's product is more polished, PC/Android is more open to 3rd party developers

History doesn't repeat, but it does rhyme.

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