engrenage

So you're saying that there is an opportunity in the Android market because the apps are generally significantly worse than those in the iOS store?

Ok - so you've justified your opinion. How do you justify your offensiveness?

Why would I bother to answer a deliberately offensive comment from someone who's own posting is deeply partisan?

You don't need to register as a developer to get the command line tools.

So... Paid for alternate launchers and task switchers are the future of mobile operating systems?

> It's just crass selfishness... but here it is.

Are you being sarcastic?

So you're saying Android users don't care about innovative apps? That makes this whole discussion moot.

> Apple's provisioning process on the other hand is the most painful thing I ever experienced.

Your information is years out of date. In XCode, you click 'use this device for development' and all the provisioning is done fully automatically.

So no. It is not far easier to get your app running on the device itself. That is just false.

> Also, that it would cost a lot in development time to get something "just right" for the App Store for it to be accepted, whereas with Android you can keep on iterating and pushing changes without having to spent a huge amount of time making everything look perfect, and be absolute minimal in terms of bugs.

This is highly misleading. The App Store review process does delay iteration, and heavily crash apps are rejected but there is no requirement to spend a huge amount of time making things look perfect or absolutely minimal in terms of bugs.

> But aside from all that, this discussion is not really about quality per se. It is about figuring out your business idea, getting it right.

But surely the same logic applies to this too. Why haven't we already seen all kinds of innovative business ideas emerging through the rapid iteration that Android supposedly enables?

There are more Android apps than iOS apps, and this advantage has always been present.

So, why aren't Android apps already of superior quality?

This is all predicated on the idea that you being able to release apks easily gets users who care enough too give you valuable feedback that you can use to learn and improve your app faster.

There are more apps on the play store than the iOS store, and apks have always been easy to work with and had this same advantage.

If this advantage has always been present, why aren't the apps already better than iOS apps?

Where have you seen these anecdotes?

It progressively reduces their control over the products they make and hands that ever more over to Google.

The only reality that is acceptable on HN is that Google is unstoppable and benevolent to geeks. An optimistic view of their competitors counts as shilling.

Android was open as long as people did what google wanted with it.

That's the antithesis of open.

Android has never been a premium brand - it's a lowest common denominator product. This is perfectly appropriate.

It's just as restrictive as any commercial license, except that instead of being prohibited from releasing the source, you are required to do so.

That is not 'free to do whatever you want'.

The other manufacturers don't have any alternative but to stay with Google despite Motorola and the tightening noose of Play Services.

Everything in play services is most certainly not Application level. I presume you didn't read the linked article or the other comments here about the APIs that are migrating there.

Darwin is free and can be installed on any compatible devices.

That's not 'silently'.

How do you know?

And we have to assume that Google will do exactly the same thing with Chrome and Chrome OS when it is to their advantage to do so.

The lack of evidence isn't surprising given that they are a spy agency. They may not be protecting the US from terrorism, but there are major geopolitical adversaries at work who have no scruples about using cyberwarfare techniques. There is something akin to the Cold War in play, and the NSA is a significant part of the US's position in that war.

Notably, Play services is totally closed. So Google has abandoned the open source part of Android and is now developing the operating system as a completely closed product.

Edit: downvotes don't change the truth of the observation. Android is no longer meaningfully open, other than a years old core of basic functions. Just like OSX and Darwin.

Some people are just wired to post quick retorts. For the rest of us it takes years of painstaking practice.

Government strength is relative. Weakening the American government is equivalent to strengthening other Governments. Would you mind telling us which ones you prefer and why they are morally superior?

The less time you have left, the less valuable you are to a new employer. Hiring someone who can work for 6 years makes sense. Hiring someone who must leave in 18 months is much more of a risk. Therefore you are at an increasing disadvantage in any negotiation where your best alternative to agreement is to seek alternative employment, e.g. Salary increases, change of project.

You're right about the green card, however even if you can get the employer support you need, it takes years and further restricts your employment options in the meantime.

Your bargaining position will get progressively weaker as the time remaining on your visa runs down.