No thanks, I’d rather use a Google Pixel with GrapheneOS
Image transcription:
buy privacy-first community driven phone look inside closed source OS with no recovery image and outdated dependencies
No thanks, I’d rather use a Google Pixel with GrapheneOS
Image transcription:
buy privacy-first community driven phone look inside closed source OS with no recovery image and outdated dependencies
The most fascinating thing is how some in the open source community go wild against a tiny player delivering one of the most daily driveable phones with an OS other than from the big-tech duopoly (besides Huawei but that’s another topic). It doesn’t help that a system that is partially closed source (with the closed parts basically being only the home screen UI and the qt implementation) is misleadingly called “closed source OS”.
Especially the frenzy within the GrapheneOS community in this regard is curious.
Why can’t everyone just choose what they prefer without firing against other small alternative OS projects as if they were made by the devil?
I really like the idea of the Jolla and am seriously considering getting one. I’m also the exact target audience (Linux nerd, privacy conscious, FOSS advocate, want to own MY device fully, hate having to use a US-based duopoly in my current daily life).
That’s exactly why I don’t understand their decision to keep parts of their system closed. The overlap between people who want a Linux phone and who are OK with that Linux phone not being fully open seems to be tiny.
I can’t talk for Jolla. What I do know is that they have opened up meaningful parts in recent times. Even the one major remaining closed part, the UI, had important parts open sourced recently, with open sourcing of Lipstick.
I don’t think they will open source everything in the near future but possibly the qt environment might be on the list to come. If that were to happen the only essential part remaining would really be the home screen I think. So it is really that, are you purist and consider that a knock-out criterion or do you also have no problem with using closed source components with desktop Linux distributions?
I’ve been using Linux and Graphene for a long time and welcome all third party OS phones not controlled by Google and Apple. Jolla never marketed theirs in the USA and it always seemed more like a prototype phone for hobbyists more than a daily driver (same as all of the others).
This will probably continue to be the case until someone with deep pockets in the USA does a deal with a friendly phone OEM who makes a decent quality product and a mobile OS group who can make it at least as user friendly as Android. Considering the Byzantine labyrinth that Android’s user interface is today, the last part should not be that difficult. I heard they were even putting a small LLM onto Android phones, which is a feature nobody asked for.