[nabogh]

We need another os in the market. A duopoly just isn't competitive enough. Too bad the cost of entry is so high.

[throw10920]

I agree with you idealistically, but practically, creating an entirely new mobile OS with market share competitive with the existing two is an unbelievably massive challenge. It'd probably be just about as easy to get people to care about sideloading in the first place.

[Charon77]

Remember how Android used to be an open source project and how we had Google backing AOSP? I think it's time we we maintain the latest fork and just use that instead.

[balder1991]

The problem is moves like this will keep happening, since people don’t have much choice. Unless we bring up a societal trend of dumb phones.

[throwaway2037]

I had to do some light research on Wiki, but it looks like Firefox OS was supposed to fill part of this void. Sadly, it was not successful, and the project lost funding and support from Mozilla. I think if Mozilla could not do it, it seems hard to imagine there is an open source org with more talent and money than Mozilla who can make it work.

[latexr]

> I think if Mozilla could not do it, it seems hard to imagine there is an open source org with more talent and money than Mozilla who can make it work.

I don’t believe that at all. Mozilla has been on a string of awful decisions for a long while. They start dumb projects no one asked for or wants all the time and abandon everything swiftly, even the good ones. Look at Rust and Servo.

Firefox OS barely lasted two years between release and discontinuation. It never even stood a chance for most people to even have heard of it or tried it, let alone be successful.

[choeger]

It's not necessarily that Mozilla could not do it. Just look up Mozilla's revenue sources.

[jeroenhd]

Sailfish tried and failed. Various Linux distro also tried and failed even harder. Consumers at large just aren't interested in anything other than iOS and Android.

[konart]

Consumers are interested in everything new.

The problem is - linux (outside on server land and maybe SteamOS) is everything but (regular) user friendly.

When people buy a new phone the expect a smooth experience without any major inconveniences and uniform UI. And apps. Lots of apps. Full of features and mature UI. Linux mostly have none of it.

[jones89176]

I wouldn't say "Sailfish failed". It's still well alive, mainained and useable. All they need is some more traction and a proper business case

[oneshtein]

Users need a new feature or a new power to justify transition. Learning of new OS is not free. Someone should reuse Android UI, but upgrade the OS to full Linux.

[simianparrot]

Valve has managed something similar with SteamOS as well as Proton built on Wine to make Windows games run on Linux, performing as good as or often better than an actual (modern) Windows install.

SteamOS isn’t too far from a mobile OS.

[chii]

It's the mobile hardware drivers (such as for the modems and 5g etc) that likely roadblocks - these hardware manufacturers probably have some sort of OEM agreements, and so cannot opensource these drivers for all devices.

I would wish that mobile devices' specs and hardware drivers are all available, so that i am not dependent on the manufacturer supplying a compatible OS.

[pjmlp]

That will only work as long as Microsoft feels like ignoring it, and they are already starting with something similar to how netbooks were killed in the end.

Valve will learn the OS/2 lesson, by not fostering a proper native Linux ecosystem.

[staplers]

  A duopoly just isn't competitive enough. Too bad the cost of entry is so high.

I've heard this one before.. given the apt political analogy , I wouldn't hold out hope.

[dismalaf]

There's already open source OSes that run on phones that aren't based on Android.

Off the top of my head there's a Debian based one, a Fedora based one, webOS, PostmarketOS, probably others. Wouldn't be that difficult but yeah, the cost of entry is still probably tens of millions.

[baq]

It’s like uber, doordash or carvana, you can’t fund a huge project like this without free money. ZIRP is the moat.

[sterlind]

use a fork. GrapheneOS is amazing. I feel like I own my phone, I trust my phone, and it obeys me, for the first time in a decade.

unlock. flash. spread the word. use the fork, Luke.

[green7ea]

Sadly that's not always (or won't be soon) an option. I recently had to buy a new phone so that I could run the 'updated' banking app that requires attestation to run — I was running google free Lineage.

Without attestation, banking apps stop working and without a banking app, you are locked out of modern life in many ways.

This latest Google move makes it impossible to run an attested Android without the sideloading limitation. That means that you'll have to choose between GrapheneOS and using your banking app.

I'm sad to say that I've already had to make that choice :-(. I feel that I was coerced into it.

[wolvesechoes]

Ah, yes, just use this small project fully dependent on Google and that requires you to buy exclusively Google phones. This is the way.

[notrealyme123]

This is also no long term solution. GrapheneOS can't diverge from Google android to much, otherwise modern apps stop working. And Google will definitely go for alternative roms next.

[NoGravitas]

I use GrapheneOS, but it doesn't solve this class of problem. If your {banking|taxi|cash} app doesn't pass Play Integrity API running under GrapheneOS, you are out of luck for those apps. There are different levels of Play Integrity pass, and GrapheneOS does not pass the highest level of them, so some apps may work, and others not. I don't want to use Google Pay, but I couldn't if I wanted to on GrapheneOS, and I've seen people in this thread saying that where they live it can be difficult to pay for something any other way.