I use F-Droid on a phone running CyanogenMod. I can’t do everything I could with the Play Store, but the experience is stable, and I can do the vast majority of what I want to do. I had to jump through a few hoops to get CyanogenMod installed, but that was a one-time struggle.
This isn’t unlike using Linux on the desktop. But it appears to me that getting apps from F-Droid is a weird thing to do, even among folks who generally avoid closed source software on their desktops (such as our lovely BV hosts).
We are at a point in time where you can flash Android or B2G OS (Firefox OS) to a phone or order one running Ubuntu or Sailfish OS (though without all the bands we use here in the US). The options aren’t perfect, but they exist.
This makes me wonder why so many people who care about using free and open source software on their desktops are fine with using closed source software on their phones and tablets. Is it because desktop Linux users don’t want to go through this process again? Is it because we’re not willing to give up certain apps and services?
With mobile devices containing so much of our personal information, I find it confusing how we can have strong values and concerns regarding one platform but not another. Why is this?
These questions are aimed at everyone here, but I would love to hear this topic discussed on a future episode of the show – which is awesome, by the way. Keep up the great work!