6 ms·

Seeing news like this, I wonder whether there is a market for an OSS Android and/or Linux distribution that provides the management comfort of Chromebooks witho

by nehalem 8mo ago

Seeing news like this, I wonder whether there is a market for an OSS Android and/or Linux distribution that provides the management comfort of Chromebooks without being tied to Google, Apple or Microsoft. A little like Keycloak but one layer higher.

calgoo 8mo ago
With all the US/EU issues currently, you might even be able to spin up a company to support European services that need management based on OSS management software.
fsflover 8mo ago
> Android > without being tied to Google That's a contradiction.
- rcMgD2BwE72F 8mo ago
  No. I'm on GrapheneOS and not tied to Google. You must be thinking of the Google Play Services but these aren't required by GrapheneOS.
  - pjmlp 8mo ago
    As long as it depends on Google paying upstream development that GrapheneOS updates from, it is tied to Google. Now if GrapheneOS was its own thing without additional AOSP code updates.
    - philipallstar 8mo ago
      This becomes sophistry, though. "tied to" in a way that doesn't matter, doesn't matter.
      - pjmlp 8mo ago
        Ah but it does, as Google can decide to close down AOSP shop at any moment.
        microtonal 8mo ago
        If that happens, the world can always try to fork. Until then it seems kind of pointless to do so?
        pjmlp 8mo ago
        Try is the keyword here. Hence why these efforts should not rely on US institutions good will in first place.
        metalman 8mo ago
        Can try to fork?, china , russia, and lots of smaller countrys are steadily moving away and as basic introperability standards for phone and internet will remain, they can do this, and pressure is also mounting to get a linux phone fully functional, that will alao happen. And in a world where Guggappl is providing genocide and abduction services, Billions would happily choose other alternatives.
        kombine 8mo ago
        China and Russia are likewise involved in their own genocides (Uyghurs and Ukraine respectively), and they are just as interested in developing centralised systems of control. They will not give the world truly free and open platform.
        metalman 8mo ago
        "They will not give the world truly free and open platform", uhuhu!, but we are giving them the pivot point to claim the flag of freedom , rather than just doing that ourselves. also, one more move from you know who, and a whole lot of countrys will have to very seriously start looking for stable deals that last longer than it takes the ink to dry. China just ghosted nvidia, on the "something 200" ai chip to start shipping in march, tsmc and all there suppliers have stood down on that, and will of course, instantly re focus on the next job, which might be a batch of chips for fairphones....
  - catlikesshrimp 8mo ago
    It is tied to google inasmuch all target phones are google branded. https://grapheneos.org/faq#supported-devices https://grapheneos.org/faq#supported-devices Hopefully that can change, in the future
    - fsflover 8mo ago
      It's tied to Google's development strategy, such as removal of Manifest-V2, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41905368 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41905368
    - JCattheATM 8mo ago
      It could change now, it could have changed years ago, they just have no interest in trying. It's pretty annoying honestly.
  - izacus 8mo ago
    No, we're thinking about the fact that Android is Google owned and developed and no removal of Play Services changes that. Every Android ROM is critically dependant on Googles work to actually develop and secure the OS.
  - brnt 8mo ago
    Anyone on Graphene is tied tot Google, for it requires Google hardware.
roryirvine 8mo ago
Ubuntu is pretty strong already in that niche - either using Landscape as a first party management solution, but it also tends to be the distro most-commonly recommended by the big third-party MDM vendors like Scalefusion and Jumpcloud. Not sure what their mobile story is like, but they certainly cover laptop / desktops.
mariusor 8mo ago
If Android is not a blocker, maybe even then, Jolla, a Finnish company, has been offering a Linux based mobile OS for quite some time. I frankly don't get why other EU companies building the hardware, like Fairphone and Volta, don't partner up with them.

by nehalem 8mo ago

calgoo 8mo ago

With all the US/EU issues currently, you might even be able to spin up a company to support European services that need management based on OSS management software.

fsflover 8mo ago

> Android > without being tied to Google That's a contradiction.

rcMgD2BwE72F 8mo ago
No. I'm on GrapheneOS and not tied to Google. You must be thinking of the Google Play Services but these aren't required by GrapheneOS.
- pjmlp 8mo ago
  As long as it depends on Google paying upstream development that GrapheneOS updates from, it is tied to Google. Now if GrapheneOS was its own thing without additional AOSP code updates.
  - philipallstar 8mo ago
    This becomes sophistry, though. "tied to" in a way that doesn't matter, doesn't matter.
    - pjmlp 8mo ago
      Ah but it does, as Google can decide to close down AOSP shop at any moment.
      - microtonal 8mo ago
        If that happens, the world can always try to fork. Until then it seems kind of pointless to do so?
        pjmlp 8mo ago
        Try is the keyword here. Hence why these efforts should not rely on US institutions good will in first place.
        metalman 8mo ago
        Can try to fork?, china , russia, and lots of smaller countrys are steadily moving away and as basic introperability standards for phone and internet will remain, they can do this, and pressure is also mounting to get a linux phone fully functional, that will alao happen. And in a world where Guggappl is providing genocide and abduction services, Billions would happily choose other alternatives.
        kombine 8mo ago
        China and Russia are likewise involved in their own genocides (Uyghurs and Ukraine respectively), and they are just as interested in developing centralised systems of control. They will not give the world truly free and open platform.
        metalman 8mo ago
        "They will not give the world truly free and open platform", uhuhu!, but we are giving them the pivot point to claim the flag of freedom , rather than just doing that ourselves. also, one more move from you know who, and a whole lot of countrys will have to very seriously start looking for stable deals that last longer than it takes the ink to dry. China just ghosted nvidia, on the "something 200" ai chip to start shipping in march, tsmc and all there suppliers have stood down on that, and will of course, instantly re focus on the next job, which might be a batch of chips for fairphones....
- catlikesshrimp 8mo ago
  It is tied to google inasmuch all target phones are google branded. https://grapheneos.org/faq#supported-devices https://grapheneos.org/faq#supported-devices Hopefully that can change, in the future
  - fsflover 8mo ago
    It's tied to Google's development strategy, such as removal of Manifest-V2, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41905368 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41905368
  - JCattheATM 8mo ago
    It could change now, it could have changed years ago, they just have no interest in trying. It's pretty annoying honestly.
- izacus 8mo ago
  No, we're thinking about the fact that Android is Google owned and developed and no removal of Play Services changes that. Every Android ROM is critically dependant on Googles work to actually develop and secure the OS.
- brnt 8mo ago
  Anyone on Graphene is tied tot Google, for it requires Google hardware.

roryirvine 8mo ago

Ubuntu is pretty strong already in that niche - either using Landscape as a first party management solution, but it also tends to be the distro most-commonly recommended by the big third-party MDM vendors like Scalefusion and Jumpcloud. Not sure what their mobile story is like, but they certainly cover laptop / desktops.

mariusor 8mo ago

If Android is not a blocker, maybe even then, Jolla, a Finnish company, has been offering a Linux based mobile OS for quite some time. I frankly don't get why other EU companies building the hardware, like Fairphone and Volta, don't partner up with them.