[Aachen]

Oh! I thought I had found the crucial piece finally after ~500 words, but there's indeed better news in the section after that! Thanks, I can go sleep with a more optimistic feeling now :)

Also this will kill any impetus that was growing on the Linux phone development side, for better or worse. We get to live in this ecosystem a while longer, let's see if people keep damocles' sword in mind and we might see more efforts towards cross-platform builds for example

[ryandrake]

Let's take the "W". This is pretty good news!

[Grimblewald]

That's like accepting vaders 'altered' deal, and being grateful it hasn't been altered further.

If google wants a walled garden, let it wall off it's own devices, but what right does it have to command other manufactures to bow down as well? At this stage we've got the choice of dictato-potato phone prime, or misc flavour of peasant.

If you want walled garden, go use apple. The option is there. We don't need to bring that here.

[throawayonthe]

i mean, this program is specifically for google verifed devices...

[roblabla]

Google Certified Devices is any device that has GMS (Google Mobile Services) installed - ergo almost all of them. It's worth noting that a _lot_ of apps stop functioning when GMS is missing because Google has been purposefully been putting as much functionality in them instead of putting them in AOSP. So you end up in a situation where, to make an Android phone compatible with most apps, you need GMS. Which in turn means you need your phone to be Google Certified, and hence must implement this specification.

[catlikesshrimp]

I am not english native. Is "The W" a synonym for "A Win", described as a positive outcome after a contest? Is there more nuance or context than that?

[Aachen]

The others answered the question, but I wanted to add that this is "new English" to me as well (also non native though). I first saw it in chats with mostly teenagers in ~2021, where I've also learned "let's go" isn't about going anywhere at all (it means the same as w)

This is the first sign we're getting old :) new language features feel new. The language features I picked up in school, that my parents remarked upon, were simply normal to me, not new at all. I notice it pretty strongly nowadays with my grandma, where I keep picking up new terms in Dutch (mainly loan words) but she isn't exposed to them and so I struggle to find what words she knows. Not just new/updated concepts like VR, gender-neutral pronouns, or a new word for messages that are specifically in an online chat, but also old concepts like bias. It's always been there but I'd have no idea what she'd use to describe that concept

[arcfour]

Yes, but it's often just "a W" or simply "W" in response to something good or seen as a "win."

There is also the same thing with L for loss/loser. "that's an L take", "L [person]", "take the L here", etc.

They are pretty straightforward in their meaning, basically what you described. I believe it comes from sports but they are used for any good or bad outcome regardless of whether it was a contest.

[thristian]

I think it's from people reporting sports statistics for a player or team as "W:5 L:7" meaning "five wins and seven losses".

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/l-and-w-slang

[qingcharles]

I've never seen it in English outside of the USA, but it's very common inside.

[benatkin]

This isn't a "W", but I am finding my own "W" from this by seeing others distrust Google, and remembering to continue supporting and looking for open alternatives to Google.

[echelon]

This is not a win. This is having independent distribution shut down and controlled.

We no longer own our devices.

We're in a worse state than we were in before. Google is becoming a dictator like Apple.

[rbits]

It's not being shut down though. The article says that there will be a way to install unverified apps.

[klez]

Ok, but sideloading is already a thing. What will this way to install unverified apps be? I doubt it will be an extra screen asking "Are you super-duper sure you want to enable sidloading???" after the one already asking the same question.

[exe34]

They talk about doing it under pressure, so my guess is there might be a waiting period before you're allowed free reign, or maybe per-app. Or some level of calling google, listening to 10 minutes of how poor billionaires are going to starve if you have control of your own device before being allowed to unlock it.

[echelon]

You'll have to sign if you wish to distribute. That's an easy way for them to control you.