Lilbits: Tariffs on Chinese shipments take effect, Apple opens up the App Store (a bit), and first look at Google’s Pixel Desktop mode

Now that a US District Court judge has ordered Apple to loosen its restrictions on apps that direct users to pay for goods and subscriptions using non App Store billing, a growing number of developers are starting to update their apps to let users find other ways to pay. Patreon, and Proton are among those who are already planning to do so, and Spotify’s updated app is already available.

So […]

#aliexpress #antitrust #appStore #apple #cm4 #deMinimis #desktopExperience #desktopMode #google #inAppPayment #inAppBilling #lilbits #pixel #raspberryPi #raspberryPiCm4 #reactos #tariffs

Read more: https://liliputing.com/lilbits-tariffs-on-chinese-shipments-take-effect-apple-opens-up-the-app-store-a-bit-and-first-look-at-googles-pixel-desktop-mode/

Epic Games Store moves to attract app developers with 0% fees on the first $1 million in revenue

Last year Apple responded to a ruling in an antitrust case that required the company to allow app developers to collect payments from users without going through App Store by allowing developers to provide links to alternate payment methods in their apps.

But the system that Apple rolled out was pretty onerous. Users who followed those links would see a scare screen noting that Apple […]

#antitrust #appStore #apple #epic #epicGamesStore #inAppPayment #inAppBilling #lawsuit

Read more: https://liliputing.com/epic-games-store-moves-to-attract-app-developers-with-0-developer-share-on-the-first-1-million-in-revenue/

@debacle @contrapunctus

• no usable client outside of Android and iOS (which I don't use)

They have clients for iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, and the Linux one is also ported to and packaged on FreeBSD. That covers basically 100% of people I want to talk to.

• they still would want my phone number to register

Yes. That's not ideal for privacy (the protocol now doesn't require it) but it's also good for usability because it means that a new Signal user will typically discover that a load of their contacts are already on Signal, which makes the transition easier. And they don't need to give these people new contact info. Anyone that could contact them by SMS or WhatsApp before can now immediately contact them. When I installed Signal, I immediately discovered ten of my contacts were already there.

• worst: I can't select a server in my legislation (#EU #GDPR) or selfhost

The Signal server complies with the GDPR. Read their privacy policy, but more importantly look at their responses to warrants. The PII that they record is almost zero. An XMPP server admin has orders of magnitude more information to disclose.

Btw. isn't #inAppPayment already #enshittification in some way?

Are you referring to the ability to donate to fund it or the cryptocurrency nonsense?

For the former, no, it's very common for donation-supported things. If you don't want to donate, don't. Precisely one feature is locked behind the donation door: A little badge on your user logo that says that you've donated. A lot of F/OSS applications have a similar donation mechanism.

For the crypto nonsense, it's just run-of-the-mill bad choices. The person behind it was kicked out of the Foundation as a result. Hopefully it will go away at some point. It's hidden away in preferences so deeply I had to check it was still there.

You really need to read the definition of enshittification before you use the word. It is not just making poor choices, it is related to rent seeking and maximum revenue extraction at the expense of users.