FoundFootFootage782d ago

I Spoke To The Developer Of The Systemd Birth Date PR - YouTube

https://lemmy.ml/post/44980110

I Spoke To The Developer Of The Systemd Birth Date PR - YouTube - Lemmy

Some of you need to watch this video, and hang your head in shame. Dylan Taylor has been receiving constant harassment, including threats to his life and safety, for actions done collectively by SystemD. The article by Sam Bent was explictly mentioned as part of the harassment campaign, and rightfully so. I don’t think enough people realize that this is catastrophically bad. It’ll discourage people from becoming open source developers, it’ll discourage people from using Linux, and it’ll discourage legislators from taking the Linux community seriously. If you ever wished ill upon another human being for complying with a relatively inconsequential law, you are better off never touching a computer again. The Linux community has collectively gone so far beyond what is acceptable here.

Show threadninepointeight

On a completely unrelated, off-topic note. Here is the same person talking about Google’s new “advanced workflow” for “sideloading apps” on Android.

The title of his blog post is “Google’s New Android Sideloading Flow Is a Fair Trade”…Figures.

Google's New Android Sideloading Flow Is a Fair Trade

My reaction to Google's new "advanced flow" for sideloading Android apps, and why the extra friction is worth it to protect people from scams and surveillance.

Dylan M. Taylor
Mar 25 at 5:36amWeb
Show threadPrunebutt2d ago

You mention the title but not the content of the essay. Did you read it?

Edit: At first glance, the article seemed actually well-meant. Didn’t have the context of how bootlickery it was.

Show threadninepointeight2d ago

TL;DR is that he says his initial reaction was “frustration” but then he goes on to parrot everything Google said to justify this.

For example,

57% of adults worldwide experienced a scam in 2025

It is to protect people from scammers. It isn’t aimed at power users (Sounds very much like “It is to protect the children. This isn’t aimed at power users”).

There is no mention of keepandroidopen.org and what it means for developers of free and open android applications.

There is no mention of statements made by developers of applications like F-droid, Obtainium and Newpipe who have openly said that they do not agree with this step from Google.

There is no mention of how this can potentially demotivate individual android app developers and drive them away from the platform entirely (here is an example of this).

There is also no mention of how most of these malware, adware and nagware infested apps used by scammers are ironically on Google’s own Play Store.

Other that that, no. I’m sure I did not read the content of his essay carefully enough. More importantly, my opinion doesn’t matter. I’m just a reactionary idiot. But I wonder what the developers of those free and open source applications on F-droid, applications that cannot be installed via the Play Store (but their scammy fake versions can be), will react to this being called a “fair trade”.

Keep Android Open

Advocating for Android as a free, open platform for everyone to build apps on.

Show threadPrunebutt1d ago

Wow. Thanks for clearing that up. That was the first time I heard about the “advanced flow” and the criticism surrounding it.

Sure seems like a useful idiot at best.