Bonum Certa Men Certa

Let Them Eat 'Apps'

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Mar 25, 2025,
updated Mar 25, 2025

about:blank

THIS morning Ryan linked to this page (US government site) and then quoted: "The payment site is designed to work with all mobile and desktop browsers. If you have a technical issue related to browser compatibility, we recommend downloading the latest version of Google Chrome. If you still have problems, you may request technical support within your account from the help page."

I am familiar with this phenomenon and wrote about it in 2021 [1, 2], then made a formal complaint that was handled by the Council.

I told Ryan "it is a chrome webapp, proprietary on proprietary" (both Chrome and the "app", probably the operating system too). It's not very user-friendly and if you somehow manage to install this malware (with a "recent" enough so-called 'phone'; old versions won't be supported anymore), then you have no actual person to speak to; they tend to say, "you can go to our site to run our malware on your malware" (browser), but there too there's no actual person who can help. They want people to struggle with finger strokes and unfamiliar (to be learned and used only once in a lifetime) interfaces. They're basically cheapening the service... making it cheaper only to themselves (while you pay with your time, angst and so on).

I joked with Ryan that "you must be a humanoid with "apps"... otherwise, [it's] either hard or persona non grata". I told him that "for accessibility reasons they tend to have paper-based fallbacks" (they always exist but are also well hidden; they'd even lie to some people about the existence of such options, not for technical reasons but because of the above-mentioned cheapening).

"It costs more to file using paper," he says. Yes, they try to punish people one way or another, like today's U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) penalising people financially if they do not use Microsoft's proprietary formats.

I told Ryan, "it also costs more to eat well, but you don't want to live on just bread and butter..."

Feed me!! Or I will need feed your social control media notifications addiction!!

The latest article by Dr. Andy Farnell speaks about this. He said: "My family and I have been free from BigTech for many years and refuse to use Microsoft, Google or other US services for security reasons. That has sometimes made life difficult, to say the least. But we are resolute and insistent. Despite relentless, cloying propaganda claiming it's "impossible" to be free of US behemoths, we've been happily and more safely living that simple reality for a long time."

'Apps' aren't fast and they typically don't save time considering how much maintenance (set aside costs) a modern "phone" demands. It's like having a pet inside your pocket or purse. It's just an extra responsibility, no matter where one goes. A wristwatch didn't demand battery changes (or charges) every day and you didn't need to constantly upgrade it, worry about bloat, viruses etc.

Go Appless. Not Apples. Appless.

Google Charging phones

You feed him data any second it's turned on.

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Another Site Bites the Dust: "Open Source For You" Becoming a Slopfarm (LLM Slop)
What a shame. Another dead site.
Microsoft 'Studies' Again? Leon Musolff is Writing Papers With Microsoft.
Even if one can see/find a link to "the study" (in the Bezos-controlled publication), most people won't look any further and just take everything at face value.
Towards GNU World Domination
The FSF led by Geoffrey S. Knauth with his friend Richard Stallman in the FSF's Board [...] Let's encourage people to adopt GNU/Linux. There has never been a better time.
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Promoting Microsoft and Proprietary Software Using Microsoft Operatives
Because nothing says "Open Source" like GPL violations facilitated by Microsoft
Links 23/04/2025: Crackdowns on Dissent, Palin Loses Libel Retrial Against New York Times
Links for the day
Links 23/04/2025: Hard Times and Digital Amnesia
Links for the day
The GNU/Linux Site Formerly Known as "linoxide.com" is Back... as an LLM Slopfarm!
Better for linoxide.com to go offline than to do this
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Richard Stallman to Speak in Oxford University Exactly a Day From Now
outsourced to GAFAM
Links 23/04/2025: "Hiding Corruption" and "The Cost of Defunding Harvard"
Links for the day
statCounter Helps Visualise Just How Deep in Trouble Microsoft is (Especially in Africa)
Microsoft sabotaged efforts to connect Africans and equip them with GNU/Linux laptops
The Register is Using Linux-Hostile Clickbait in Articles of Linux Proponents
Don't be a "whore" to advertisers, team El Reg
Microsoft Windows in Cyprus Lacking a Future
Most people access the Web there from mobile
Matrix Has a Severe Problem With Illegal Images
If Matrix cannot get the CP problem under control, many projects and people will dump Matrix
Never Try to Justify Strangulation of Women (Not in the US and Not in the UK)
Joint post by Mrs. Rianne Schestowitz and Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Links 23/04/2025: Tesla Profits Plunge 71%, Intel Ready to Lay Off 20% of Staff, Microsoft and IBM Layoffs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Most Profound Issue is That People Moved to 'Mobile' and "App Stores" (Microsoft's Presence There is Negligible)
Expect a wild ride for Microsoft this year
Google News is Amplifying FUD and Lies About Linux (and OpenSSH/SSH) by Promoting Slopfarms With Machine-Generated FUD and Slop Images
Google should know better
Gemini Links 23/04/2025: Librarians, Anubis, and Refactoring a Gemini Capsule
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Links 22/04/2025: Ending DEI Policies at Adobe, FTC Sues Uber
Links for the day
RMS is Done at KCL, Next Stop is Oxford
The message of RMS has long resonated well in India
US Government Already Bailing Out OpenAI/Microsoft With "Contracts", As Usual, Back Doors You Cannot Remove Becoming 'a Step Closer' on New PCs (Unless Everyone Acts ASAP)
The next "logical" step towards digital prisons
Microsoft Devises PR Stunts to Distract From Impending Mass Layoffs and Likely Bad Results Preceding Those Mass Layoffs
A "voluntary exit plan"
Gemini Links 22/04/2025: Deaths, HamsterCMS, and More
Links for the day
Links 22/04/2025: FTC v. Meta Trial and Google Remedies
Links for the day
In Turkey, Windows Down Rapidly While GNU/Linux Grows
Although Turkey is in NATO (but not the EU), it cannot quite trust computer systems controlled by the United States
GNOME, Microsoft, and GitHub: The Lack of Reporting on Abusive Colleagues Contributed to Profound Media Vacuum (or Blackout), Now Resorting to SLAPPs
This lack of morality/courage has helped enable further abuse, lining up more victims
Richard Stallman Has Updated His Article on Why "Free Software Is Even More Important Now"
Richard Stallman is about to give a talk here in the UK in a few hours
Microsoft Already Attacks the BSDs as Well (the E.E.E. Way, as Usual)
Bearers of bad news
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is in Trouble, May Soon be Out of Business
Openwashing needs to end
Microsoft's Debt Grew Over 6 Billion Dollars in the Last Reporting Quarter (Before Inauguration), Expect Worse Next Week When 'Results' Are Disclosed and Mass Layoffs Resume
Microsoft is bleeding. It does not want people to notice.
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, April 21, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, April 21, 2025
Richard Stallman Gives Public Talk in London in 7 Hours (Need to Register as Venue Limited to 150 Seats), Public Announcements Begin to Appear
These are not announced weeks or months in advance