HN

Comments (129)

• throwaway87543
  The monopoly/gatekeeping effect of an OS developer making apps that compete with independent apps has such an easy solution. The OS must not give private api's or special permissions to its in-house apps. Don't try to fight the gatekeeping feature by feature, that is whack-a-mole.Bonus points if you require the primary UI (window manager in the language of the ancients) to be an installable app.
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  shiandow
  I don't care about any of these, I just want to be able to have whatever Google pay does without Google.You could claim that's not an android problem but if you do I don't think you've ever had to explain to people your phone doesn't have a Google Play store.
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  OldMatey
  This is a fabulous ruling and the EU continues (for the moment at least) to be the biggest champion of holding corporations to account and pushing back on entrenched tech power. I know there are bunch of concerning things like chat control getting pushed through but at least there is a counterbalance in other areas as well.
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  nolist_policy
  Very nice, here are the 11 Android features that must be made accessible to third party's: https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/developer-portal/in...My favorites:> 6. Structured on-device integration> AI services will be able to easily interact with other apps installed on the device and perform tasks on behalf of the user within those apps, for tasks that the apps and the user have chosen to make available to AI services. These tasks include “send a message”, “create a note”, “schedule a meeting”. This includes access to certain Google apps (i.e.Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Maps, YouTube, Messages and Phone) that Alphabet will make available through operating system-level integration channels.> [...]> For instance, Android implements structured on-device integration through App Functions, which developers can enable for their apps, and which can be accessed by AI services without being reserved anymore for Google services, such as Google Assistant or Gemini.> 7. Screen automation> AI services will be able to automate multi-step tasks within apps, on behalf of the user upon their consent. They will do so by imitating user behaviour in a separate virtual window, which makes it possible for the assistant to complete the task in the background, while the user can do something else. [...]> Android implements screen automation via Computer Control, which can automatically access apps, and which is currently reserved for Google’s services, such as Gemini.> 9. System-level on-device models> AI services will be able to call on existing on-device models (“ODMs”), including the Gemini Nano ODMs, that are part of the DMA designated operating system, already preinstalled on Android devices and already made accessible to third parties. As a result of the measures, third-party AI services will have guarantees of equal access (for example, in terms of performance) to ODMs, as Google’s services. [...]> 10. On-device model implementation> Third parties will be able to install, run and use on-device models (ODMs) under the same hardware‑resource and background‑execution conditions that Google’s own models enjoy, and will allow their ODMs to be shared centrally with other apps. [...]
• adinisom
  Will be interesting to see how Google implements a more open DSP wake-word detection. The requirement for it to work without the app holding a default role suggests needing to recognize multiple wake-words for each of the non-default apps that uses one.From an openness perspective this is excellent. Technically it seems challenging with a DSP designed to detect a single thing using as little power as possible. Currently this balances doing as little work as possible to detect plausible utterances of the wake-word on the DSP while minimizing the costs of spurious wake-ups on the CPU. At the very least multiple wake-words seems to need the DSP to do more work and wake up the CPU more often.
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  aboardRat4
  This is all smoke and mirrors.The core issue is not "Google not allowing a feature", it's that small businesses cannot buy phones, install a patched version of Android without a restriction and sell them to make money.Until this problem is solved, everything else is palliative.
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  aatd86
  Funnily enough, I think it is in Google's best interest to comply and do the best work they can. Besides security that they might want to guarantee up to a limit, that would boost Android usage, also including their own hardware.The future lies in a large, local-friendly ecosystem and the hardware to support it.Gate keeping software makes even less sense nowadays.The competition is on compute offering. Cheaper, faster, at scale. They can have a competitive advantage over incumbents if they stay smart.
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  ramblurr
  Is this ruling related to https://keepandroidopen.org/ at all? It's not clear to me..
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  rswail
  Does this apply to Apple to have something separate to Siri in iOS?
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  hollow-moe
  What a shame. How much time and €M spent just to deign allow you to do some very specific stuff on their devices (in 5 years at least once the trials and shenanigans settle) ? Obviously it doesn't include the "answering call screening" for example, which requires very privileged APIs accessible only by "system" apps, i.e. the ones preinstalled in the ROM. How about RCS ? Remember RCS the "open" standard replacing SMS ?
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  Cider9986
  So they are gonna add these to AOSP?
• motbus3
  I wonder what happened to the laws the limited market monopoly and trust
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  JoshTriplett
  Now if only these rulings also covered attestation.
• deepnet
  Stallman was right : without the four freedoms your software owns you rather than vis-a-versa.Interoperability is the key to breaking out of walled gardens and owning your own data and digital self.This is a big win but google will fight back it seems instead of embracing interoperability.It may seem trivial but using a small DSP running a tiny model to provide a battery efficient always on wake up call for home AI is huge.As a carer for elders who rely on AI to use modern devices in the face of their difficulty keeping up with interface changes this bodes well.Gatekeeping AI and the future with hidden features is straight out of the bad old days of M$’s embrace, extend and extinguish.I embraced AI to let my elders control their home and they love being in control but are constantly frustrated with UI changes and often find themselves stuck unable to call me with ‘Alexa call Daniel’ which provides them with hope if they wake stuck in a nightmare.Come on google, please don’t be evil embrace interoperability and the open source community.Well done Eff, Cory Doctorow and the Pirate parties of Europe for this small win
• stavros
  Excellent, now please force them to open up app installation again!
• Varsham_26
  [dead]
• deadlast2
  Now let's bite the apple.
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  Brian_K_White
  Is "in the EU" the new "in mice"?