This is not a wind up. But I’m sick of android commercial developers giving bad softwares loaded with spyware. I am interested in what free and open source apps are out there which give the functionality and reliability grade of old style desktop commercial and professional Apps? FOSDCPGS. A list of the best FOSS Android software that can replace PC software?
The whole system is lame and compromised. The latest, trying to backup my phone’s storage to windows without error, verified for integrity, and with the original date and time preserved. It has been a week long nail pulling exercise in futility. Even just doing a dump to the sd card didn’t preserve the date or have me no assurity there were adequate procedures to stop data corruption. On Windows over USB, simple copying often stops or corrupts. The only reliable options, expensive and the cloud.
We need to really spike this vampire with better software. I am surprised the libre Office community has not used the Linux to JavaScript translation API technique to do a version Libreoffice on Android, or Mozilla a proper version of Firefox, or even Google with Chrome WB. In the time of crowd sourcing, groups really need to do the same for FOSS.
We’ll, that was a bit of a rant, and I’m not exactly sure what your hoping for from responses, but as far as backing up I would highly recommend syncthing. https://syncthing.net/
It’s available from F-droid and the play store, and from many of the Linux package managers, windows and mac os. I run this app on my phone and on my wife’s phone. Whenever the phone is plugged in and connected to my wifi, it connects in the background to my local Synology NAS and synchronizes my files. It needs to be noted that because of android security there is no way for any app to backup another apps private data.
Check it out, but it.suits my purposes and is very easy to configure with a nice GUI
Thank you. Not much a rant, that’s a bit of a strange tone to have, but explanation and direction.
I have been sick a lot, but only one recommendation. It says it is not good for backup and doesn’t mention secure unmonitored USB, but Lan and internet, where it is exposed to outside attempts to monitor, where encryption is regularly cracked, and data streams are backed up, waiting for better technology to more easily crack very high end encryption. It’s good for what it is, but hopeless if the hacker does things to data on phone unknowingly (which can be readily done since the 4G exploit) and you go home and it instantly propagates the unknown changes to the drive. If only they made this back up over USB as well, or nearfield wifi direct it would be very good.
It is pretty obvious I’m asking for a range of commercial or professional desktop grade free and open source software to make a list here, where others can find at least some sort of list.
That I’m also pointing to the issues, using one personal example to do with backing up data being compromised, encouraging people to put trade secrets on the cloud where it is decipherable.
That I am, with example mentioned attached, advocating for people to support the development of such commercial or professional desktop grade free and open source software.
There is no point ignoring such things and accusing of only ranting. FOSS on Android will continue to fail without proper steps to counteract commercial rivals feature sets and subversion. Maybe some EFF people would like to do so, but they are hidden away, without even a forum to organise an alternative, which they can through a proper Linux and mostly JavaScript code Virtual Engine based based code for portability, and some Linux for everything else. Again, direction for a rudderless ship.
Another observation, word-processing, and mainly office and other productivity apps are well understood at this stage to write such well once for ever more. Completely replacing commercial apps except for some enhancement to such apps. This is apart from security and performance enhancements for new architectures.
I once was going to do such an open source platform commercially to fund, to encourage forks and a stable base of quality FOSS application code, but am no longer able to do so. I come from the same community as Linus got his incentive from. We should already have long reached such a plateau. Governments can already monitor all traffic through the internet, and compromise internal device manufacture, so no longer need to oppose such platforms, which only makes their own efforts more difficult and expensive. After all.
Total subversion and control, only hinders total transparent surveillance. But efforts to manufacture such apps and platforms, reveal all actors to them. As is the current state, some will remain hidden trying to bypass such and present a clear continuous threat to total transparent monitoring and weaken their position continually, instead of letting people work proficiently, privately which strengthens what they wish to protect by strengthening the people’s proficiency. So, direction, old school. Also, a “win win” situation, where the public is responsible for having a government they want, if they want to bother, which governments depend on people being happy with their proficiency in transparency. Neither will ever win completely, if they continue to fight the wrong battles. An unstable base results in the possibility of loss.