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Google Android

Google Blocks File Manager Total Commander From Allowing Users To Sideload Apps (androidpolice.com) 74

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: Total Commander has been around since the 90s, eventually expanding into Android after the platform launched over a decade ago. The app has more than 10 million downloads on the Play Store, still supporting OS versions as far back as Android 2.2. With a new update, developer Christian Ghisler has removed the ability to install APK files on Android, blaming Google Play policies in the patch notes for the app. It's a shocking twist for the service and, seemingly, a bad omen of things to come for other mobile file managers. A forum post from Ghisler sheds some more light on what's going on here, as Google sent him a notice warning of his app's removal from the Play Store within a week if the app went unmodified. The company's automated response pointed the developer to the "Device and Network Abuse" policy.
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Google Blocks File Manager Total Commander From Allowing Users To Sideload Apps More

Google Blocks File Manager Total Commander From Allowing Users To Sideload Apps

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  • What did you expect? (Score:3)

    by narcc ( 412956 ) on Wednesday May 18, 2022 @02:54PM (#62546654) Journal

    Google wants Apple-level control over your devices. It's like an abusive corporations wet-dream.

    • Re:What did you expect? (Score:5, Informative)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Wednesday May 18, 2022 @05:44PM (#62547068) Homepage Journal

      Reading the forum thread, it looks like the issue is that it supports downloading plugins.

      Downloading executable code is not allowed for Play Store apps, because it circumvents Google's security checks. They can only scan the app uploaded to the Play Store, not extra code modules downloaded from another website.

      The developer seems to have realized this and is now looking to make the app compliant while still allowing plugins to work.

      There is no threat to side loading, or to alternative app stores. It's fine to install other apps, just but add to your own apps code.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by narcc ( 412956 )

        That's not much better. There are a lot of legitimate reasons a program might want to make use of code downloaded later or from other sources, plugins being just one.

  • Total Commander Rocks! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by kiviQr ( 3443687 ) on Wednesday May 18, 2022 @02:54PM (#62546656)
    The best Win tool!

    • Re:Total Commander Rocks! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by spudnic ( 32107 ) on Wednesday May 18, 2022 @03:44PM (#62546804)

      Came here to say this. Old-time Norton Commander for DOS user and licensed TC user for over, geez, 30 years?

      Between TC, vim, and ahk, I'm able to be terribly efficient with most things I do.

    • Absolutely. I used NortonCommander in the 90s, NC3, NC4, etc, under DOS ; then in Windows 3 I started using WindowsCommander, then Christian had to rename it to TotalCommander, I used it in win95, 98, 2k, xp, 7, 8, 10, 11, still using it every day, still using the same shortcut since the 90s, still using it 100% of the time instead of the Windows Explorer, I don't know really how to use Windows Explorer in fact!

  • I miss the 80s (Score:5, Insightful)

    by systemd-anonymousd ( 6652324 ) on Wednesday May 18, 2022 @02:55PM (#62546662)

    If computers were invented today you'd never be allowed to execute arbitrary code on your own processor, and if the Web were new you'd never be permitted to enter an arbitrary address into the URL bar, which would be replaced with a search engine and bookmarks drop-down only. Both of those things would be considered too harmful, violent, dangerous, and give you access to potentially threatening and offensive content. Or at least that'd be the reason the corporations gave you, and claimed it was to protect you and your data.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by bws111 ( 1216812 )

      Nonsense. This is a STORE deciding policy on what they will and won't sell. And that store is not the only way to buy or obtain apps.

      As for your general comment, again nonsense. You can still do what you always could: go buy pieces of hardware (whether it is at the chip, motherboard, or 'system' level), install the software YOU want on it, and do whatever you want. What you cannot (and never could) do is buy what is essentially an appliance (like a phone) and expect it to do anything other than what th

      • I would concur that it's "just a store" if it wasn't the exact same company who makes the entire device OS and ultimately controls what can and cannot be installed in a reasonable fashion.

        If it's "Just the store" stopping this, the dev should just provide/sell the app from his website as a raw APK. Then it doesn't matter what the Play store thinks.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        One needs to remember that someone needs to write the program in the first place. Writing the program means needing to test it and run it, and needing to do that meant the system you're developing on needs a mechanism for doing so.

        Thus, by definition, every system has a way of running arbitrary code. After all, if you want to write hello world, you need to write it and run it. And on systems like iOS where it's locked down, there are mechanisms in place to run code you write.

        Now, what may be restricted is t

      • "Relax guy, the thing that 95% of all users rely on is pushing people around and changing expectations for what's acceptable or not. But it's not 100%."

        Might as well say you can't criticize Microsoft for fucking with privacy, uEFI, and computing interoperability standards because not everyone uses Windows.

    • What makes you say that? There are new developments all the time, new devices and even vendor specific ones that don't follow your line of reasoning. Less hyperbole please.

      • What makes me say that? PCs became popular for being general purpose computers, and the Internet became popular for being an open information system, but each subsequent device that follows in their footsteps is more locked down, more controlled, less free (as in speech), more subscription-based, less ownership-based, etc.

        Remember, people were shocked and affronted at the idea of Apple not letting people install arbitrary applications, but now it's just considered normal. Normal to have a walled garden. Nor

  • Total commander always required a mouse, no thing like a CLI/ncurses style suite! How come this isn't on Android?

    Seriously though, as a security professional, allowing apps to install arbitrary apks is definitely a problem and will result in CVEs and huge headlines also posted on slashdot about Android's lax security, usually written histrionically from sites like CNET.

    • Holy fucking shit I had to change A-P-K to @-P-K in my comment to pass the lameass filter. What pathetic fucking incompetence. This place is such a sorry shit show.

      Anyway, moving on.

      You can drive total commander entirely with the keyboard or remote, you don't need a pointer. In fact it has a whole series of keyboard shortcuts for keyboard users. /jokemurder

      Seriously though, as a security professional, allowing apps to install arbitrary @PKs is definitely a problem

      It does not and never has worked that way. Total Commander can NOT install itself without root, and I don't even know if it does it then. All it does is

  • WTF, Google (Score:5, Interesting)

    by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Wednesday May 18, 2022 @03:36PM (#62546774) Homepage Journal

    It doesn't even really sideload apps, in that the OS actually does that. All it does is tell the OS to load the APK. Then you get a popup asking you if you want to install. This is no different than if you loaded the APK from a browser.

    This is an extremely worrying development, because why would Google do this unless they were preparing to crack down on sideloading in general? You can still install an APK from any browser right now. And if you put a web server app on your device, you can load that APK from the device itself even if the browser refuses to open a file.

    • because why would Google do this unless they were preparing to crack down on sideloading in general?

      Google wants any payments made through apps to be made through Google. Thus, apps that bypass Google payments are not allowed in the play store. Now, if someone wanted to distribute an app that bypasses Google's payment system, it would be easy to distribute a free app through the Play Store that merely sideloads the real app which uses a non-Google payment system.

      Total Commander got caught up Google blocking

    • This is Google that we are talking about. Don't Be Evil? - don't make me laugh.

    • There's always ADB

    • This is an extremely worrying development, because why would Google do this unless they were preparing to crack down on sideloading in general?

      Quite simple, the app used APKs to self update outside of Google Play. Google cracked down on them and asked them to remove all functionality to install APKs. Play silly games you get yourself in the crosshairs.

      Google couldn't block sideloading even if it wanted to due to antitrust issues, and nothing is more telling that they are going after a single lone 3rd party and yet have done nothing to any of the other file managers, any of the browsers, or even the OS itself. Your theory is non-sequitur.

      • Incorrect. APL's been getting away with it for almost 10 years now. Google could quite easily mandate a locked down experience and the American public would be "PLEASE SIR CAN I HAVE SOME MORE". You'll get a handful nerds dissatisfied with it, but that's about it.
    • Mother is telling the children they may not touch themselves - or they will go blind. Its for your own protection they say. Now what you have left is a lobotomized OS thats tells the owner No. Now the EU can go hard and impose monopoly fines, for what is trade restriction.

    • Indeed - but for now there's Solid Explorer which can still do it (along with file management tasks too).

  • It is insulting the way Google and Apple treat app developers. If we didn't create all theses apps for them, Android and iOS would just be another Blackberry. Unfortunately Google and Apple realize they have full control over the mobile market and can do anything they want because developers no longer have a choice but to support their platforms.

    Fortunately there is now a new option: PWAs [wikipedia.org]. We've redeveloped our app [goldwave.com] as a PWA. It has almost all of the same functionality as a native app, but without all
    • Congratulations: You've successfully changed oppressors from Google Android / Apple iOS to Google Chrome / Apple Safari. Feel free to bask in the glory that is Google Chrome's / Apple Safari's superiority over Google Android / Apple iOS. Feel secure in knowing that Google Chrome / Apple Safari will never harm you like Google Android / Apple iOS used to.
      /s

      Let's also not forget that by running the "app" A.K.A. website in the cloud, your users never have the ability to use older versions, are completely depen

      • Our app runs fine in Firefox and privacy focused versions of Chrome (such as Brave). Once the app is started, it is stored on the device. No cloud or network connection is required, just like a native app. You seem to have a very limited understanding of how a PWA works. Less choice? Vender lock-in? Where are you getting that nonsense?

        As a developer, creating a PWA is way more enjoyable and easier than creating native versions of the app, so yes I am basking in the glory of freedom from Google and App

        • PWAs aren't anywhere near as good as native apps. You take a performance hit since you're using HTML and not native / near native code. You have far fewer permissions, you're able to do less. This will be good for a large swath of apps, mind you... those that don't need performance, a slight battery hit, or systemwide permissions.
  • This all makes perfect sense. Side loading is a threat to their monopoly control so it must be fought.
  • Totally logical that loading apps you actively seek out and install which give your device the capabilities you want for it is "Device and Network Abuse" according to the people who run the walled-garden app store...

  • The big push to hardware drm... (Score:3)

    by blahplusplus ( 757119 ) on Wednesday May 18, 2022 @05:56PM (#62547114)

    ... and the advent of trusted computing is upon us. The end of general computing is nigh.

    The Personal computer as we know it is coming to an end, people are clueless about them turning the computers into a locked down devices like the iphone, they are changing how exe's work in the future for trusted computing, look at this list at crackwatch there's been a war on software ownership to kill local applications for over 23+ years.

    See here:

    https://old.reddit.com/r/Crack... [reddit.com]

    This started roughly with the game industry rebranding PC rpg's "MMO's" by stealing their networking code, thereby changing the future of gaming and software ownership completely since there's no reason for any application to be split into two exe's.

    For those who don't know: Two or more computers networked together become and behave as as single device, so that means any program can be split into two sets of files or two exe's and run across the network, but that's the same thing as stealing the software, since there is no reason for client-server executables for applications and games unless they were trying to steal them and artificially raise the price of software.

    So they got the public to overpay for PC games, and that meant Adobe and microsoft and the rest were jealous of what Garriot and EA accomplished in 1997 with ultima online, See how mmo's killed local apps here:

    Ultima 9 (local app) was cancelled for Ultima online (client server app):

    https://youtu.be/lnnsDi7Sxq0?t... [youtu.be]

    There was no need for that because we had limitless multiplayer with quake 2 in 1997:

    https://youtu.be/TfeSMaztDVc?t... [youtu.be]

    After that microsoft and the rest have been pushing hard towards trusted computing and signed binaries.

    From 1960 to roughly 2000, all exe's were unsigned normal plaintext binaries, aka you want that if you want to run old software since plaintext exe's make it much easier for you to be able to emulate or run old software with some modifications.

    Windows 10 is the first client-server os and windows 11 has TPM chip requirement, to enforce signed binaries, they are putting drm into the OS as anti-piracy mechanism and also so they can take over the internet.

    https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja1... [cam.ac.uk]

    Either way the personal computer is at an end because every tom dick and harry sucked up client-server apps onto their pc's over the last 23 years, future computers will be fisher price locked down devices from windows 10/11 onwards.

  • Google know what's best for you. You don't. Don't worry and consume.
  • I think making a website like you is an advantage to you, very happy to share my feelings with everyone, I am very fond of the game because it is very interesting. Please take the time to experience with me here: crossword puzzles [crosswordpuzzles.onl]

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