The Entire Android Software Ecosystem Is Terrible

[Blair Vidakovich]

Forgive my French, but this whole ecosystem of rooting your android
mobile device is a complete abonimation and should, as we millenials say
"get in the sea".

I am rooting a Lenovo Android Tablet for my father, because he has very
low computer literacy, and when left with a computer for too long, will
end up installing dangerous spyware on it.

These are my general observations from completing the task:

- the file manager is a chrome web browser plugin. i cannot view the
entire filesystem without rooting the device.

- it downloaded a system update without my explicit command to do so

- the only way to view user-installed APKs not from the google play
store is to perform a strange finger flick upwards gesture at the home
screen

- i cannot actually view the tar system update file that the operating
system coercively and secretly downloaded - i am merely given a
dialogue box which gives me the options MOREINFO and INSTALL

- all the bootloader and recovery APKs which are available on the
internet require an internet connection at all times to function

- virtually none of the most popular APKs for jailbreaking, rooting, and
installing custom recovery firmware are cryptographically signed or
located in systematically organised package repositories, they are all
floating around on forums, and you are literally shooting from the hip
if you decide to download files from forum posts from users named
"tdawgg777". for all of my complaints and heavy criticism of github, at
least it is an ecosystem with some sort of culture of reputation and
transparency, even if it is the absolute minimum that is acceptable.

- this device came with the proprietary application "netflix" already
installed

- many of the top search engine results that refer to rooting and
installing lineageOS onto tablets are web pages laden with spyware
traps and advertisements, and i assume are not written in
human-composed language - take this obviously intrinsically
trustworthy website: (https://www.getdroidtips.com/)

- FYI, "Framaroot" is literal spyware. Do not attempt to download this
APK.

- any website containing the exact string of symbols "NOW!" in H1 or H2
HTML text should never be accessed

this is, without a doubt, one of the most idiotic and oppressive
software ecosystems i have ever seen, second only to the Windows 10
computer that i attempted to manipulate 2 months ago, which prohibited
me from installing a GNU LaTeX binary because it had not been
cryptographically signed by the Microsoft corporation

I hope you are all having a nice Thursday :-)