Google backs down after locking out Nextcloud Files app

In a turn of events to warm our withered hearts, Google has offered to restore the permission that was revoked from Nextcloud's Files app for Android. Andy Schertzinger, Director of Engineering at Nextcloud, told The Register: "Google has decided to restore the permissions to our Android app so we can bring back the full file …

[b0llchit]

Standard operating procedure engaged

...Google's action demonstrates that there are still humans in the organization capable of changing course when required...

No, it shows that massive negative press will make them (just slightly on a minuscule level) change behaviour to mitigate the issue that causes the really bad press coverage. Then, an army of spin doctors is deployed to rinse the web of bad press and by adjusting the "search" index to show only Good News^TM to the (l)users.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re:fear for Google breakup is more likely

"bad press"

Google/Alphabet is already under scrutiny for a breakup on both sides of the Atlantic.

I suspect they would like to rather avoid a damning ope-and-shut case of anti-competitive monopolistic behavior.

A small price to pay for delaying a complete breakup of the company.

[Lon24]

Re: Re:fear for Google breakup is more likely

Agree, nothing to do with bad press. All to do with Nextcloud being a successful German company with the ear of the EU commission. Last thing Google needs is more evidence to supplement current investigations as to whether they play fair within the EU.

Which begs the question. Would Google have u-turned if Nextcloud had been a UK company?

[FRUDESAPPY]

Re: Re:fear for Google breakup is more likely

And shows how little US congress is willing to protect America

[FRUDESAPPY]

Re: Standard operating procedure engaged

We buy perpetual licenses and then they change and charge rent or worse break the licensed products like they did here. It is criminal and our Congress does nothing.

[3arn0wl]

This is the right result.

Well done Richard.

[Kurgan]

To keep users on play store only...

While it's a good thing that this happened, it's quite clear that Google did not want the bad PR and probably does not want to push anyone towards installing alternate app stores or even installing downloaded APKs. Better keep everyone on their own store.

[Andy Mac]

Has the bar fallen so low that our hearts are warmed by the reversal of a shitty act designed to hurt the competition?

Sadly, yes. Yes it has.

[Pascal Monett]

My expectations are already fully managed

I expect things are going to get worse.

[kmorwath]

"there are still humans in the organization capable of changing"

Probably a lawuer who saw a huge fine probably coming and hitting hard...

[Ben Tasker]

Only took NINE MONTHS

It's good that Google have corrected this, but lesson learnt: F-Droid is now my first point of call for anything OSS.

[Alumoi]

Re: Only took NINE MONTHS

Only some 15 years later. Not bad thought, welcome to the club.

[cd]

Re: Only took NINE MONTHS

F droid makes a good catalog, but Obtanium is my pref.

First thing I do on Android is disable Play Services and Play Store.

[zimzam]

Re: Only took NINE MONTHS

I find Neo Store better. While largely a front end for F-Droid, you can add any repo you want either manually or from a pretty lengthy list.

[Anonymous Coward]

They will wait a few months

And just reverse the reversal.

We know they will.

And until there is a credible alternative app store, they'll keep on doing it.

Imagine if you'd bought a Ford, but were only allowed to put Texaco petrol in it, and drive on Roads approved by Ford ?

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: They will wait a few months

"until there is a credible alternative app store"

There is: F-Droid

[zimzam]

Re: They will wait a few months

There is but it's the Linux problem. The vast majority of people wouldn't have any clue how to install and authorise an APK.

[CA Dave]

Re: They will wait a few months

The millions of average users and laypersons don't need yet another 3rd party sync app. There's one "main" file sync app for every OEM phone/device out there, which is more than enough since the vast majority syncs photos and some videos taken.

No 3rd-party app ever needs access to the ALL FILES permission. It's an inherent security risk. People bitch about a perceived lack of security in the Play Store as it is. The power user nerds already know how to sideload things with the inherent understanding that they know what the heck they're doing to prevent malware.

[klh]

Re: They will wait a few months

You are so shortsighted you probably qualify for lasik.

One browser per OEM is all you need. One search engine is all you need. One ISP is all you need. One news source is all you need. One party is all you need. One leader is all you need.

[Criminny Rickets]

Re: They will wait a few months

Why is that just a Linux problem?

[KarMann]

Re: They will wait a few months

Why is that just a Linux problem?

I really don't think zimzam implied that at all. Quite the opposite: They said that F-Droid shares the same problem, which would make it very much not just Linux, and nothing else in their phrasing* suggested it being particular to either or both of them.

* Are we still doing that?

[MachDiamond]

Re: They will wait a few months

There's APKpure and APKmirror.

[A_GIRL_Trainer]

GooglePlex

... and that's a googleplex for you :)

[MachDiamond]

Cloud again

I back up my phone files to my home computer and limit App access to only the things it needs to operate. I don't even need to back the phone up very often as a don't use it for more than voice calls. The hardware is too delicate and too exposed to rely on very much. Get it wet and the sensor shuts the thing down so if you want the data back out, you will pay and pay and pay and pay. Drop it and you might not have a screen to use so the phone can be unlocked to transfer the data.

I expect that a lot of what people are backing up are photos they'll never look at again.

[Phil Koenig]

Google and "breaking old stuff"

Google has a long history of removing useful functionality in Android with apparently little to no community input, using the figleaf of "technology must move on".

But when you analyze such moves, you often find that many of them were part of a 12+ year effort to systematically move core functionality out of the original, open-source AOSP codebase, and stick it into various close-source Google things (GMS, Google Play frameworks, and various other proprietary apps and services like Gdrive, Chrome, etc), conveniently armtwisting users to be dependent on Google's proprietary, closed parts instead, and further entrenching their market power.

Many of the features that were removed were used by "power users", and Google could have provided some way for such users to re-enable such functionality with perhaps some extra controls on them instead.

The fact that they rarely bother to do such things tells me how little they care about their users in reality, and that there is often a hidden corporate agenda at work instead, which looks nothing like their actual PR would suggest.

[mattaw2001]

Good. Now do the API key for Digikam and the permission for Syncthing

Good. Now do the API key for Digikam and the permission for Syncthing. And probably 100+ more I don't personally know about.

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=490397

https://github.com/syncthing/syncthing-android/issues/2064

This is only a couple of examples from a larger strategy of strangling OSS and any competition by arbitrarily revoking API keys and permissions on a regular basis. Users lose functionality and blame the product for being unreliable, not Google.