* Posts by Mxm

12 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Jun 2020

Mozilla says 80 percent of Google Play's app safety labels are inaccurate

Mxm

Re: Sometimes the self reported rubbish is just...rubbish.

The Data Safety form is the problem here. Even if the developer first ticks the box that says their app doesn't collect data, they still get asked if they provide a way for the user to delete their data. It would be a brave developer who decided to leave that second box unticked - it's far too easy to get your app accidentally de-listed with very little explanation or recourse from Google.

Mxm

Re: We only need two options

So you click the red button and quickly discover that your app has no internet connectivity (IP address=personal data). Then you click the other button and the flood gates open...

Mxm

Re: Admob opaqueness

Unfortunately, advertising is the only viable business model for most apps and Admob is by far the biggest player.

And even if you found an ad network that was fully transparent about what it does, a lot of the questions on the form are quite vague and open to multiple interpretations. My point is that most developers will have tried to complete Google's Data Safety form honestly, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if 80% of them still made errors.

Mxm

Admob opaqueness

I have an app in the Play Store, so was forced to complete Google's Data Safety form, but frankly, I had to guess most of my answers. My own code collects zero user data, but the app does use Google's ad service and getting any clear information out of Google about what they do with the data and how it should be entered in their own form was impossible. There should have been a simple checkbox on the form just to say that the app connects to Admob, but instead they forced every single developer to blindly complete a long list of detailed questions. Most developers probably gave wildly different answers for exactly the same thing.

Hero to Jezero: Perseverance, NASA's most advanced geologist rover, lands on Mars, beams back first pics

Mxm

"My Aunt, who I lived with, had a parrot called Perserverance..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTv5ckMe_2M

Apple to halve commission for developers turning over up to $1m in sales via App Store

Mxm

Re: The good old days

As a shareware author myself, I remember the good old days when I sold digitally, directly to customers and only paid a 10-20% fee to a payment processing service. Now with Android, I pay 30% to Google and on top of that the price of my app is inflated maybe 20% further because of sales tax even though I myself am below the limit of needing to be VAT-registered.

Adobe Illustrator's open source rival Inkscape delivers v1.0.1 - with experimental Scribus PDF export

Mxm

Re: Worth considering...

Just started with the Affinity range myself and am very impressed. They're already strong enough to do everything most users need. There are still a few gaps that more advanced users might miss (e.g. I wish you could apply non-destructive effects like ripples to vector shapes, as you can in Illustrator), but maybe that's something that will be added in the future.

OK Windows 10, we get it: You really do not want us to install this unsigned application. But 7 steps borders on ridiculous

Mxm

Re: Not for solo developers

On Windows, the catastophic warnings messages discourage non-technical users from using uncertified programs. On Linux unfortunately, it's the operating system that discourages non-technical users.

Mxm

Re: Sorry I support this 110%

Certificate signing doesn't stop malware. Anyone can get a certificate, either in their own name or the name of a limited company, and Windows will happily drop all the warnings and roll out the welcome mat. If I was developing some lovely money-grabbing malware, the first thing I'd do is register a disposable company and shell out for a certificate.

Mxm

Re: Bloody sensible it is too!

Of course they can. Malware developers can get a certificate just like anyone else and generally speaking, their rewards make it much more worthwhile. Sure, they may eventually get their certificate blocked, whereupon they just create a new Ltd company and launch again.

Mxm

Re: Developers!

You're missing the point. Even if the developer can avoid those warnings, his customers will still see them. Unless you're targetting very experienced users, most will be scared off by all those overly alarming warning messages.

Mxm

Not for solo developers

The cost is part of the problem, but most of these certificate issuers also demand that you have a landline, listed in one of the official business directories they use. Unless you're a large company or a profitable malware developer, it's just not worth the hassle and cost to release on Windows these days. The easier money is in mobile.