That is the equivalent of telling someone who doesn't like the current dictator to "go live in the desert".
Remember: I did not bring up the bad analogy. Someone abusing their quasi-monopolistic position to charge high fees is not the same as a tax. This was the point of my post. And sure we can pretend it is the same and bend reality till it fits, but that seems to me more like an idological expedition, than an insightful exploration.
That is voting in a modern democracy. You put your eggs into Android, iOS, and/or one of the less popular candidates. Or you don’t get into the mobile space at all.
Just because you don’t like the options doesn’t mean it’s not voting.
It's not democratic voting because in a democracy a vote is made to decide the direction for the entire voting-audience. The path the majority considers to be for the greater good, in which everyone will participate then.
Here the voting audience will be split in different paths which will all continue to exist, and a person changing his mind will have to leave behind things HE/SHE accumulated and contributed on this path.
If that would be like democratic voting, it would mean that if you decide to change your vote from one election to the other, you have to return your entire income and acquisitions you made during the ruling of this party, to start building your life again on the other path (--> "if you don't like it, go live in the desert")
Voting with your wallet just means that those who have the most money are “most correct.”
Sorry but that’s not a society I want to continue living in.
There needs to be strict regulations and maybe apple needs to be broken up. Owning the hardware and App Store has already shown have abusive they can be. They need to divest or spin off one of them into a new company or we can pressure politicians to do this for us.
I agree when it's a healthy market. But when the choice is between relinquish most control over your own device or relinquish most of your privacy, maybe it's time to regulate the market?
In the EU this is happening on both fronts:
- The GDPR has Android phone manufacturers to ask consent for different ways of using your data and being able to remove data. This is starting to work, on a Samsung phone Samsung/Google will ask you separate consent for using your data for diagnostics, ad targeting, etc. It's not perfect yet, but regulatory pressure is giving people privacy back.
- The DMA will force Apple to allow side-loading and alternative payment methods without taking a cut.
Once this has all played out, we'll still have a duopoly, but at least users and third-party developers are better protected.
