On 25/05/12 17:04, Ian Bicking wrote:
> I don't see how ignoring installs_allowed_from is in the user's best
> interest.  If it's a paid application, 

As I said above, I'm only talking about free applications.

> If it's a free
> application then you are going to a lot of trouble to do something you
> could do already if you just went to the right store.

If the store's HTML works on my device, and if I don't mind getting an
account with the store, and, and...

Some people don't like to get Google accounts. So they can't use the
Android market, even to get free apps written by third parties. That's
wrong - it's centralizing and controlling and unnecessary.

> Anyone can link to a Marketplace installation page.  

Then why can't anyone link to the thing linked to from the Marketplace
installation page?

> Perhaps it would
> make sense to let an application declare its self-installation page (or
> maybe just its preferred installation page, including the Marketplace), so
> if you want to do some kind of index of applications you could do so, by
> simply scraping known application stores (including the Marketplace) for
> manifest URLs. 

I'm not quite following what you are saying here.

> A store has a special relationship with the applications
> you install through the store, 

You seem to be assuming this, but for free apps, why does that have to
be true? I don't have a special relationship with websites I link to.
And even someone _selling_ goods in the real world doesn't necessarily
have a relationship with the manufacturer of those goods (although
someone had to have at one point).

We seem to be defaulting to control rather than openness. This is not
very webby.

Why can't I create a store of "all the free task-tracking web apps I can
find"? Just like "here's a list of all the sites I like".

Here is my proposal: we extend the manifest (if it doesn't do this
already) to clearly distinguish between free and paid apps. We then
update the spec to say that install_allowed_from is only honoured for
paid apps, as part of the mechanism to make sure the right person gets paid.

Gerv
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