this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2023
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APK for searching and subscribing to Youtube, Twitch, and more in a single feed (youtu.be)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I just downloaded and have been loving this. It loads pretty quickly, navigation is intuitive, and I'll finally stop forgetting that Nebula exists because it'll all be in my one big subscription feed.

Since I'm new to moving over to open source, I want to ask the veterans: is this as incredible as it seems right now, or is there something I'm missing?

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Came here to say the same thing. The license isn't good at all. What this 100% lead to is, if they succeed with their goals, and a couple years down the line have become the de-facto way to consume content, they will follow the enshittification route. They will close their source and start extracting payment from the creators to be listed or promoted. We've seen this game so many times. Just recently terraform also closed their source, but at least the terraform developers could fork it. You won't be able to do so with this app.

I am all for a software that does the same thing but is fully FOSS. This is the only way to get out of the enshittification loop we're stuck in.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

CEO's statement:

We'll probably do a Q+A on this sometime soon.

  1. We believe it's essential that all of the software that people run on their computers be open to scrutiny by the owner of the computer.
  2. We believe that software developers should be payed directly by the people who use their software.
  3. We want others coders to be able to pick up and maintain abandoned projects into the future.

We don't have all the answers, but I personally am very unhappy with the state of open source software. We have billions of people running polished open source software on their Android and iOS devices with all sorts of nefarious hidden software attached by Google, Apple, Facebook, etc.

So we're not gonna just run with status quo. We want to win by letting the people be masters their computers once again.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, this doesn't fill me with confidence whatsoever they're not going to rugpull down the line. This is just empty words when their actual license prevents one from being the "master of your computer once again".

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (2 children)

So how else would you combat malicious forks like what happened to new pipe? Honest question, I like this standard even if there are always more truly open source licenses, if this could become a standard that helps prevent bad actors from taking advantage of less savy users that's a big win to me and a move in the right direction all while being able to see the source code download it modify if i deem fit and install it. Perfect is the enemy of progress. What's your solution?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (2 children)

What happened to newpipe is the fault of Google's police's not allowing an official newpipe, not of Foss. The same issue can happen with this software just as well. There's plenty of Foss which doesn't have this issue, like Firefox

[–] [email protected] -1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Ok but if Google is not willing to support this effort, like I asked what's your solution besides just letting it happen? Because that's not gonna spark confidence for mass adoption to move away from these bloated ad and tracker filled mainstream apps. You need to have steps for progress and this allows more control when those who are publishing said knock off applications in their store will not.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

You're never going to completely stop all malicious forks. Perfect is the enemy of progress, as you say. Even with the license they have, there will be malicious forks and there will be windows of time where people will be taken advantage of.

Someone who advocated for the right to repair shouldn't be against the right to repair software just because it's not elegant or less friendly to everyone.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

It doesn't matter whose fault it is.

If the same thing happens with this software, they will have it taken down. That's why the license exists.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Nice edit.

The reason why this happens only to newpipe and not to other Foss software like Firefox is because Google prevents an official newpipe on the app store. The could do the same with this app and license or not they'd have the same problem

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

No, it doesn't?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

So how else would you combat malicious forks like what happened to new pipe?

Trademarks. Anyone malicious can take your source-available code anyway, but if they infringe on your trademark by calling it "Firefox" or "Newpipe", you are legally in your right to take it down. Trademarks deal with fraud; copyright doesn't.

Iceweasel is a classic example of what happens when free software projects like Firefox seek to defend their trademark. They didn't want to allow Debian to use the Firefox name, as that may cause users to attribute quality problems to Mozilla when Debian is actually responsible because of the patches they had made.

Want to remove an app using the GrayJay name without your permission if it's a registered trademark? Here's a link to report it to Google Play.