The two newest Fire Sticks block apps from outside of Amazon’s store.
Stop calling it sideloading.
Its called “installing software”, on a computer, that you own.
Everything is a computer nowadays. But the moment you make “installing random apps” an official feature, you’ll also need to provide support to your customers for this. That’s why we have devices where there’s no official way to install apps and we call the process “sideloading” instead.
What? Why does the ability to install software as an official feature mean the os/hardware supplier needs to support that install?
Since when has windows and any PC manufacturer ever done this?
Is Google responsible for any android app that is installed either through the play store or any other way?
This idea that allowing us to install what we like increases the burden to the provider is complete rubbish. It’s simply to lock them into exactly their infrastructure. So there’s no FOSS or any other alternative that doesn’t exactly follow their arbitrary rules.
I was merely explaining why using a different term for the same procedure makes sense in some cases. My post was not about the general practice of manufacturers trying to prevent people from installing non-sanctioned apps.
Doesn’t that kind of defeat the point of buying a Fire Stick? Pretty sure most people bought that thing as an affordable Android TV box.
Edit: Typo
There’s some inherent value of having competing companies trying make their Smart Stick an option on any TV. Amazon is more likely to sue, I don’t know, Samsung if their TVs forced you to log into a Samsung account before using the Amazon stick. The average consumer sure won’t be able to sue.
(I don’t know how restrictive smart TVs are, though, and at this point I’m afraid to find out.)
That’s never going to happen
If your point of buying it was to install non Amazon apps, you’re why Amazon are making this change.
Fire sticks are primarily for Amazon services.
True, but their main value proposition has been for a while that you can jailbreak them and stream pirated content on them, even for your less technical users. Honestly, it seems like Amazon is probably doing this for liability reasons rather than profit, as if profit were the motive, then they could increase the cost of the device due to “inflation”.
A computer you can’t install anything on? Wtf is the point in that
Tell that to all the people who buy Rokus.
Wtf is a rokus
It’s a smart tv with Roku
They are sticks too. They were kinda the first of them.
Oku rokus
In an ideal world, they would get 0 sales.
I talk to streamers every day for work. They will buy whatever they are told to buy. It amazes me how people will buy hacked firesticks or modified apks in an Android TV device for $300, and explain they “beat the system”. If the long term claim is money savings, they’ll believe it. If it’s easier, they’ll buy it. I stopped using Firesticks when I noticed they had constant traffic of 40kb/s even when not in use. Even data sharing would only be pulling at certain times I would think.
I just want to see people out there figure out how to rip applications out of Amazons walled garden and see how difficult it is to run them on regular Linux desktops. Maybe React Native here ends up being a win for Steam Machines and home theater Linux
Crime.
