Date   : Thu, 21 Jul 2011 06:05:37 +0200
From   : rick@... (Rick Murray)
Subject: Beeb emulation on Android?

On 20/07/2011 23:24, J.G.Harston wrote:

> Done: http://www.stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=4196

I wonder why this one isn't on the Market? Mmmm...


I'd agree, however, with the poster who thinks the permissions are a bit 
odd. My second [*] biggest bugbear of Android is that apps dictate 
"permissions", and numerous apps grab a lot more than they really need.
Example - there's an app to convert audio to crap-quality to push it to 
a Bluetooth mono earpiece (different "profile" to headphones, so does 
not normally accept music). It asks for the permission "Services which 
may cost you money (ability to send texts, place calls...)". I contacted 
the author. He replied basically "oh, I was too lazy to bother changing 
the permissions". WTF? Android needs to pull its head out of its 
<beeeep> and realise that it is us users who should be telling apps what 
they can access, not vice versa.


* - biggest bugbear, rampant privacy issues, like setting up a GMail
     account autosynced my addressbook with Google *without* *asking*
     *first*. Took an hour to unlink and remove that rubbish, bearing
     in mind <beeep>ing Motoblur does it too as a matter of course
     with no switch-off option.
     [and no, the iWorld is not much better, that in addition to syncing
      with iJobs requires you to pollute your computer with iTunes]


<rose-tinted nostalgia> I dunno. Back in the Beeb days, you bought a 
ROM, it was your ROM, you fitted it in your computer. There was no long 
list of things you are expected to have "agreed" to, and Acorn didn't 
monitor your use of the Beeb to refuse to talk to you if you used it in 
a way that isn't to their liking, or sue your ass off if you dared to 
unscrew the cover and peer inside. Rather the opposite, it seems to me 
that Acorn OSs have always pretty much invited you to cosy up alongside 
the OS code and rock the program counter all night long...
AND SOFTWARE DIDN'T CARRY OTHER PEOPLE'S ******** ADVERTS INSIDE!!!


Best wishes,

Rick.

-- 
Rick Murray, eeePC901 & ADSL WiFI'd into it, all ETLAs!
BBC B: DNFS, 2 x 5.25" floppies, EPROM prog, Acorn TTX
E01S FileStore, A3000/A5000/RiscPC/various PCs/blahblah...