Epic Games Accuses Samsung and Google of Colluding to Prevent Sideloading on Galaxy Devices

[theapplehead]

"Has no evidence but is hoping to find something"

Tim Sweeny is ****ing scuzzbag in every sense of the word. As usual he wants to have his cake and eat it too.

He has done absolutely nothing to better technology

Amen. He really needs to learn to sing a new tune because this is getting pretty old

 

[snak-atak]

This guys is just pure slime. Throwing lawsuit after lawsuit and waiting to see what sticks. Only says he’s doing it for the little guy, but he’s only suing as long as he can get a bigger piece of the pie for himself.

 

[Rock_Artist]

While I have no sympathy for Epic and it might be cynical that in the end they care about that revenue and not the end user. The cause is right imho.

Another example of such behavior that worsen is in Sequoia.
As a developer, now if I don’t notarize my software, right click open (which is already not intuitive) stopped working and you’re required to do extra steps from System Preferences.

For many open source projects where the developers don’t want to pay 100$ a year just to get Apple’s stamp, this step makes the Mac closer to iDevices.

I don’t mind disabling side loading by default. But the minimum the OS should do is have a one unified way to allow it once or at least make the measures for allowing it reasonable.

 

[mpuk]

Google wants to keep people safe……….

...all the way to the bank.

 

[delsoul]

Can't we just Ubisoft Epic Games at this point? Sweeney really should go on vacation and never come back. There's constant crying from them over apple, and now google/samsung, but never any proof other than hurt feelings.

 

[mpuk]

Tim Sweeny stamps his feet again. I want free access to all your customers. I want to set up my marketplace in the doorstep for free in YOUR Shopping Mall, that you designed and built and maintain and improve... and NO I AM NOT GOING TO PAY A THING. And I don't care. I want it now.

To the music of "I Want It Now" form Charlie and the chocolate Factory.

I am Tim Sweeney
I want your user
user, users
I want a your user to buy only from ME!
No App Store fees, I won't allow

I want my own store
Right at your front door
No cost to me
But profits galore
All the Money in MY store

Give me the market
The whole ecosystem
I want to own it
No need for your Wisdom
Give it to me Now.

I want it today
I want it for free
All of your customers
Belonging to me
And paying a fee

Don't care how
I want it now
My own marketplace
Without paying somehow
Don't care how, I want it now
Don't care how, I want it now

He is the Veruca Salt the Tech Industry.

🤣

 

[tCdemon]

Jajajaja...Epic is a joke.

 

[contacos]

Don't even understand what they mean by "Auto Blocker.

I have a Galaxy Fold Z 6 and all you have to do is deactivate automatic lock or whatever you call it in English within security and privacy to be able to install any APK for good

 

[Kissmo1980]

Quoting Professor Snape:
“Look at you quarrel like a married couple”

 

[SanderEvers]

I never sided with Samsung or Google. But Epic is worse in every possible way. So...

It's a toggleable safety feature. It's up to the user to allow third party sources, not the developer. So I hope Epic loses.

 

[cjsuk]

Is this Epic's entire business plan? To just sue and complain, sue and complain, ad nauseam? The feature is ostensibly a very good safety feature. Absent any evidence of collusion, meh, the suit should be dismissed with prejudice.

Wait until he reveals the true plan: enslaving our children in a web of micro transactions, impossible to escape billing systems and grinding games.

 

[tmaciak]

Wait until he reveals the true plan: enslaving our children in a web of micro transactions, impossible to escape billing systems and grinding games.

This. Apparently, those who think that Epic acts for greater good, don't have children in school age. I have, so wouldn't touch Epic even with a very, very long stick.

 

[tmaciak]

I look forward to the EU declaring that this important safety feature has no business being on by default.

Actually, it is quite interesting, what EU will do, as this is Samsung function, and due to marvels of EU legislation, Samsung is not "gatekeeper" for Android, just Google

 

[Armada2]

Sure, he may be looking out for Epic's interests, but that doesn't change the fact that these lawsuits Epic has been filing have been and will be benefiting all developers.

All companies just optimize for themselves, but Epic is currently the only real counterbalance to the Apple and Google duopoly, so regardless of what the motivation is, a side effect of it is that it benefits all customers and developers.

The more you keep telling yourself that the more you will believe it 😂

 

[svish]

Another unwanted lawsuit from Epic. Expecting Samsung and Google to win

 

[bgillander]

Technology companies used to introduce life changing solutions that were seemingly magic in some ways. These days they put their efforts into discovering ways to charge for things that were previously free. They often offer no real value except that they block, buy or ban any alternatives. Standing up for Google, Samsung or *gasp* even Apple is a fools errand of the highest order.

Second highest order.

I would say the highest is actually standing up for a guy that keeps saying he is "doing it for all developers", even though he has already admitted, when he was actually under oath, that he would have taken a deal just for his company, if it had been offered. I would like to think that he would stop pretending after that, but I guess it is worth making up fairytales if people keep believing his words when he isn't testifying under oath.

And, as much as I do complain that pretty much everything is suffering from en$#@%ification these days, what exactly are these companies trying to charge for that were previously free? OSes used to cost fairly big bucks. SDKs used to cost me way too much. WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3 used to cost a lot. I'm sure there is some stuff being charged for now that was free for some period, but all I can think of how expensive all software used to be, and how much it used to cost to develop and distribute, so I am curious. I guess at least we never had to pay for V-Bucks in the 20th century, so there was that.

 

[vladi]

Nice try Google! Not wanting to implement app source whitelisting in OEM Android themselves they tried now to pass that down as manufacturer's implementation. The worst thing is all these individuals who come up with children business solutions like this one have deep seven figure payouts.

 

[CraigsDog]

Epic Games is the biggest crybaby company in the world

 

[Ctrlos]

They don't want much, do they?

Epic are really starting to look like a spoilt child now. Turning off the APK protections on Galaxy is as simple as flicking a switch in the settings. That is not the basis of a lawsuit. Apple could have made it this easy and sidestepped all their CTR nonsense.

Samsung know 99% of its users are not tech savvy and will likely just click anything on screen to get rid of it. The chances of them allowing their browser to install APK files (and therefore something malicious) is quite high. Enthusiasts like me know that you give an app like ZArchiver the permission so nothing can be done without your say-so.

Epic apparently is willing to risk the entire market's phone security just so it can get its *3-game* app store on Android phones?! Sideloading is ok and should not be banned. But blocking it behind a simple toggle is an acceptable compromise.

 

[AppleEnthusiast1995]

I think it’s time for epic to make a phone and mobile platform.

 

[cjsuk]

Epic apparently is willing to risk the entire market's phone security just so it can get its *3-game* app store on Android phones?! Sideloading is ok and should not be banned. But blocking it behind a simple toggle is an acceptable compromise.

Epic want to be the marketplace and they are shoehorning themselves in where they can to start the incursion. This is literally just the start of things. We are facing battle of the store fronts.

Really all games companies, who are universally terrible, and all app stores need to die quickly and we need to go back to generic non-account tied computing without a sales channel being the primary software delivery mechanism.

We risk losing everything we gained from personal computing at this point. And it will be at the hands of the least respectable players in the game.

 

[deevey]

It’s YOUR phone, you should be able to do whatever you want with it including turning it into an aquarium.

And you can. You could even turn your aquarium into a phone with the right skills.

But would you expect the aquarium manufacturer to tell you how to do it?

 

[darngooddesign]

Honestly, nobody is buying that security pretense for a second. What absolute BS.

Allowing alternatives to Apple's and Google's app stores doesn't make anything any less safe. Nobody is forced to use those alternatives. Whoever feels uncomfortable downloading apps from alternative sources can simply opt to not do that, simple as that, isn't it? But the rest of the users can enjoy more freedom and more competition.

I can't believe people are still drinking Apple's and Google's Koolaid. This bogus security argument never made any sense.

People accuse Tim Sweeny and Epic of corporate greed, but Apple's and Google's hypocritical reasons for wanting to keep their app stores the only source for third-party apps are not rooted in greed? Are people really this naive?

So you dont actually understand what is going on.

The auto-blocker is a security benefit, and the user can just turn it off and install from any source they want.

Sounds like you have been drinking Epic's koolaid.

 

[wanha]

I feel like it should too, but correct me if I'm wrong, sadly it's apparently totally legal. And part of the way lawsuits are used as harassment and intimidation.

Pretty sure they can sue for discovery. And Google and Samsung legally have to waste time coming up with potential evidence. Fortunately for them, they can afford it. And fortunately for all of them, smaller companies can't so are often bullied in to settling.

It's gross and it's exactly what I'd expect from them but sadly it just might work.

I agree on the sentiment, but how are Google & Samsung supposed to come up with evidence for something they didn't do?

 

[bellnen]

Ahh man. Here we go again...........