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Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Compatibility/Interop - and identity


From: Fabián Rodríguez
Subject: Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Compatibility/Interop - and identity
Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2015 00:20:44 -0500
User-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Icedove/31.4.0

Le 2015-02-03 12:11, rysiek a écrit :
>  - FLOSS iCal/CalDAV/WebDAV sync app for Android/CyanogenMod/Replicant (or
>    maybe I don't know of an existing one?).

DAVDroid is the only one that I am aware of:
https://davdroid.bitfire.at/what-is-davdroid
https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=davdroid&fdid=at.bitfire.davdroid

I somewhat agree with what you posted regarding interop/standardization.

Compare this to to identity as another challenge in free software
adoption, it's more visible on mobile platforms.

On Android for example I can find everything I need in free software via
FDroid.

This requires knowing about FDroid (which I assume you didn't) and
having it installed in the first place, something CyanogenMod could have
included in their official ROM. Why didn't this happen? Bad timing? Yet
another example of missed opportunity:
https://f-droid.org/forums/topic/spreading-the-word-about-f-droid/

All that free software is great but it requires individual accounts
registration, setup and configuration for each application (IM, VoIP,
Calendar, addressbook, bookmarks sync, mapping, etc.). Compared to
single-sign-on with Google and other providers for addressbook, calendar
etc., it's a big hassle. Mozilla looked like THE organization capable of
taking care of this with its Mozilla Sync / Firefox Accounts service -
but I believe it will be used to support only their browser data
(bookmarks/passwords/etc.) as opposed to become an identity/sync
provider for all apps *including Android*.

I also asked a while ago directly to the Mozilla dev.identity mailing list:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla.dev.identity/BacBqzXBG6I

I've previously argued for CardDAV support in FirefoxOS:
https://www.reddit.com/r/FireFoxOS/comments/2jw2j5/carddav_sync_for_contacts_now_has_245_votes_why/

Even with excellent CalDav/CardDav clients in Android, without SSO
anyone with less than 30 seconds to setup their mobile (when it's not
done by the sales people in store) will just ignore any other
alternatives. Calendar and Addressbook are probably very important and
central to most people but ultimately we need to have a simpler
experience for anyone to adopt - and continue using - free software on
desktop or mobile. Did I mention I have to manually update each
application in FDroid?

Right now it's quite demanding to maintain all this and advocate for
other people to do the same, to the point I prefer using a simple
netbook instead of my not-too-smart-almost-free phone.

F.

-- 
Fabián Rodríguez - XMPP/Jabber+OTR: magicfab@member.fsf.org
http://fsf.magicfab.ca


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