Yes, that is a weakness with many FOSS projects. Developers with great ideas lacking business acumen.
That said, I expect that they can become financially self-sustaining from selling proprietary apps if they can get enough scale. I wouldn’t mind making a small monthly donation long-term but it needs to be less than what they are currently asking.
Here is a link to F-Droid’s Open Collective page. If this is accurate, they seem to be doing OK for funding right now. I’m sure they’d appreciate another sponsor though, if you’re not already donating.
Last I heard, the intention is that users will be able to filter for open-source apps if they want.
I haven’t seen anything warning against proprietary apps specifically. As a minimum, I would hope that they implement an agreement similar to the play store where the app developers are legally bound by the privacy terms in the app description (re data, advertising, etc.). This statement could maybe include an alternative wording for OS vs Proprietary apps? Definitely something to think about.
Edit to add: I can’t comment on 3rd party repositories. Too technical for me.
Precisely, that’s what I meant. Different market segments need different approaches.
Why not both? ;)
Some FOSS apps are only available for a fee in the play store and I think that’s great. They’re able to access a bigger market for funding purposes, and we both know the vast majority of play store users won’t make the effort to figure out how to make donations otherwise.
That’s an absolutely valid choice.
It’s not however the choice that the majority of people make. Weaning them off the play store needs an alternative with proprietary apps.
You can’t download paid apps through the Aurora store.
Yes. I assume that’s partly what this is about.
To date the majority of the coding has been done by one person after work. Their infrastructure was also too slow.
They released a progress update and roadmap a few days ago. They’ve already implemented some infrastructure upgrades and are prioritising back-end updates. Presumably this will make the store more attractive for app developers.
The funding push is to make it possible to have a developer working on the project fulltime.
Edit: a word
2nd edit to add: I found this thread from about a year ago, when they only had 10 apps. Relevant quotes from the developer:
Developer of Accrescent here. Yes, there are only a handful of apps available right now. The reason for this is that the recent focus hasn’t been directed on getting more apps in the store, but instead on internal changes to allow Accrescent to include more features and scale to more users. It will be able to include more apps once more of those changes are implemented.
Yes, we may take on some additional apps over time. This depends on how much the project can handle maintenance-wise and how willing those app developers are to deal with the early and changing nature of Accrescent. We’re not directly reaching out to any developers at this time, however.
So apparently it’s a deliberate choice.
Update: They’ve released a roadmap.
They have a fixed plan for the next 3 months, mostly back-end improvements for app developers.
Longer term plans are listed in order of priority but without a time line, it depends on how much of their funding goal they reach.
Current funding on Github shown at 10% of goal.
I don’t think they’re aiming to replace F-Droid. Rather think of this as a tool to wean the masses off the play store. It’s also an alternative for those people currently using microg and Aurora Store.
Personally I have some proprietary apps that I don’t want to be without. If Accrescent could provide them, I could finally delete my google account. I literally just have an account to download apps.
F-Droid is great for the FOSS market but not everyone only wants FOSS apps, Microg and the Aurora Store exist for a reason. Accrescent could theoretically (eventually) make it possible to wean more people completely off the play store.
If F-Droid meets your needs, then that’s great, and this post is not for you :)
They released their roadmap a few days ago.
Turns out I can only cross-post link posts, so I had to create a new post :/ It’s on there though, thanks for the suggestion.
You are not the only person unhappy about this. A few people have asked for alternative payment options and they said they would look into it but nothing so far. I’ll give them another nudge.
I agree, the lack of apps is the biggest problem at the moment. In their latest blog post they’ve set out their roadmap, which is focussing a lot on improvements for app developers. I assume this is needed to convince more app developers to use them.
I’m interested to see what they can achieve if they can have someone working regularly and not just in their spare time, and I am using some apps from their store, so it makes sense for me to donate in the short to medium term. Long term I would expect a self-financing business model though.
F-Droid will also never host any govt authorisation apps, or banking apps. The fact that Microg and the Aurora Store exist shows that F-Droid can’t meet everyone’s needs. De-googling doesn’t mean going completely FOSS for everyone.
What’s with dragon and monkey?
I like that they keep referring to it as an “accident”, or an “unprovoked attack”. He was stalking an animal to kill it, and was close enough that he couldn’t get out of its way when it charged. Seems to me the animal was smart enough to defend itself, nothing accidental or unprovoked about it. Go Buffalo!
Edit: spelling
Agreed, their site offers much more than just a simple listing. It is so tedious to have to navigate multiple different websites, trying to find the relevant information. Having a single, straightforward, centralised source showing availability, options and prices was amazing when they first started. Hotels have improved their online presence a lot in the last 20 years, but being able to filter consistently for detailed parameters is still valuable, as are their reviews.
I just wish they had stuck with their core business; I don’t want to be offered insurance or car rental or any of the rest of it :/
Some relevant comments from the developer on another forum from about a year ago, when they only had 10 apps:
So apparently it’s been a deliberate choice so far.
My understanding is that the whole point to trying to hire a full time developer is to be able to finally scale their services.