On attitude

Last day, “amazing” news had struck me once again. A new app emerged in official KaiStore.

Which app could it possibly be? Could it be so long-awaited WhatsApp? Or Telegram? Or Uber? Or a SIP client? Or a Jabber client? Or a FLAC player? Or a text reader? Or a file manager, damn it? Yes, in case you didn’t know, stock KaiOS in Nokia 8110 4G doesn’t even have a file manager, and chief KaiOS architect had openly declared in our Discord channel that the concept of files is obsolete for an average user, like “they don’t think about files and folders, they think about photos or music”. Nice attitude to an average user, huh? Pretty much Apple-induced (it’s ironic how English word “induce” sounds similar to “Hindus”), just like with the case of completely closed off application store. And yes, we, users, might not be all-knowing about B2G/KaiOS internals, but please don’t consider us all imbeciles not knowing what a file is!

Anyway, I got too far off. So, do you want to know which app is this? Lo and behold, “the most useful app of all times”… Horoscopes!

Now this is a perfect showcase of the real attitude to us. Instead of one of really useful applications, we got a useless and, dare I say, a harmful one. And don’t tell me that it’s third-party developers’ fault. Yep, they send lots of crap to the store maintainers but it’s store maintainers who moderate and publish it. I.e. while a really cool FB2 and TXT reader app (from a developer I spoke to) still hasn’t got through their moderation (and probably never will), brainwashing shit like horoscopes makes it through easily.

For a smart but unprepared person that would make no sense at all: is it a moderated store or a trash can? But for a prepared person like me, this perfectly completes the picture: “they don’t know what a file is, they are OK with using a closed store full of ads, and surely they believe in horoscopes”. So, for the maintainers, we are sheeple. NPCs. Talking animals. Biorobots. Seems like that.

I wish I would be able to write to them on Twitter about all this. But on Twitter, I don’t represent myself, I represent our group. I’m responsible for not broadcasting personal opinions there, even if I want to. And I don’t feel like having a personal Twitter as I know what a waste of time it is.

But after this stunt from them, don’t ask me why I’m doing what I’m doing. Liberating these phones is no longer just a matter of ego, paranoia or curiosity. Now it’s a matter of dignity.