
CyanogenMod Installer Application Removed from Play Store - eknkc
http://www.cyanogenmod.org/blog/cyanogenmod-installer-application-removed-from-play-store
======
naner
With the CM Installer in the play store many lay-people started using it,
rendering their phones unusable[1] when any little issue cropped up.

Also the process wasn't foolproof even for people capable of dealing with
technical issues[2].

It isn't polished enough to go in the play store IMO. I don't know WTF the
cyanogenmod team was thinking, non-technical people messing with CM will just
lead to negative press.

1:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/nexus4/comments/1qkfaw/cannot_uninst...](http://www.reddit.com/r/nexus4/comments/1qkfaw/cannot_uninstall_cm_version_from_the_play_store/)

2:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/nexus4/comments/1qi5lw/official_cyan...](http://www.reddit.com/r/nexus4/comments/1qi5lw/official_cyanogenmod_installer_released_our_phone/cdd8bfg)

~~~
iamshs
But that is only one person whose phone is rendered unusable and not many as
you insinuate. Same thing happened with PS4 launch when people reported
issues, but statistic turned out to be <1%. This app is exactly for the non-
technical people to stop messing around.
[http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/11/android-roms-the-
easy...](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/11/android-roms-the-easy-way-
testing-the-new-cyanogenmod-installer/)

~~~
justin66
If an app bricks one phone in ten thousand, that's too much for the Play
store. That doesn't mean the package can't exist outside of the Play store.

In fact, the ability to install something outside of the Play store framework
seems like one good test for whether someone is ready to make the jump.

------
g8oz
It seems like no matter how blatantly Google carries out it's updated
"Microsoft from the 1990's" act there will be a coterie of apologists on HN
explaining away it's actions. The Cold War provided an appropriate label for
this crowd: "useful idiots".

~~~
derleth
CM phones home by default. There's a word for software like that: Malware. The
Play Store shouldn't have malware.

~~~
yareally
Seriously? You realize how many apps on the market use Google Analytics or
some other form of Analytics? Nearly all of them, including Google's Apps.
Nearly all of them give absolutely no way to opt out either short of host
blocking. However, CM gives you an option to under device settings.

~~~
derleth
So that's the standard we want to hold them to? Just a little better than
Google?

Why isn't it opt-in?

------
interpol_p
While I view this move as hypocritical of Google, it does feel like it's in
their customers' best interest.

Think about it from a less technical perspective: I can install an app from
the official Google Play store that _voids my warranty_.

They can't have that on their public facing store. Google wants users to
install apps, they don't want them to be afraid of voiding their warranty.

It's interesting to see how things played out over the last few years.

Google has been moving towards a more controlled environment, from something
that was initially billed as open.

Apple started completely locked down with a strong customer focus, and has
cautiously been making their policies more developer friendly.

I personally prefer Apple's approach, as it was always about the end user —
but as a developer I was sometimes envious of Google's lenient policy.
Google's assertion of control now makes me more interested in developing for
their platform.

~~~
VikingCoder
Always about the end user?

Like when Apple said that all Apps needed to be originally written in their
crappy language, and that you could not cross-compile to it?

That had literally nothing to do with the end user, and everything to do with
trying to enforce a monopoly.

~~~
coldtea
> _That had literally nothing to do with the end user, and everything to do
> with trying to enforce a monopoly._

That word, monopoly. I don't think it means what you think it means.

What they were trying to enforce was a common programming language for all
apps that they could improve in tandem with the OS, so they wouldn't be held
hostage in the future to be backwards compatible to some popular runtime (like
Flash once threatened to be for the Web).

P.S And "crappy language", really? As far as pragmatic languages lean on
resources for native coding go, Objective-C is up there with the best of them.
Not to mention the breadth and the maturity of the Cocoa libs.

~~~
Touche
Objective C is so good that no one ever chooses to use it outside of Apple
world.

~~~
comex
This is the same as criticizing C# because nobody uses it outside of Microsoft
world - or Java on mobile because nobody uses it outside of Android.

~~~
krisgenre
err.. I think there are lot of mono software written in c# that runs on Ubuntu
.. and Java not used outside of Android? ROFL

~~~
coldtea
> _I think there are lot of mono software written in c# that runs on Ubuntu_

Not as much as you think. Mono is a niche product too.

> _and Java not used outside of Android? ROFL_

He said "Java on mobile". Perhaps try to understand what you read before
rolling on the floor?

Java mobile (or "end user" apps in general) are Android, some crapplets, and
that is mainly.

If it weren't for development tools for Java devs (Eclipse, NetBeans, etc) and
some internal enterprise monstrocities people are forced to use, there
wouldn't be any Java desktop adoption either.

~~~
Touche
You're really reaching if you are trying to argue that Java isn't popular.

------
fidotron
At this point it really looks like Google have zero interest in seeing Android
improve, beyond ensuring it stays superficially in line with iOS or Windows
Phone, and will use whatever means necessary to ensure no one else does it
while desperately trying to shoe horn irrelevant features into Chrome in an
effort to reach feature parity.

The clause about no forking with the SDK is probably going to rear its head in
anger soon.

~~~
asdfaoeu
This is complete bullshit, they've improved the runtime and performance in the
most recent version among other things.

It's not at all surprising that this application was removed would you expect
to see an install Ubuntu application in the Mac or Windows app stores?

~~~
omegote
The most recent version... that I cannot install in my Galaxy Nexus, which is
barely two years old.

I've been an Apple hater all my life, but this, Google, this is epic bullshit.

~~~
coldtea
> _I 've been an Apple hater all my life_

Isn't that a sad thing to be?

And for most people mostly stemming out of reverse hipsterism, nonetheless...

~~~
reginaldjcooper
That's not a sad thing to be, at least recently. Apple is one of the major
enemies of personal computing freedom.

~~~
coldtea
I don't know, I seen to have a free compiler on my Apple laptop.

And a handheld mobile OS with unprecedented capabilities people would be
dreaming of just a decade ago -- that I can code for by spending like $100,
including the ability to release my apps to half a billion with credit cards
at the ready.

Perhaps if you're young enough to only remember the "everything must be FOSS"
times, and not the times we paid $100-$300 for a proprietary compiler this
seems very restrictive.

~~~
reginaldjcooper
I guess you can download the LLVM source but that has nothing to do with
Apple.

> that I can code for by spending like $100

Odd that you think that's freedom, because I can put my own apps on my own
phone for actual free. I can put other people's apps on my own phone without
signing up for an app store and without a third party's permission. I can send
my apps to anyone I want and charge them via my own payment processor if I
want.

I agree we now have a "handheld mobile OS with unprecedented capabilities" and
that iOS and the App Store were incredibly innovative a few years ago. But the
problem is not whether or not I am allowed to develop an app, the problem is
whether or not I am allowed to use my device on my terms. I couldn't even add
a caller blacklist on iOS.

Also let's say I without any argument accept the idea that the past was less
free. That still doesn't make what Apple are doing now free in any shape or
form, that's just a flat-out logical fallacy. If you have to appeal to a worse
past to explain how you are relatively free you have basically conceded the
argument.

------
mirsadm
I think this is completely reasonable. If people want to sideload the app then
by all means go for it. The Play Store shouldn't allow apps that can
potentially damage your device (or void your warranty).

~~~
ajross
It's reasonable and not. The installer is a tool for assisted rooting. Yes,
that's dangerous and voids warranties. But just search for "root" on the Play
Store and you'll find _thousands_ of apps designed to exploit and utilize that
status. These are great features, and Google clearly allows them...

That said, part of me is chuckling internally that CM got caught being unable
to distribute their proprietary (windows-only!) "installer" solution through
Google's proprietary distribution channel. There are open source paths to a
solution here, and CM didn't even try...

~~~
notatoad
An application that only runs if your warranty is already voided, and an
application that actually voids your warranty are two very different things.

You've got to remember google's position here - for the majority of phones
sold, they aren't the manufacturer or the warranty provider. If they allow
cyanogen in the play store and it creates a huge warranty headache for Samsung
or Sony or any other OEM that includes the play store by default, it
jeopardizes google's ability to distribute the Play Store.

------
babesh
Android isn't open. It's Google's and they want to keep it this way. iOS isn't
open. It's Apple's and they want to keep it that way.

The open spiel was pure marketing to gain market share. Now that they have it,
they are locking things down to maintain control. Threatening decertification,
requiring google play services, certification by a private party,...

Now that the open argument no longer works, people are defending it as pro
consumer. Hogwash.

Edit: [http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/18/cyanogen-
mod-7m-benchmark/](http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/18/cyanogen-
mod-7m-benchmark/)

Cyanogen has basically become a competitor to Google

------
eDavis698
The new CM installer nearly bricked my phone! This would be a
warrenty/customer support nightmare for Verizon/ATT/Samsung/HTC/whoever.

Preface: I consider myself a fairly advanced power user on linux as a hobby,
and I'm a computer technician/sysadmin [Windows] by day. I've had two Android
phones over the past two years.

I have a Verizon Galaxy Nexus and was pissed that Verizon decided that phone
was not to get 4.3 let alone Google decided no 4.4 for the Galaxy
Nexus...(Each iteration of Android broke more things like speech to text.)
Rather than wait for the never coming updates I started studying how to flash
Cyanogenmod onto this. It looked a bit convoluted even compared to flashing
firmware onto micro-contollers. Then the app hit the Play store and I figured
I would give it a shot.

The app showed you what settings needed changed (like enable USB debugging)
and how to do them, even to the point of opening the settings screens for you.
A casual user would never even be able to find the settings again after that
first opening. It would be akin to going straight to the Computer Management
console in Windows or loading up fstab in Linux without telling a casual end
user how to get there! My install process did not go smooth. The first thing
it had wrong was the connection mode, said to use Camera Mode PTP instead of
MTP. That is flat out wrong for this phone and it won't connect. Then during
the bootloader/rooting process, which the installer fully automatically does
for you(!) a critical USB driver failed to install and it locked the phone up.
The soft power button does not respond here and luckily I was able to pull the
battery to reset. If this was a Nexus 4 or 5...I would have been praying that
once the battery died I could still power it up for a recharge; a very good
possibility it would have been bricked. Now that the software is installed I
have no Photosphere in the camera and I can no longer connect to my work
exchange calendar. I also managed to lose a few stored contacts somehow. I
knew to backup my pictures/docs/data but a typical user would not.

Now imagine a typical consumer has just purchased a Galaxy S4 on contract for
$199. They flash CM onto it and now best case they call Verizon/ATT/Samsung
wanting to know why feature X isn't working or why they lost the phone numbers
of their friends/family – or worse their baby pictures/movies. Now that
company either says 'Go fly a kite' or reflashes and they still have data
loss. If the phone bricks they will be shocked to learn they will need to pony
up $650 to replace it replace it!

------
Mikeb85
Understandable. If people don't know how to enable developer mode, Adb
debugging, sideload apps, etc..., they shouldn't be messing around with
modding their phone. It really doesn't belong in the Play store.

------
JPKab
Good old Googlesoft.

~~~
josh2600
Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.

~~~
hahainternet
It's a nice attempt at being pithy but in this case it's more Open, Embrace,
Moderate.

------
Zigurd
This is less a matter of Google being evil or hypocritical. Google is just
being dumb. CyanogenMod is an important part of the Android ecosystem, and
should be an even more important part of that ecosystem.

Google should encourage aftermarket Android distributions. They serve the
customers who want a truly open source Android and they serve the orphaned
devices users.

It you RTFA, you see that the app has a very simple function and mostly serves
to enable discovery of CyanogenMod. The actual installation requires a Windows
PC.

------
DanBC
Customers buy a phone. That phone is loaded with terrible, awful, software and
unpleasant branding. Customers want to remove that software and that branding.

One way is to use scary software like Cyanogenmod.

There is not other way.

Maybe Google and customers need to start pressuring carriers to stop loading
phones with this awful software?

~~~
thezilch
Maybe customers should stop buying awful software? There are plenty of
offerings, including Google's own phone. What more can Google do? Close off
Android to crapware providers and they'll have the wrath of the community
donning their pitchforks. This thread alone should be an example of how
irrational some folks are, crying fowl at Google for not wanting brickware in
their store.

~~~
Macha
Selling their own phone in more countries would be a good start. Even in the
countries where they do sell the phone, they often only sell it via their web
store, so user's who don't research phones beyond walking into a phone shop
don't know it exists.

------
IgorPartola
This entire fiasco with the Android ecosystem stems from locked down
bootloaders. How many people have bricked their PC's by installing a different
OS on them? Why can we not have the same model for phones: If you brick it,
some tiny bit of ROM can be invoked which connects to the Internet, downloads,
verifies, and installs the latest carrier approved OS. This simple fail safe
means that it is impossible to brick a phone and I bet instructions for how to
initiate this reset could be made very simple. Instead, it seems that the OS
and the bootloader are tightly coupled and the OS can actually screw up the
bootloader, which is the root of all Android evil.

------
37prime
I have just download CyanogenMod Installer from Google Play Store and still
have it in my now Android KitKat-running Nexus 4.

I intended to install CyanogenMod 10.1.3 which is based on Android Jelly Bean
4.2.2, on my nexus 4. I have not done so.

\---

I also have the intention to install the stock Android Jelly Bean 4.3 on the
same nexus 4; downgrading from Android KitKat 4.4.

I found that Android KitKat on Nexus 4 (and Nexus 5) now redirect tethering
network traffic to the carrier login page, specifically T-Mobile USA.
Strangely, I had no problems using the built-in tethering (Nexus 4 - Andorid
KitKat combo) with AT&T network.

~~~
conradfr
This can be disabled, just google it.

~~~
37prime
I know how to do that and it generally requires roting the device or buying an
app.

It really bothers me to find out that Google is taking away a feature
specifically to appease T-Mobile. Pure Android experience no more.

------
davidp
If Google knowingly allowed their app store to host software that harms
carrier-supported devices, they might easily be in breach of contract with
those carriers. This is a defensive move.

------
icefox
I like how [http://www.cyanogenmod.org/](http://www.cyanogenmod.org/) doesn't
really tell you what it is or why I would want it.

~~~
smtddr
[http://i.imgur.com/EEmBXsq.png](http://i.imgur.com/EEmBXsq.png)

~~~
icefox
Documentation is for if I already want it, not for figuring out what the thing
is. And if you follow the link to
[http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/CyanogenMod_Installer](http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/CyanogenMod_Installer)
you still don't find any reason to use it (whatever "it" is)

This question is the closest, lets hope people click on it too: >Why flash
CyanogenMod? >There are many reasons to consider for flashing your device.
Check out our Why Mod? page for more info!

[http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Why_Mod%3F](http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Why_Mod%3F)

Then goes on to talk about moding (I guess CyanogenMod is a "mod", but it
doesn't explicitly say so right off the bat) and goes on to talk about the
cons and pros of modding, but doesn't actually tell you why I would want
CyanogenMod until I scroll more than a page down to a bunch of similar
screenshots.

So three links deep hidden in the bottom half of a wiki page is a (even
complete?) feature set of CyanogenMod. Again cyanogenmod flat out fails to
tell new users what they do and why I might want it on the main page. I wonder
what the bounce rate on the main page is.

------
sushirain
A better compromise would have been to just enforce a modal warning message in
the play store, such as:

"Warning! This app can brick your device. Google is not responsible for its
damages, and you may loose other warranties, too!"

Regarding kids, that would overlook the warning, they still have to download
the PC software. So the procedure isn't significantly more simplified than
going directly to the website.

------
mushroomhead
Unlike appstore where most accounts is password protected on download because
of credit card associated with their account. Most android phone user don't
set such restriction, and what truth is most kids just download whatever they
saw on playstore. Google did the right thing to remove a dangerous app with
potential to break your device.

------
joeblau
When Google is saying CyanogenMod is voiding warranties, are they talking
about warranties from the hardware manufacturers? It feels like the OS is
open, but the Hardware is not.

~~~
cdash
Yes. So have fun spending 800 dollars to replace your phone when it is
bricked, but as expected many here instantly jumped on the google hate train.

------
Create
_Fortunately, Android is open enough_

Well, make CyanogenMod Installer Application open enough and put it onto
F-droid.

Don't wan't to? Well, neither GOOG ...so much about openness PR.

------
imahboob
Well there are other ways in which you can crack an android phone, cyanogen
was just a noob friendly way to do so...

------
oddshocks
Windows only? Are you joking around?

------
pilooch
put it on fdroid

------
shmerl
Google is a new Apple?

------
derleth
As long as CM phones home, it shouldn't be in the Play Store.

