> I believe it stops it being used on iOS and (probably) Android apps. The GPL world and the permissive licence worlds are walled off from each other in significant ways for lots of reasons.
I fully agree that (A)GPLv3 code effectively stops code from being used by many large companies (every place I’ve worked in the last decade has a near blanket policy on refusing to use code licensed that way except in very specific and exigent circumstances), but it isn’t necessarily true that app developers can’t use (or can’t choose to license) (A)GPL code in their iOS apps, provided they abide by the terms of the license.
Most developers won’t — or can’t — but the advent of dynamic linking of libraries in iOS, as well as the EU-mandated third-party app stores (which aren’t available outside the EU, but still), make the situation a lot more grey from the black and white stands the FSF attempted to take in the early 2010s. And to my knowledge there have been no legal challenges about the use of GPL code in iOS apps, so the issue is essentially unsettled.
That said, in most of the cases where I have seen iOS apps use GPL code, the full app source was available (and that may or may not fulfill the redistribution requirements but I’m not a lawyer and I’m not going to cosplay as one).
On Android, where full Google Play alternatives like F-Droid are available, plenty of GPLv3 apps exist, even if they aren’t available on Google Play.
But yes, when it comes to incorporating GPL code into a non-GPL app, that is much more difficult in the realm of mobile than it is for other types of applications.
> but the advent of dynamic linking of libraries in iOS
I'm not sure you can dynamically link to GPL in this case (LGPL maybe )? And I recall that there's also issues around signed bundles used on the various stores.
But the fact that we're not sure and the fact that we're having this conversation rather proves my point. People who aren't fully in the GPL world usually have to steer clear of GPL code entirely. This goes double for hobbyists and small orgs who can't afford a legal team.
> even if they aren’t available on Google Play.
As much as it's regretful this is a huge issue for most people who want to make apps that other people can use.
Ok, but imagine you’re in a situation where you don’t have the ability to install apps, or you’re temporarily on a platform you’re unfamiliar with and so you don’t know what GUI tools exist. This is why people wind up using web-based converters, which as another commenter noted, can be hijacked for malware.
A WASM solution might not be the most performant but it will be an option.
As for the web not being a good application platform, that ship sailed 20+ years ago and at this point, it’s hard to find any “native” apps that don’t share at least some similarities or core components as web apps, even if it’s just for UI. Although I personally would rather have a good native Mac app than a mediocre web app, I’d rather have a well-written web app than a mediocre Mac Catalyst app, and in many cases, than running an iOS app on the Mac. And I often prefer a web app or app built with web technologies to “native” apps built with GTK or Qt.
They don't even have the ability to group transactions together for US payments (or payments in Australia, Japan, Mexico, Malaysia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, and others [1]) to lower fees, so I think any hope that a project like this would have any leverage is misplaced.
I asked Stripe back in 2018 if we could expect their unexplained same-region limitation on transfers to be lifted. They said it would be lifted soon. It's 2025, the limitation still exists and I still don't know why.
No and it isn't on their roadmap. Projects who want to accept crypto should probably just put a wallet address on their pages rather than trying to rely on systems like Liberapay that aren't setup to facilitate transfers.
Last time I checked into this, the answer was no. This is very much a more EU-focused service, based on the stuff they offer. And even then, they don't pre-collect for VAT like Patreon does.
(I just checked and couldn't get a definitive answer but since it's been 5 years [1] since there was any update on a ticket requesting the ability to offer invoices in PDF form of your monthly receivables, my gut instinct says the answer is still, "no")
This is just my assumption, but I think liberapay being targeted at "to individual" payments/donations is the reason why they don't push too hard in adding these kind of features.
As others have said, I think it is more than just "when can I plug in, it is also "what is my performance when I'm not plugged in."
My Framework and my HP Spectre (that I bought last year) both perform differently if they aren't plugged in and both make more noise than a MacBook Air. Whereas my MacBook Pros are usually silent (tho they can def turn the fan on if I'm pushing them a lot) and I can definitely run the battery down, but I never have to worry about having to have it plugged in just so I can do what I want without worries.
And on Windows anyway (Linux power management is its own nightmare), having to triage to figure out "how much time do I have before I have to move to a different seat in an airport lounge or find a plug at a coffee shop or snoop around at an office if I'm not at a set desk" to make sure I have enough time left to make that video call is like not a small thing.
Yeah, you can often find a plug -- but a) sometimes those plugs don't work. and b) sometimes the effort to find and look for one really interrupts your flow, versus just being able to to trust that my laptop has enough power to operate.
Yeah, I love Framework (disclosure, I invested in their community funding round) and I pre-ordered the desktop and have strongly considered upgrading my Intel laptop of theirs to an AMD mainboard (or just getting a whole new unit since I'll have to get new RAM and would like the higher DPI screen) and compared to other Windows or Linux options right now, I think they are pretty strong for thin and light HOWEVER I would be a liar if I said I think it can compare to a MacBook Air right now.
Which to be honest, is fine -- plenty of people want something different from a MacBook Air, whether it is the ability to run Windows or Linux without compromises (tho VMs on Apple silicon are pretty good, it's not going to be ideal for everyone), the ability to upgrade storage, or just wanting repairability.
But the battery life on a MBA is not something Framework or any of the Windows laptops can compete with right now. I thought we might get there with Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips last year -- and maybe the next iteration will (and ARM64 chips have their own trade-offs for Windows and Linux (whereas if you're committed to Mac, those trade-offs don't exist anymore)) -- but right now, unfortunately, Mac is where it is at for the true all-day performance and battery place.
Even there, however, I would specify that it is the MacBook Airs that have the best battery life. My 16" M4 Pro with 48GB of RAM has great battery too -- don't get me wrong. But my original 14" M1 Max and the 14" M3 Max I replaced it with both have exceptional battery life for what they can do, but I can definitely drain that battery in under 5 hours if I'm working on it hard enough. Whereas the Air just lasts and lasts and lasts.
I would love better battery life, but personally, running manufacturer-supported Linux is worth the tradeoff: every Linux tool I'd run in production works for every program on my laptop (no need to set up VMs, and even then, the Linux tools can't work with or inspect what's running on the macOS host...); containers run at full, native performance; games on Steam work much better than macOS (it's literally just a bigger, better Steam Deck!); plus the niceties of upgradeability.
If I usually worked from cafes, or spent many hours a day working on planes or trains, all-day battery life would be at the top of my list. But I usually work in workspaces that have power, so... It would definitely be nice to have better battery life, but other features are higher priority for me.
I would love it if they made it easy to split 16x PCI-e 5 16x/8x/4x slots into gen3 or gen4 breakouts.
The chips may not have the lanes, but they have the bandwidth if only 10GbE / 4xm.2 / storage controllers could plug in. I wonder if power is an issue.
