Do Cell Carriers Need To End “ForceWare” Practices?: http://wp.me/pKU9b-33

[vfontjr]

You’ve no doubt heard the terms software, freeware, shareware, vaporware, shovelware and bloatware. Today, I want to introduce you to a new term I coined to describe the practice of cell phone carriers who embed unwanted and uninstallable software into their cell phone ROMS. The new term is “ForceWare.”

I am really enjoying my Droid X from Verizon Wireless. It’s an incredibly capable Smartphone. It has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a compass. It runs on a flavor of Linux known as Android. You can print from it and take photos or stunning high definition video on its 8 megapixel camera. It’s a music player and you can watch television on it. And with the Swype keyboard, I can type faster on it than on my desktop or laptop. It certainly is a technological marvel and a credit to human ingenuity.

The greatest problem I see on this phone and other phones running Android, is the inclusion of ForceWare. ForceWare is a regular topic of discussion on the Verizon Wireless Community forums, often resulting in very long and angrily toned threads. There’s even a petition circulating on the Motorola Support forums demanding an end to the practice. (I’ve never heard anyone ever say they like MotoBlur!)

But what are cell phone carriers supposed to do? They are in the business of generating revenue for their shareholders, aren’t they? Isn’t that the purpose of any business, to generate revenue? The carriers highly supplement the cost of these new Smartphones when you agree to a multi-year contract. They have to recover the revenue somehow, don’t they?

This is where ForceWare comes in. It’s part of the cell carriers’ revenue model. Third party companies pay dearly for the right to include their revenue generating apps in the Smartphone ROM image. The Driod X comes with applications for Blockbuster and CityID, both useless in my opinion. It also has the VZ Navigator app which essentially does the same thing as Google Maps except Google’s app and service is free. The problem with the ForceWare is that you can’t remove these apps unless the phone is “rooted” which voids the warranty, could brick the phone on subsequent OS updates; and loses the support of the manufacturer. “Rooting” is the practice of hacking the phone to give yourself root access to Android.

The arguments against ForceWare remind me of the lawsuits brought against Microsoft and their practice of forcing end users to make use of their software by embedding it into the Windows OS. In Microsoft’s case, it was determined that their practice resulted in unfair competitive practices and they were ordered to allow third party apps top be installed and used as the default apps for browsing and media.

Does ForceWare result in unfair competitive practices? I don’t think so. Even though we’re forced to keep the apps on our phones and we have to periodically endure annoying nag screens, we are not forced to use it or prevented from installing third party apps that do the same things for free. I sincerely doubt the carriers are going to change their practices any time soon unless they are challenged in court in which case the challengers are likely to lose. But until if and when they do, we’re going to continue to see ForceWare on our Smartphones and hear the complaints of unhappy end users.

[johnM356]

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vfontjr wrote:

"... Today, I want to introduce you to a new term I coined ..."

/eyeroll

[demmo86rt]

/eyeroll +1

[vfontjr]

I never expected to get eyerolls. I searched the internet and could only find the term related to nVidia drivers. If I've erred and misstated myself, I apologize and retract the statement. Please forgive me?

[Tidbits]

Are you willing to pay hundreds of dollars more per phone to not have you "Forceware"? If you look at it.  Carriers subsidize $200 dollars for the phone, and the extra $200 has to come from somewhere else.  It's probably those companies paying the extra to have those apps on your phone regardless if you use it or not.  Carriers don't dictate the prices for phones.  The manufacturers do.

Do you even know how Android runs?  Just because a "task killer" shows something running it isn't running.

Processes are shared among applications if it's running it will show anything related to that processes showing.  That's how Linux/Android does things.  You have to look at the processes to actually see it running or not.

Windows has individual processes and if you open an app it will have it's own processes even if another app will use the same processes.  So in windows you will have 2 processes loaded into memory that does the same thing.

[demmo86rt]

Not to mention that android "preloads" apps that it expects you to run into memory. This, from my understanding, is akin to saving someone a seat at the movies. You look in from the outside and say, "All the seats are full, we need to kick some people out" not understanding that the person saving the seat is actually very nice and will give up that seat, and theirs, if it's needed. Whereas, if you kick them out and nobody sits there, they will just come back again until someone else actually shows up. Because they are built into the system, the os is coded for those apps to start on boot, however, once loaded, they just wait and, if necessary, will gladly give up their seat. Beyond that, I believe android is somewhat intelligent because, after I had my phone for a while, apps like amazon mp3, which used to show up every time I rebooted my phone, stopped loading immediately because I neve used them. So, like any bully, if you ignore them, eventually they wil leave you alone.

[RonAnderson]

As Tidbits said, you do not have to buy a phone from a phone company, as you said this is America, and our economy is based on the dollar and greed is a big part of today's society. And they have the right to do whatever they feel like you will pay.

Or outright buy it from the manufacturer and pay full price without anything but android OS.

[jroal]

They need to stop locking the apps to the device anyway.  If they get some sort of subsidy for preinstaloing that is fine.  Just let us remove it if we don't want it.