Google sucks, but why?

Well, it's very simple. Google collects your personal data at every corner. No matter if it's your name, your address or your habits, they collect it all.

They collect all this data to give you ads for things you probably never need, or don't want.

Can you stop it?

Yesn't.

By using adblockers you can already significantly reduce the amount of data they collect, but not all of it.

but. why?

Money

Locking down android

Google has also for the past - i don't even know how many years - been locking down Android more and more.

Android used to be very open and customizable, but that is dying more and more every day.

Latest example: Restricting side-loading, mirroring IOS. Learn more

Another example: This is less google, more other manufacturers - looking at you, Xiaomi - but still relevant. Unlocking your android bootloader is becoming harder and harder.

Will any of this affect me?

As a regular consumer: probably not that much.

As a developer or prosumer: Yes. A lot.

Why would i want to unlock my bootloader or sideload apps?

Bootloader:

Unlocking the bootloader has several benefits, one of them being the ability to root your phone, which allows you to change way more than usual.

Like removing certain apps you don't want - tho this can be achieved without rooting your phone too via ADB -, tweaking kernel parameters to boost performance and on some phones you can even unlock higher frame-rates for your camera. On my old Samsung Galaxy A71 i managed to get 1080p@60fps video recording, when the default is only 1080p@30fps which is pretty neat.

Side-loading:

Side-loading apps is the more common thing even regular consumers do. The thing that most people do, is installing modded games or an alternative app store (F-Droid being the most popular (i think)).

Killing this off in the way google is trying right now would pretty much kill open-source apps that don't have the funds to support themselves while paying google.

Giving all their personal data to google is also a big no-no for a lot of devs, because well, who want's to dox themselves for making - i don't know - a YouTube mod? To bypass ads and get more features?

Google really doesn't like that.

And i think thats why google is doing this. To tighten their control over the ecosystem, so you have less and less freedom to do what you want with your own phone that you paid money for.

Personal opinion

I honestly think we - prosumers, developers, people who like to fuck around - should slowly start to ditch Android for alternatives like Linux.

And also pressure google into not doing such dumb shit, but that's pretty much impossible. A couple Peasants against a trillion-dollar corporation.