I agree, and I desperately want a Linux phone, but the really problem with Linux phones gaining traction is that is the developers are DEVELOPERS.

“I make $200,000 a year… how much should a good smartphone cost… how about $700? It’s a bargain!”

I get that making hardware is expensive, but asking people to jump into something with a learning curve and real sacrifices at a premium price is just guaranteeing it stays niche - especially when asking an audience that by and large has to have an Android as a backup for some apps anyway.

And this is coming from someone with no fewer than 16 machines running various Linux distros in his house. You can’t ask someone to spend that much on a secondary phone to play with until they get comfortable enough with it to switch completely. You just can’t. It’s barely working for the Linux OS, and that’s free.

On top of this, the ram China sells will generate profit, instead of being looped back into the perpetual no-return money hole.

You got lucky. Companies can, and frequently do, either completely go under after a few years, or revamp their service, shutting down the old one, and saying “This is a NEW service. It requires a NEW lifetime membership.”

Unless it’s protected by a legal definition, the only thing between your lifetime membership and getting nothing at all is the good will of a company that does not care after they already have your money.

Even if they ARE an “honorable” company, and I use that term loosely, the moment someone buys them, they have absolutely no obligation to honor lifetime memberships. Most EULAs for lifetime memberships give the company total discretion to shut it down at any time for any reason.

Beyond that, $750 seems a LOT like a “kill the golden goose to get the eggs” move. Would look GREAT on a quarterly report of revenue, coming with huge executive bonuses, before selling and getting out, and letting someone else manage running the infrastructure on reduced revenue.

Bottom line? The lifetime membership MIGHT work out, but it’s a GAMBLE. It’s a gamble that you get in early enough to get your value out before the marks in a ledger indicate it’s not worth providing anything for you anymore. Meanwhile, doing the Open Source solution is free now, free forever, and has NO gambling component.

Pro-tip: If the company hasn’t already been around for over 100 years, NEVER buy a lifetime pass for ANYTHING.

Moosejaws

She told me I was special…

Why do you call it Troll 2 if there are only goblins in the movie?

Because if you put a roof over the lot trucks can’t keep getting perpetually bigger and more expensive.

deleted by creator

“Oh, baby… you’re even hotter like this.”

Yeah… they’ve been stripping important control features out of the kernel for decades.

This is just the LATEST reason your phone isn’t yours.

Anyone remember how much nicer the world felt before we all realized nobody in charge of anything with any real power has any idea what the fuck they’re doing?

Yeah. Only Tesla is exempt from safety regulations. For reasons.

“The fact that it’s so inexpensive would destroy every other car company’s investment in electric vehicles.”

HAIL HYRDA

Double mermaid all the way

Gay: op never specified their gender