Okay, but the issue you're complaining about (pocket muting or hanging up) should be impossible on proper hardware regardless of the screen lock status. So with that out of the way, you just disagree with the screen lock behavior. That's your prerogative, but I don't think it's clearly wrong.

Ah, okay. Thanks for the clarification. Yes, there are good reasons that stock Android doesn't use swap, and I can see that people who change that could cause themselves lots of problems :-)

As I recall it was about not making it easy for users to download copies of videos. I could be wrong.

I am also a Mathematician and none of this adds up.

I am a Noetic Scientist, and I think you're all crazy.

The proximity sensor should make that impossible. Normally the proximity sensor detects when the phone is close you your head and turns off the touchscreen so you don't hang up or mute or whatever with your cheek. It should work equally well in a pocket... no need to muck about with locking. If your Android phone didn't do this, that's the fault of the hardware, not the OS.

That isn't true of Android. Sure, if you're writing in Java the *nix-ness is all abstracted away behind the JVM, but if you choose to write native code, you find yourself right back in Linux-land. There are some oddities, of course, like the assignment of UIDs to apps, rather than users. And starting with Lollipop, SELinux is used to block app native code access to many parts of the system (e.g. you can't go looking around in /proc to find out what else is running). But it's definitely still Linux.

It's not true of OS X, either. Again, there are lots of new APIs layered on top, but it's still very clearly Unix. Maybe you meant iOS, not OS X. In that case, I don't know if you're right or not because I've never worked in iOS.

MS has a bunch of apps in the Play store. https://play.google.com/store/...

AFAIK, the only MS app Google has blocked was Microsoft's YouTube app, which violated the YouTube terms of service.

Not really. That may be the perception, but it's not true. Google is quite happy to see CM and similar third party ROMs flourish; this is part of why all Nexus devices are unlockable.

(Disclaimer: I'm a Google engineer, and I work on Android, but I'm not a Google spokesperson and this is my opinion, not an official statement.)

No Android device I'm aware of uses flash for swap. There are a small handful that swap to compressed RAM, the fast majority have no swap at all; when physical memory is exhausted something has to die.

(I work for Google, on the Android OS.)

You should also practice your deflated-sounding "Oh", for when your assistant whispers in your ear that male mosquitoes feed on sap and nectar, not blood.

There are reasons beyond the "4 GNU freedoms" to oppose these devices being installed into all new computers.

I'll bet your not so sanguine about having a device installed in your car that allows for remote shutoff, location reporting and monitoring of your driving habits.

Because the real question is not "what is so controversial?" but rather "how secure are these systems?" It's not about what a sysadmin can do with the power to remotely turn on your computer, but what some miscreant can do with that power when he inevitably gets his hands on it. And the computer in question is not the one on your desktop at work or your business laptop (that your company paid for anyway), but the one you have at home for your taxes/banking/personal communications.

At some point, you have to start trusting people/organizations/companies.

What you're really saying is, "You don't have a choice, so just suck it up, princess. Privacy is so 20th century."

No, you don't have to trust people/organizations/companies who have not earned your trust. You are the one paying. Use the power you have as a consumer. Weaponize your purchasing power.

And always, always reserve the right to just say "Nope, I don't need it, I don't want it, and I'll find another way."

Municipality owned infrastructure would be nice but sounds too socialist / Marxist / atheist / Communist / etc. for some people. There are 19 states where it has been outlawed, since "the internet should not operate at the speed of government" or something.

Sure, you've been able to use S/MIME or PGP for years. I used to use S/MIME religiously. Adoption is, of course, the big obstacle. Maybe encouragement from Google will help to make it less of a niche, geeky thing. I'm not holding my breath, but it isn't inconceivable.