I noticed that CalyxOS is no longer mentioned as a recommendation on the site and I was wondering why that’s the case. I mean it in a genuine way and not as in “why isn’t my favorite ROM not listed” kind of way.
In looking into it I did find the blog post discussing why GrapheneOS is recommended over CalyxOS. I understand that as it lines up with the general consensus - it seems like Graphene has pulled ahead of the pack in terms of security, privacy, and user experience.
But then I see that DivestOS is listed as an AOSP derivative to consider. Not to take away from DivestOS at all (I want to learn more about it), but Calyx is based on LineageOS as well if I remember correctly. It seems like Divest leans on some Graphene technology where as Calyx continues to use microG, but otherwise they seem to be similar ROMs that satisfy similar requirements. Both are likely not as good as Graphene, but they are still good alternatives to know about.
So my question, is there something about Calyx that’s preventing it from being listed as a recommendation? Is it something about microG, the way the project is run, or just the perceived difference in quality from Graphene and Divest compared to Calyx? Is it that there are a lot of small things that aren’t great that, when put together, make it not a great option to recommend? Or is it about just not offering too many options that might overwhelm people looking for a privacy respecting Android ROM?
Last things:
I don’t even use Calyx, but I’ve heard about it a lot and was also curious about the general decline it seems to have had in the privacy world.
I am active in another privacy forum, plz I don’t mean this as a troll post, lol
I agree with you, perhaps there could be created section/category on this website something like misfits, and provide report/explanation to why they are no longer recommended, along with articles/proves that back these claims.
UI suggestions:
Green (Subjective, or questionable decisions of the project)
Orange (Potentially compromising privacy/security in updated version of the project)
Red (The project contains malware, or was breached, and taken over etc…)
‘Misfits’ sounds a little too aggressive for me, lol. But if folks want to take the explanations provided and put that somewhere on the site, that could be a good idea. I also think it could be fine to just leave it to this thread to explain so that future people who are wondering can search for Calyx in the forum and find answers. I can see how the site maybe should try to stick to recommendations and not to explanations of everything they don’t recommend.
DivestOS is listed for harm reduction reasons basically.
At this time we don’t see any compelling reasons to list CalyxOS over using something like GrapheneOS anyway, that’s the main reason. It’s pretty much AOSP android, with a few bundled apps, We discussed it previously here https://github.com/privacyguides/privacyguides.org/pull/1518
Thanks for the insight! I guess it really has just fallen off the wagon while Graphene has caught up. I remember microG being the main selling point for Calyx as a way to get Google Play apps, but since GOS’s sandboxed Google Play services there isn’t anything else to compete on.
Well, (I don’t mean to be mean, same thing could happen to me) but you’ve missed it, even if Daniel Gray pulled up discussion where it already was solved. So making a category of “misfits” (or other name) could be reconsidered, IF it would save moderators more time to make such articles, than reopening old discussions, over, and over again. Also it was made on GitHub, so you would have to jump over to different site, unless its copy request is present, on this forum?
Mods: It’s up to you, I’m just trying to share suggestions.
I agree (though not strongly) that we should have anti-recommendations on the site for the reasons you specified, however @dngray disagrees and has some good reasons here:
We’re not sure it’s worth the time investment. If you wish to continue discussing anti-recommendations, you can do so in that thread instead of here.