Does it change the laptop or laptop service in any way?
If we take @JG advice 
:
No, but it changes the way the company presents itself.
You could only compare it that way if GrapheneOS started supporting worse hardware while preaching the opposite.
If you critically think about your argument here, it’s a false equivalency.
(But I don’t have the bandwidth to explain it right now)
As a European, I also have a significant criteria to support manufacturers in Europe.
Europeans are big loosers in technology, and its a not a good place to be for digital, economical or even security sovereignty, to have technology be produced oversees (by China).
So I give it another plus for selecting a German company.
Still, it is not manufactured in Europe (I am almost certain), but a step in a right direction.
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I think you’re still too hung up on it simply being an alternative, hardware, in the EU, and something that’s not big tech.
And you can make the same argument for the rest of us disagreeing with you here given our points.
But what your preferences are is not enough of a reason from a consumer POV to use this product from a privacy and security POV. Are you even accounting for this in your assessment to keep wanting to support this just because it’s another option/alternative?
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Of course, how not. Security, privacy is super important.
I wish devices, chips and firmware were open source. I wish they were produced by local companies, not oversees. It is part of security. It is not achieved overnight, but I want to support that path.
Then I’d rather have folks “invest” than buy and encourage others to buy and use the product. Invest in more R&D and other things if you want, speak for them getting better expertise, etc.
Buying a product for and with a software not worth using sends the wrong message to the makers. They may think people want more of the same with some upgrades. But the upgrades really must be a lot more significant and substantial for the device to come close to what Calyx OS used to be and hopefully will be again soon. In other words, I want the it equivalent to atleast Calyx if not Graphene.
If a company build rockets and at same time have a department of flat earth taking care of creating some satellites would you believe that the rocket would be going to be reliable?
while the mission is noble and all.
Yeah especially the claim that “Google Play is complicated to install” will not pass for me. And while it is true GrapheneOS only works on Google Pixels, we literally have confirmation that GrapheneOS is working with a major oem whose phone is confirmed to have a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
I am dissapointed that NovaCustom did NOT Try to at least reach out to the GrapheneOS team to collab (and maybe have their concern addressed [like the google pixel only requirements and google play concerns they have]) and create a secure and private smartphone. As much as we criticize them or not I am 100% sure they would be willing to work with NovaCustom to meet the requirements and have the OS preinstalled.
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While Novacustoms phrasing in the “Why we chose iodéOS” section makes me inclined to agree with your assumption, do you actually have any concrete proof for this claim?
European services “Not good enough” this argument is made by everyone (like politicians) all the time.
Bert Hubert put it nicely on mastodon:
“I’m willing to choose a less evil alternative, however only once that alternative is better, cheaper and works exactly like the evil thing I’m using right now, including integrations with all the other questionable suppliers I rely on” And we wonder why alternatives do not succeed. .
I love exactly NovaCustom for that reason that they don’t go on an easy path, and constantly advance privacy and security of their products. Their laptops could not have been perfect first time released. It takes time and investment. And investment open source lack because almost everyone thinks its not good enough. Its like question: who came first chicken or the egg? Or like saying don’t put the cart before the horse.
With any other non privacy & security related product, I would agree. But I do not and cannot here even with your reasonable arguments you’re making (which would only apply best for non privacy related tech).
Why does it need proof
They literally are stating outright false statements that is especially the Google Play Store one
That makes me indicate they didn’t make an attempt as their concerns could’ve been addressed. Especially the “Google Pixel” exclusivity
Well not only do we have confirmation soon Grapheme is expanding for Qualcomm phones (currently major OEM with 8 Elite Gen 5) but if Novacustom would proactively work with Graphene, it would no longer be exclusive to pixels.
They could have been addressed by doing enough research (or even trying it out themselves), not even contacting Graphene if they didn’t want to.
Also that yes
They don’t seem to know the definition of the word ‘workaround.’ You click an app, it downloads its dependencies and itself, it asks you to enable a few things, then you sign in (or not). More likely of course they’re just being disingenuous. I love how the easiest aftermarket OS to install and use is constantly said to be for power users and not for regular folks who want a drop‑in replacement for all the smartphone adtech.