• Sunshine (she/her)@lemmy.caOPM
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    12 days ago

    The thing that will probably never come up to snuff is the database of businesses. GNU Maps b/w the OpenStreetMap database is actually pretty good. I just looked at my home town and of all the hundreds of businesses on the main street it knew two restaurants, a gas station and a trash can. “Navigate to the nearest shoe store” isn’t a thing it can do.

    That’s a fixable problem with the indexing method that someone will figure out eventually.

    There’s no need to say “it will never happen” as that can discourage able developers.

    People always say new ideas won’t succeed until they do then they start downplaying the success, there’s no need to say “it won’t ever happen”.

    • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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      12 days ago

      I don’t think it’s a “problem with the indexing method” I think it’s a problem of data source. People sign up and pay to have their businesses listed on Google Maps as a marketing strategy. That’s a LOT of parallel effort that won’t be there for OpenStreetMap unless it somehow becomes a major player.

      • Sunshine (she/her)@lemmy.caOPM
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        12 days ago

        That’s true but as we lay down more ground work most people would become more interested in Openstreetmap as it has more information available to the public and a free api that would save thousands in costs.

        • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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          12 days ago

          It’s difficult enough to get people to use LibreOffice Calc instead of MS Excel. It’s damn near impossible to get people to use Signal instead of WhatsApp or even fucking SMS.

          In the meantime, I don’t know of a Linux phone that has calls and texts working reliably.

          • Sunshine (she/her)@lemmy.caOPM
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            12 days ago

            Libreoffice had 10m users in 2011 to 200m in 2018.

            Signal had 0.5m users in 2019 to 40m in 2022.

            Iphone just got RCS and more carriers are looking into implementing the protocol within their networks.

            Nothing is built over night. The man who invented the radio was assumed “crazy” by his friends and was checked into a mental institution for “listening to voices” compared to today where the technology is used everywhere.

            Linux phones will have the basics nailed down in the next 5 years as the Postmarked OS Team finally had their own stand at a convention and more people were said to be interested in the project by bringing their phones over with the os installed as compared to back then where people were merely just asking questions about the concept. Not to mention the increased funding of the project and the growing list of supported devices.