The need for at least a third option

Yes, that's concerning.

Some would argue things can still be done on the web (banking and even other citizen duties), but I keep finding more and more examples where using the app is mandatory, and for that you need to be a customer of either Google or Apple. Which I find completely unacceptable.

As always, I offer Jolla's Sailfish OS as the third option - which I see mentioned as an option in TFA. The downsides, are that it's not 100% open source due to some mismanagement from their side, and that the Android compatibility layer can't overcome the stupid attestation things that Google has started to impose on application developers.

Thank you for the write up and I especially appreciate the references (links). I'm surprised it took this long for international powers-that-be to realize what has been happening for a long time. Unlike others on comments, I'm hopeful for an alternative. I still remember Android before google bought them and it was viable at the time. The next big thing may not take over the world (and I don't think it needs to), but a defeatist attitude doesn't help. Linux never intended to take over, it was 'just a hobby project' for a few people. Tech nerds advocated for Android before it became widespread, and there are a decent number of people using Linux as their dailies due to the same effect. Nothing stops the next mobile OS to follow the same path.

I'm sad to see the preemptive compromises in this article as well:

• doesn't have to be fully open source
• must be widespread
• we have failed attempts implying we shouldn't try anymore
• "interesting for hobbyists to experiment with" implying they are not important. For those remembering history, those hobbyists are what gave android footing when iphone already had the market captured. Those same hobbyists 'experimenting' were what made Linux take over everything. Work of hobbyists is what powers the proprietary operating systems you're writing about. I think we should have an operating system specifically designed for hobbyists to enjoy, history has taught us things will follow suit.

What I do, I just tell organization I don't have a smartphone and I ask them how do I access your services without a phone. Most recently, local university implemented Cisco's Duo two factor auth and required installation of an app, so I went through the helpdesk for a week and got them to enable sms messages for my account.

If we don't resist and accept things as they are, things are going to get worse. Freedom has a price, it's always had a price. Now, that price is convenience. Are you willing to give up?

I like the call to action:

So, our best bet is to put the weight of all the people who are uncomfortable with this situation behind something that already exists, that already has some community, that can be developed independently.

But that has never worked. We should instead have many 'mushroom popping' operating systems and let people work on what they enjoy working on. There is nothing wrong with not competing with commercial entities. It would be awesome for us to have something we enjoy, but that we also insist on freedoms in our daily lives.

I just think one of them needs to take off

Amen to that!

I'm curious about your experience with the operating systems. I've recently been frustrated immensely with everything going downhill with LineageOS and it looks like there is no way out. I hope to follow suit soon with Nura (PostmarketOS).

EDIT: I also don't understand why everyone is so obsessed with 'investment'. Why do we need investment for everything? Why can't things just start grassroots anymore? This cultural shift from just a few years ago where hackers did things for love of the game to now where everything has to have money involved is very sad to see. All that's needed is an operating system that works as a phone does that's usable and people who insist on using it.

I don't know if an alternative is economically viable in the commercial smartphone market. Microsoft pumped a lot of money into Windows Phone, and I quite liked it! But I think it requires a lot of investment and vision that Microsoft was culturally not capable of or not wanting to do. If you're making a smartphone, Android is a lot cheaper than doing your own thing, and making your own thing worth using or for others to invest in is harder. Ubuntu Phone, webOS, Firefox OS, etc litter the graveyards of contenders of last decade from scrappy small players and lumber on as open source zombies.

Stallman once said this in a speech, which I've remembered to the letter:

Freedom is more than a choice between a fixed set of options.

I've been daily driving Ubuntu Touch on my phone lately for this reason.

I hope to use Nura at some point as well, but their use of mainline kernels makes hardware support more challenging. (I think it's necessary in the long run though; the Halium based devices still depend a lot on work from Google.)

As a bonus, your phone running Linux can mean you get a Linux desktop when you plug it into a USB-C dock! If your device has the hardware for it, anyway.