Sad to read, but not at all surprising. I remember how much damage control Kevin was doing back when the sale to Branch happened.
I hope he has learned something about trusting the word and contracts from entities like Branch from the whole thing.
The last Nova dev is gone
https://teslacoilapps.com/nova/solong.html
27 Comments
frongt@lemmy.zip · 46 pts · 1y
Nova Launcher, that is.
obinice@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 1y
Oooh, that's concerning, that's what I use. I don't find Android particularly useable without it, the vanilla experience is pretty awful.
I do hope it's not going away!
ikidd@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 1y
So it didn't get opensourced and the last dev has stopped working on it. I think the conclusion you can make from that is that it's gone.
pelya@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 1y
ikidd@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
That was the plan but they shut him down on the transition to open source and moved him on to other projects.
M137@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y
It's not like there aren't several alternatives, especially ones that are basically the same. Lawnchair, Hyperion etc.
semperverus@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 1y
Can we crowd source a legal effort to force the contract to be honored?
lka1988@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 1y
Doubt it. The outcome of these kinds of things is usually determined by whoever has more money, and an ad company like Branch usually has more money than god.
Exec@pawb.social · 1 pts · 1y
If it's in the contract then he could do it on his own, without any help or permission from the company, couldn't he?
semperverus@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
He could, but he likely doesn't have the financial backing or community support to pull it off.
Exec@pawb.social · 1 pts · 1y
What financial backing, if the contract said it then any incoming lawsuit would be thrown out
semperverus@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
You have to pay lawyers to litigate.
And the contract said it was to be open sourced, which has not happened, so litigation must now happen to enforce it.
schwim@piefed.zip · 14 pts · 1y
Anyone have a comparable launcher that is still being developed?
otter@lemmy.ca · 17 pts · 1y
Lawnchair is what I'm currently using, and it's improving. They've had a large development push recently. Another one I've looked at was SmartLauncher.
I tried Kvaesitso for a while but ultimately it wasn't for me
IllNess@infosec.pub · 9 pts · 1y
Kvaesitso takes a little to get used to. It is not like a traditional launcher and is no where near as customizable as Nova but I still really like it.
If you don't like having a ton of icons, only use a limited number of widgets, you like to use a search bar, and you don't like shoving things in the app screen in to folders, I suggest giving it a try.
The home screen only allows one row of icons. You have a set of icons as your favorites in the app screen. You can use tags, rather than folders, to organize icons.
It is different but it is very polished.
otter@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 1y
I found that after a good part of a year, I wasn't using the widgets menu at all and it would take me more time to find the right tag than if I had folders that benefit from muscle memory
I do get the appeal though, it's very polished
IllNess@infosec.pub · 2 pts · 1y
You seem to know what you need but if you decide to try it again, you can set favorite tags. Clicking a favorite tag will put all the icons to the top.
But yeah I can understand why it's not for everyone. The widgets only allow for full width so customization is limited. Tags and the search bar will limit muscle memory. I can probably open my most used apps blindfolded in Lawnchair or Nova. I can'y do that with this launcher. I see your point.
IHawkMike@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 1y
I'm really loving Octopi. Especially on the Fold since I can have multiple layouts. The stackable widgets are really nice too.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.otp.octopilauncher
hefty4871@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 1y
A launcher that allows for icon swipe up/down actions??
calamitycastle@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y
I switched to action launcher years ago and it still works great. The ability to have a default app in a folder is so convenient, you tap to open the app you use most, or swipe to open the full folder. I'm not aware of another launcher which allows this.
I only have one screen for everything I need because of this feature, with the full app list available on the left and a widget panel with my calendar and weather on the right.
I never see it mentioned in these threads though, I guess because it's not FOSS. I tried lawnchair and the gap in features is massive.
foggenbooty@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 1y
Action can do this? I'll have to check it out, because that's the feature from Nova I can't live without. My whole home screen has been built around it for years.
calamitycastle@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
Action can do this. I believe it was implemented on Action before Nova anyway but it's years ago at this point... But yeah that's the main feature I miss with all the other launchers.
I can't quite remember how the in app purchase element of it works, I appear to have paid to be a supporter in 2022, I think around then maybe is when they changed payment models and annoyed people idk.
It's too integral a part of my usage for me to worry about, as much as I love FOSS stuff. I'm totally happy with the small amount I've contributed. The app is still releasing updates.
sanguinepar@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
I use Total Launcher - it has up and down swipe gestures but also left and right. It's a bit of a learning curve, much less intuitive than Nova was at its peak, but very customisable.
hefty4871@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 1y
I tried total launcher. Even bought a license. It didn't have the app icon swipe. For example if I swipe up on the phone app icon it launches the contacts app. Swipe up on the messages app icon to launch Signal. Great way to easily access a bunch of related apps without cluttering the home screen.
sanguinepar@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y
Agreed, that's exactly what I do too - I use icon swipe all the time though, so I'm confused why you don't have it.
Admittedly, I swipe folder icons rather than individual apps, but it definitely works, here's a quick video (link lives for 2 days): https://streamable.com/liybvg
EDIT - looking again, I can't set swipes on individual app icons either, just the folder icons. Weird, never noticed that before!
CaptDust@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 1y
Nova is ridiculously big shoes to fill, but I've had a decent experience with hyperion.
I mostly use Niagara these days though, I've come to like the list layout more than icon grids.
SeductiveTortoise@piefed.social · 1 pts · 1y
I used neo for a while, and it came close. but at least for me it had some issues with energy hunger and I think it lagged from time to time. maybe it's fixed by now.
edit: still no new release since December 2023. sad
DarkSirrush@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 1y
Yeah if it weren't for the laundry list of glitches and no new releases since I think 2022 (the December 2023 date was a mistake, there was no change at all, it just overwrote the release date) I would also be using neo. But i got really tired of accidentally resetting all my damn widgets because I moved an icon wrong, and having to manually remake them since they wouldn't restore from backup.
IHawkMike@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y