Google starts with the peer-to-peer distribution of Android apps – Tablets and Phones – News

It sounds like a good system, certainly from the technical point of view. With this type of technique, I always hope that the final inspection is in the hands of the user. In other words, I want to be able to decide which digital signatures will be approved and which ones will not.

If that's the case, then I think it's fantastic, otherwise I think it's a trivial change, nothing that has been done before. Convenient, but not more than that. But if that's the case, I dance and applaud.

The app store is currently a kind of natural monopoly. There is a central application store (per platform) and everyone will naturally place their application in this central application store, which makes the central application store even more important. Convenient for the user and the owner of the appstore, but very problematic for all competitors. Nobody wants to sell their products in the competitor's shop, you will always be caught.

A distributed system would be a boon. Then we can have a central and global application store without all the power and control being with one part. Whatever the quality of his party, I think this type of power should not belong to a company, even if it is its application store. Just as you do not want critical infrastructure such as electricity, roads, dikes and hospitals to be left to the arbitrariness of the market.

Do likewise a distributed network with peer2peer communication. Then I can decide which parties I trust to approve the applications. If we ever get a KEMA certification for software, I just have to add the digital signature of the quality label. Or I can choose to prefer to trust the opinion of another institute, such as Google or the Chinese government. As long as I can choose that.