You guys keep misrepresenting things I disagree with and make me fact check them, then argue with me as if I'm agreeing with them.

Google isn't killing Open Source Android apps, although it may very well kill F-Droid. Open source devs can definitely still register and provide their apps as a standalone APK.

This does open the door to Google refusing to grant an account to people they don't like, although they haven't done that yet, and it should be noted that as they present it once you have a dev account you can just sign as many apps as you want.

The real eff you from Google to F-Droid here is that they are presenting two types of accounts you can use for this: dev accounts, meant to publish on Google Play (although potentially you could just... not do that) and student/personal accounts that are free and they claim are meant for hobbyists. I've heard rumbings online about what the dividing line will be between them, so that may be a functional workaround for anybody who doesn't want to be on Google Play, but I haven't seen anything specific from Google on it other than "it's coming". It does stand out that "I'm an Open Source dev who doesn't care about Google Play" is not part of the equation here, though, and "I'm F-Droid and I intend to build and verify a TON of apks" is also not accounted for at all.

And of course there now will be a direct paper trail between any signed app and an organization or individual, which is a legal liability issue for a number of app developers. At least on phones. Non-Google certified devices (think Android SBCs and handhelds) should still be able to load unsigned APKs, although those are residual.

I mean, that's all really bad. Why do we need the hyperbolic "Google is killing Open Source" framing? The real thing is bad enough and it doesn't make me show up to argue about it. Plus you could have accurately stated "Google kills anonymous apps, threatening alternate app stores" and that would have been 100% accurate and just as horrifying.