Google: We're killing all file managers in Android Q.
Apple: iPad's file manager gets SMB, unzip, and USB support!
When did I enter an alternate dimension?
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File managers still work. Apps are forced to use the Storage Access Framework for accessing shared storage, which means that users can choose the scope for their access. The app can provide a suggestion, but the API is designed to avoid apps from forcing all or nothing access.
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The built-in file manager will also still be there, and that's the interface used for selecting file and directories when apps use the Storage Access Framework. It finally gives users control rather than apps requesting full shared storage access and refusing to work otherwise.
Some app developers are upset about users having control over file access, so they've spread misinformation about the change. The indirection required also has a performance cost, but mostly for operations across many files. Shared storage access by apps certainly still exists.
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Users can still grant a file manager access to the root of every volume. It's not at all true that they're killing them. Even for a file manager it can make sense not to grant full access if the user has a more specific use case for it like accessing a network file system, etc.
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SAF is just Google's file manager. That doesn't count.
Ground up implementations of feature rich file managers are being crippled, right? Maybe in R?
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That's not an accurate portrayal of SAF. You're misunderstanding what it implements and how it works. An app can request persistent access to a directory tree, which uses the system UI to ask the user to determine access scope. It's entirely usable for implementing file managers.
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