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It doesn't for _now_. Which is no small part of his point. The next step is to automatically turn on sync etc, which is an easier step now people will start t

It doesn't for _now_. Which is no small part of his point. The next step is to automatically turn on sync etc, which is an easier step now people will start to be used to the idea they're automatically signed in to stuff in Chrome. The main thrust though, is that this doesn't actually solve anything for end users that the Google Chrome team says it does. There appears to be absolutely no benefit in turning this on.

reaperducer 8y ago
The main thrust though, is that this doesn't actually solve anything for end users that the Google Chrome team says it does. There appears to be absolutely no benefit in turning this on. Over the last year or so, it feels more and more like Google, as a company, is getting desperate. Like it feels the external tide of popular opinion turning against it. But rather than mend its ways, a decision has been made somewhere to slurp up as much information as possible as quickly and quietly as possible, before it all comes tumbling down around it. I wonder if GDPR was the turning point. Even my boss, who on a computer literacy scale of Linda Lovelace to Ada Lovelace ranks near the bottom of the scale, asked me to explain GDPR to her.
- mtgx 8y ago
  I think it was also more advertisers switching to facebook and new ones giving fb ads a try first and not even considering Google ads (btw the rebranding from Google adworfs is another sign that Google is losing new advertisers to FB and yet another thing pointing to that desperation). This ultimately affects Google's future growth and it's why you'll see Google do more such "desperate" moves like trying to become a military contractor, building its own iPhone-like phones, tracking users more aggressively, and I imagine android users will soon see os-wide ads, too.
  - fencepost 8y ago
    I imagine android users will soon see os-wide ads, too. Except they won't be OS-wide, they'll be Play Services wide and mandatory if you're an vendor including Play Services. If you don't want Google's ads, you can go do your own thing on AOSP like Amazon and other largely-flopped attempts.
- tomjakubowski 8y ago
  Is Linda Lovelace famous for having poor computer literacy? I know her for something else.
- IBM 8y ago
  It's not GDPR. If anything, GDPR will help undo some of this as test cases in the EU are litigated. I think the change happened shortly after Ruth Porat was brought on and the Alphabet reorganization was announced (Larry Page wanted to retire without having that be the headline). There was clearly a change in mandate to start monetizing more aggressively and you started seeing the ad load increase across all their properties. That all happened during a lull in Google's stock price. It started trending upwards after Porat signaled to investors that all the money pits would be cut back.
- hexane360 8y ago
  How does your boss' opinion of GDPR relate to her opinion of Google?
felipelemos 8y ago
"We had to enable the sync by default because it was causing confusion with people that are already signed in and are expecting to have all their info in sync". It's not hard to imagine that this could be their reasoning around the change in the future.
shawnz 8y ago
> The main thrust though, is that this doesn't actually solve anything for end users that the Google Chrome team says it does. Yes it does, it solves the exact problem described right in the article. Before this change, there would be a seperate log-in process for Chrome versus every other google service (which normally all share your current login status). Now, your login status is shared between every google service including Chrome, as a layperson would expect. Previously people who wanted to be logged into Chrome AND other google services would have to complete the login process twice which could be confusing for novice users.
- md_ 8y ago
  If I’m not mistaken, this also ensures that when you sign out of Gmail, you are signed out of Chrome (no?). That seems like a win for user privacy, insofar as it addresses the likely failure mode of mistakenly leaving the browser signed in after signing out of the website.
  - plttn 8y ago
    Yes, this pauses sync when you sign out of Gmail.
    - jiggunjer 8y ago
      No. Pauses sync but doesn't sign out Chrome. So a person could still see your history/bookmarks/passwords in the logged-in browser. They just can't wipe your cloud data (which I think was the same before this update).
      - md_ 8y ago
        You mean they can see local history? Sure, but that’s true in most browsers. That’s nothing to do with your signed in state, right?
        jiggunjer 8y ago
        Yes I was thinking about chrome profiles. My mistake. But from what I remember, when you choose to log out, Chrome prompts you if you want to wipe your local data. So logging out locally allows you to protect some data. I think there was a way to log out remotely (tricky/weird way), though again without the local-wipe prompt. I also just tried signing in to chrome (69.0.3497.100), and it tried to sync immediately again, so I'm not sure where the "sync is optional" idea comes from?

reaperducer 8y ago

The main thrust though, is that this doesn't actually solve anything for end users that the Google Chrome team says it does. There appears to be absolutely no benefit in turning this on. Over the last year or so, it feels more and more like Google, as a company, is getting desperate. Like it feels the external tide of popular opinion turning against it. But rather than mend its ways, a decision has been made somewhere to slurp up as much information as possible as quickly and quietly as possible, before it all comes tumbling down around it. I wonder if GDPR was the turning point. Even my boss, who on a computer literacy scale of Linda Lovelace to Ada Lovelace ranks near the bottom of the scale, asked me to explain GDPR to her.

mtgx 8y ago
I think it was also more advertisers switching to facebook and new ones giving fb ads a try first and not even considering Google ads (btw the rebranding from Google adworfs is another sign that Google is losing new advertisers to FB and yet another thing pointing to that desperation). This ultimately affects Google's future growth and it's why you'll see Google do more such "desperate" moves like trying to become a military contractor, building its own iPhone-like phones, tracking users more aggressively, and I imagine android users will soon see os-wide ads, too.
- fencepost 8y ago
  I imagine android users will soon see os-wide ads, too. Except they won't be OS-wide, they'll be Play Services wide and mandatory if you're an vendor including Play Services. If you don't want Google's ads, you can go do your own thing on AOSP like Amazon and other largely-flopped attempts.
tomjakubowski 8y ago
Is Linda Lovelace famous for having poor computer literacy? I know her for something else.
IBM 8y ago
It's not GDPR. If anything, GDPR will help undo some of this as test cases in the EU are litigated. I think the change happened shortly after Ruth Porat was brought on and the Alphabet reorganization was announced (Larry Page wanted to retire without having that be the headline). There was clearly a change in mandate to start monetizing more aggressively and you started seeing the ad load increase across all their properties. That all happened during a lull in Google's stock price. It started trending upwards after Porat signaled to investors that all the money pits would be cut back.
hexane360 8y ago
How does your boss' opinion of GDPR relate to her opinion of Google?

felipelemos 8y ago

"We had to enable the sync by default because it was causing confusion with people that are already signed in and are expecting to have all their info in sync". It's not hard to imagine that this could be their reasoning around the change in the future.

shawnz 8y ago

> The main thrust though, is that this doesn't actually solve anything for end users that the Google Chrome team says it does. Yes it does, it solves the exact problem described right in the article. Before this change, there would be a seperate log-in process for Chrome versus every other google service (which normally all share your current login status). Now, your login status is shared between every google service including Chrome, as a layperson would expect. Previously people who wanted to be logged into Chrome AND other google services would have to complete the login process twice which could be confusing for novice users.

md_ 8y ago
If I’m not mistaken, this also ensures that when you sign out of Gmail, you are signed out of Chrome (no?). That seems like a win for user privacy, insofar as it addresses the likely failure mode of mistakenly leaving the browser signed in after signing out of the website.
- plttn 8y ago
  Yes, this pauses sync when you sign out of Gmail.
  - jiggunjer 8y ago
    No. Pauses sync but doesn't sign out Chrome. So a person could still see your history/bookmarks/passwords in the logged-in browser. They just can't wipe your cloud data (which I think was the same before this update).
    - md_ 8y ago
      You mean they can see local history? Sure, but that’s true in most browsers. That’s nothing to do with your signed in state, right?
      - jiggunjer 8y ago
        Yes I was thinking about chrome profiles. My mistake. But from what I remember, when you choose to log out, Chrome prompts you if you want to wipe your local data. So logging out locally allows you to protect some data. I think there was a way to log out remotely (tricky/weird way), though again without the local-wipe prompt. I also just tried signing in to chrome (69.0.3497.100), and it tried to sync immediately again, so I'm not sure where the "sync is optional" idea comes from?