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> Answering "no" should mean you store it locally, not that you don't store it at all. If you tell Google not to save your search history on their servers, they
by creato 8y ago
> Answering "no" should mean you store it locally, not that you don't store it at all. If you tell Google not to save your search history on their servers, they just disable it completely, when they could just save it locally.
I think you are ridiculously underestimating the complexity and issues that would arise with two separate mechanisms for saving the same kind of data, and an option to switch between the two. Do you download account-saved locations locally when changing to local storage? What if there are conflicting pieces of data?
I bet there would be a lot more outraged people about the bugs and limitations that would arise with this system than there are today with your complaints.
- StavrosK 8y ago> Do you download account-saved locations locally when changing to local storage? No, you delete the data that's on the server. That's the reasonable way to handle a revocation of consent from the user.
- UncleMeat 8y agoHeadline: "Big company degrades user experience for users who choose to opt out". I'm absolutely certain that there are people who'd get mad that their history is gone if they went from "collect it in the back end" to "collect it in the client".
- creato 8y agoObviously. I'm asking what you do before that. Do you just throw it away? That's going to piss people off. Do you overwrite the local data? That's going to piss people off. Do you try to reconcile it? That's hard to do and messy, and probably will piss people off.
- StavrosK 8y agoI'm not sure I understand. Overwrite the local data with what? If you have history on the server turned on, then there's only one set of data, you don't need to overwrite the local data with anything. You just keep it where it is.
- creato 8y ago> If you have history on the server turned on, then there's only one set of data, you don't need to overwrite the local data with anything. This is a bad assumption and why you would ruin a product like google maps if given the opportunity. Google already had this problem for years with Contacts. I had local contacts on my phone, and contacts stored in my google account. It was a complete clusterfuck of duplicates, stale data, etc. Years later after I had this problem, Google added a fairly complicated power-user tool that let you reconcile this data. And then years after that, the tool became not-a-power-user tool and wasn't bad. But we're still talking years of issues, for data that is probably a hell of a lot less complicated than what maps stores. edit: And that said, I still have issues every now and then with that contact reconciler tool, it doesn't always do the right thing.
- StavrosK 8y agoI have no idea what you're talking about. I'm talking about having server history turned on and then turning it off. What's the synchronization problem you see with that? I have no idea why you're talking about contact syncing, and if you mean that you need to sync locations like you sync contacts, then how is that a problem Google doesn't already have?
- almuric 8y agoMost people have multiple devices. If it's all local, how do you keep it synced? I have a work PC, home Windows PC, Macbook, linux laptop and chromebook in addition to a phone. How do I sync across devices at all times? New contact is created on one device but how does it get to the other devices if there's no common server? New work location; new restaurant; new anything? Or are you assuming everyone only has one device. I'm sure you've got it all figured out. You should go work at google and implement it.
- StavrosK 8y agoI don't know what you aren't getting about this: Maps already has to implement sync. Disabling location storage on the server means that they don't have to implement sync. Each device has its own history. I can't explain it more simply.
- chrshawkes 8y agoIt's not that complex, especially for Google. They could use localstorage, cookies or whatever, no reason the users data has to go to Google to make personalized experiences possible.