4 ms·

This is actually a good thing. People shouldn't be syncing ANYTHING with google :)

by coding123 6y ago

andrewinardeer 6y ago
Let people choose what to do.
- canofbars 6y ago
  They can choose to use chrome I guess. If you don't trust chrome, why would you trust google sync to save all of your data to their servers.
  - alisonkisk 6y ago
    Chromium has open source value besides "not Google".
- eeZah7Ux 6y ago
  Pushing people to take uninformed choices is a so-called dark pattern.
- naringas 6y ago
  but make certain choices easier, much easier. just use chrome, it's just less of a hassle. I dubbed this "convenience herding". nobody is forcing you to do anything; they are just making some things very very inconvenient relative to how easy it's to just put it all in their servers or use their software (the cloud is an euphemism for not your computer)
  - foolmeonce 6y ago
    Yes, but they have been simultaneously making it very hard not to use their sign-in your browser and sync everything. If they actually revert chromium to not having any of this, they have the problem that they are building a path that works for a lot of people and takes us further away from chrome. It will be politically bad if they dead end that path, but a politically bad end is not unlikely.
Barrin92 6y ago
it's a bad thing. Most users are going to ditch chromium for chrome which is precisely why Google is doing it. A browser without cross device sync is not going to have a meaningful audience.
- ehsankia 6y ago
  Isn't Chromium exactly Chrome minus Google extras? I was under the impression that the difference between the two was exactly said Google-specific features that were apparently only cut off now.
  - monocasa 6y ago
    There's still Google features in Chromium, just not the features google doesn't want anyone looking at the source of. Here's a fork of chromium with the other google bits removed. https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium
  - canofbars 6y ago
    Its chrome without the closed source bits. The syncing part was open source I guess but required an API key. I wonder if they could in theory just grab the key from chrome.
    - ehsankia 6y ago
      > The syncing part was open source Well depends on your definition of open source. Most of the code for the sync, as well as these other internal APIs, is on Google's backend and is very much closed source. The thin client code calling these APIs may have been in Chromium, but as a general rule of thumb, I wouldn't really call Google Translate and Sync open source. Google provides the code for Chromium, but I'm not sure why there's an expectation that they should also freely provide internal APIs which require backend servers. What other open source software provides such guarantees? > I wonder if they could in theory just grab the key from chrome I saw some discussion of that in the discussion group. I believe it would break their terms and services for distros to do it, not sure if an individual could on their own though.
eikenberry 6y ago
Definitely. This will make Chromium less annoying to use as it won't keep nagging me to login/sync with Google. Always hated that "feature".
- panny 6y ago
  I'm very happy with this change as well. I just wish distros would go with ungoogled-chromium in the first place. This would be a non-event.
sneak 6y ago
People should be able to sync however they want.

This is actually a good thing. People shouldn't be syncing ANYTHING with google :)

andrewinardeer 6y ago

Let people choose what to do.

canofbars 6y ago
They can choose to use chrome I guess. If you don't trust chrome, why would you trust google sync to save all of your data to their servers.
- alisonkisk 6y ago
  Chromium has open source value besides "not Google".
eeZah7Ux 6y ago
Pushing people to take uninformed choices is a so-called dark pattern.
naringas 6y ago
but make certain choices easier, much easier. just use chrome, it's just less of a hassle. I dubbed this "convenience herding". nobody is forcing you to do anything; they are just making some things very very inconvenient relative to how easy it's to just put it all in their servers or use their software (the cloud is an euphemism for not your computer)
- foolmeonce 6y ago
  Yes, but they have been simultaneously making it very hard not to use their sign-in your browser and sync everything. If they actually revert chromium to not having any of this, they have the problem that they are building a path that works for a lot of people and takes us further away from chrome. It will be politically bad if they dead end that path, but a politically bad end is not unlikely.

Barrin92 6y ago

it's a bad thing. Most users are going to ditch chromium for chrome which is precisely why Google is doing it. A browser without cross device sync is not going to have a meaningful audience.

ehsankia 6y ago
Isn't Chromium exactly Chrome minus Google extras? I was under the impression that the difference between the two was exactly said Google-specific features that were apparently only cut off now.
- monocasa 6y ago
  There's still Google features in Chromium, just not the features google doesn't want anyone looking at the source of. Here's a fork of chromium with the other google bits removed. https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium
- canofbars 6y ago
  Its chrome without the closed source bits. The syncing part was open source I guess but required an API key. I wonder if they could in theory just grab the key from chrome.
  - ehsankia 6y ago
    > The syncing part was open source Well depends on your definition of open source. Most of the code for the sync, as well as these other internal APIs, is on Google's backend and is very much closed source. The thin client code calling these APIs may have been in Chromium, but as a general rule of thumb, I wouldn't really call Google Translate and Sync open source. Google provides the code for Chromium, but I'm not sure why there's an expectation that they should also freely provide internal APIs which require backend servers. What other open source software provides such guarantees? > I wonder if they could in theory just grab the key from chrome I saw some discussion of that in the discussion group. I believe it would break their terms and services for distros to do it, not sure if an individual could on their own though.

eikenberry 6y ago

Definitely. This will make Chromium less annoying to use as it won't keep nagging me to login/sync with Google. Always hated that "feature".

panny 6y ago
I'm very happy with this change as well. I just wish distros would go with ungoogled-chromium in the first place. This would be a non-event.

sneak 6y ago

People should be able to sync however they want.