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I'm not quite sure why I'm getting heavily downvoted. Does anyone else find it odd that Google is supporting CalDAV/CardDAV on their servers but not on their o

by prg318 13y ago

I'm not quite sure why I'm getting heavily downvoted. Does anyone else find it odd that Google is supporting CalDAV/CardDAV on their servers but not on their operating system? Or am I being downvoted for being critical of Google?

Zikes 13y ago
I think it's a pretty fair criticism.
callahad 13y ago
Your comment is of topical interest, but it doesn't seem to be terribly relevant to the announcement at hand. I suspect that's where the downvotes came from, though I've not personally voted either way.
vetinari 13y ago
What is the use case? For service provided by Google, use the supplied sync adapter. Yes, it is not CalDAV/CardDAV, but a whole google account package. For third-party services, use adapters supplied by these third parties. The third party adapters have the ability to be first class citizens in Android, but to make them so is up to their authors.
- prg318 13y ago
  The use case is exactly what you have described: third party services. If one wants to run a Calendar service, open standards allow them to use a published standard protocol (CalDAV in this case) that clients can use regardless of platform. Most desktop calendar software (and even iOS AFAIK) support CalDAV and it seems that Google has cleverly omitted CalDAV support from their mobile OS, locking Android users into using Google Calendar with no other option. That being said, there's nothing stopping someone from writing a proper CalDAV/CardDAV adapter and releasing it on the Play Store. But with all of the claims of Google supporting open standards I was highly surprised to see that Google neglected to implement CalDAV/CarDAV in Android.
  - Kylekramer 13y ago
    Seems like a crazy high bar to hold for "supporting open standards". Google made the APIs available and allow you to provide your own client on their platform with minimal to no interference. They just don't do one auxiliary part that would amount to not much more than making competing with Google Calendar slightly easier. Competition doesn't mesh with the kumbaya, sunshine and happiness tone of open source, but it is fairly strident stance to say companies have to go out of their way to hurt their own products to be open.
    - prg318 13y ago
      I do not think that supporting a standard protocol for calendars and contacts that all other OSes use is a "crazy high bar". I would expect that a mobile operating system whose primary purpose is greatly dependent on contacts and calendar to support the same standard that other OSes use. In that case, I guess that we can praise Apple for meeting the "crazy high bar" for "supporting open standards" since Apple decided to include support for the most widely used open protocol for calendar and contacts in their mobile OS.
      - mitchty 13y ago
        I don't keep up much with the Microsoft space, but aren't they supporting Cal/CardDAV now too on their windows 8 phones? If so it is a bit of a weird thing for Android not supporting those protocols to be considered a 'crazy high bar' of effort. If the other smartphone OS's support them, it is somewhat curious that Google doesn't as well. Even when they support it server side. Strikes me a bit too much like a Hotel California situation.
        prg318 13y ago
        Microsoft has CalDav/CardDav support coming for WP8 in the next update [1]. iOS has had CalDAV/CardDAV support to boot (AFAIK). I'm not sure why posters ITT are acting as if I am making demands to Google. In my original post I simply stated that "it would be nice" to see native CalDAV/CardDAV support in Android. But apparently making suggestions for a better product by providing the same support for open standards that other OSes provide is "a childish perspective" according to a Google employee [2]. I guess we need to keep in mind that a client and a server are barely even related [2]. TIL. [1] http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/14/windows-phone-8-summer-update/ http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/14/windows-phone-8-summer-up... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5827461 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5827461
jamesaguilar 13y ago
Because you're acting like it's Google's responsibility to provide a client in addition to a server. This is not the case. In fact, the two are barely related. Or perhaps because it's kinda silly to say, "Oh, you gave me one thing? Now give me another thing!" It's just . . . a childish perspective? I'm really not sure how to describe this.
- prg318 13y ago
  I'm not acting as if it is Google's responsibility to support any protocols at all. It's just curious that Google would implement a protocol on their servers but not on their operating system. Am I demanding anything? No. I am blaming anyone? Not at all. The personal attacks based on your perception of my comment are frankly unprofessional and completely unnecessary.
  - jamesaguilar 13y ago
    I didn't make any personal attack against you. I answered your question about why you were getting downvoted by describing what your comment sounded like to me. If you didn't want to know what people thought about what you said, you shouldn't have asked.
    - shadowfox 13y ago
      Not the OP; but you do say "It's just . . . a childish perspective" - slightly hard to not construe that as a personal attack. But I suppose you have a different standard for that sort of thing.
- jhenkens 13y ago
  Is it not in Google's motivation to make Android the best phone platform it can be? The lack of native CalDav sync irritates me (the app/plugin listed works fairly poorly, from my experience), as well their horrid excuse of what they call "Exchange" support on Android. If you aren't using GMail, they make it very clear you are a second class citizen on Android. Part of the reason I left it after using it for a month.

by prg318 13y ago

Zikes 13y ago

I think it's a pretty fair criticism.

callahad 13y ago

Your comment is of topical interest, but it doesn't seem to be terribly relevant to the announcement at hand. I suspect that's where the downvotes came from, though I've not personally voted either way.

vetinari 13y ago

What is the use case? For service provided by Google, use the supplied sync adapter. Yes, it is not CalDAV/CardDAV, but a whole google account package. For third-party services, use adapters supplied by these third parties. The third party adapters have the ability to be first class citizens in Android, but to make them so is up to their authors.

prg318 13y ago
The use case is exactly what you have described: third party services. If one wants to run a Calendar service, open standards allow them to use a published standard protocol (CalDAV in this case) that clients can use regardless of platform. Most desktop calendar software (and even iOS AFAIK) support CalDAV and it seems that Google has cleverly omitted CalDAV support from their mobile OS, locking Android users into using Google Calendar with no other option. That being said, there's nothing stopping someone from writing a proper CalDAV/CardDAV adapter and releasing it on the Play Store. But with all of the claims of Google supporting open standards I was highly surprised to see that Google neglected to implement CalDAV/CarDAV in Android.
- Kylekramer 13y ago
  Seems like a crazy high bar to hold for "supporting open standards". Google made the APIs available and allow you to provide your own client on their platform with minimal to no interference. They just don't do one auxiliary part that would amount to not much more than making competing with Google Calendar slightly easier. Competition doesn't mesh with the kumbaya, sunshine and happiness tone of open source, but it is fairly strident stance to say companies have to go out of their way to hurt their own products to be open.
  - prg318 13y ago
    I do not think that supporting a standard protocol for calendars and contacts that all other OSes use is a "crazy high bar". I would expect that a mobile operating system whose primary purpose is greatly dependent on contacts and calendar to support the same standard that other OSes use. In that case, I guess that we can praise Apple for meeting the "crazy high bar" for "supporting open standards" since Apple decided to include support for the most widely used open protocol for calendar and contacts in their mobile OS.
    - mitchty 13y ago
      I don't keep up much with the Microsoft space, but aren't they supporting Cal/CardDAV now too on their windows 8 phones? If so it is a bit of a weird thing for Android not supporting those protocols to be considered a 'crazy high bar' of effort. If the other smartphone OS's support them, it is somewhat curious that Google doesn't as well. Even when they support it server side. Strikes me a bit too much like a Hotel California situation.
      - prg318 13y ago
        Microsoft has CalDav/CardDav support coming for WP8 in the next update [1]. iOS has had CalDAV/CardDAV support to boot (AFAIK). I'm not sure why posters ITT are acting as if I am making demands to Google. In my original post I simply stated that "it would be nice" to see native CalDAV/CardDAV support in Android. But apparently making suggestions for a better product by providing the same support for open standards that other OSes provide is "a childish perspective" according to a Google employee [2]. I guess we need to keep in mind that a client and a server are barely even related [2]. TIL. [1] http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/14/windows-phone-8-summer-update/ http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/14/windows-phone-8-summer-up... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5827461 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5827461

jamesaguilar 13y ago

Because you're acting like it's Google's responsibility to provide a client in addition to a server. This is not the case. In fact, the two are barely related. Or perhaps because it's kinda silly to say, "Oh, you gave me one thing? Now give me another thing!" It's just . . . a childish perspective? I'm really not sure how to describe this.

prg318 13y ago
I'm not acting as if it is Google's responsibility to support any protocols at all. It's just curious that Google would implement a protocol on their servers but not on their operating system. Am I demanding anything? No. I am blaming anyone? Not at all. The personal attacks based on your perception of my comment are frankly unprofessional and completely unnecessary.
- jamesaguilar 13y ago
  I didn't make any personal attack against you. I answered your question about why you were getting downvoted by describing what your comment sounded like to me. If you didn't want to know what people thought about what you said, you shouldn't have asked.
  - shadowfox 13y ago
    Not the OP; but you do say "It's just . . . a childish perspective" - slightly hard to not construe that as a personal attack. But I suppose you have a different standard for that sort of thing.
jhenkens 13y ago
Is it not in Google's motivation to make Android the best phone platform it can be? The lack of native CalDav sync irritates me (the app/plugin listed works fairly poorly, from my experience), as well their horrid excuse of what they call "Exchange" support on Android. If you aren't using GMail, they make it very clear you are a second class citizen on Android. Part of the reason I left it after using it for a month.