They will also warn you a few browser restarts later that the extension may be malicious and disable it for you. I know this, because I used to make my own extensions, distribute them as .crx files, and people would use them. Now they keep getting disabled. The only way around it is to list them on the chrome store. You can have an unlisted entry on the chrome store which is free, but they will remain in control of your private keys and update process. And of course they will know that the extension exists and who uses it.
The only way around this, apparently, is to install the developer edition of Chrome, which means being plagued with bugs and possible security risks. Splendid.
It's still pretty tied to Google; the routine reminders to "sign in with your Google account!" are one aspect of that.
That said, it's still pretty open as well, and being FOSS, it's certainly doable for there to be a fork (if there isn't one already) that strips out everything Google-related.
No, I'm thinking of Chromium. I use Chromium rather regularly. Last I checked, the various prompts for me to log in with my Google account when starting up a fresh install of Chromium aren't my hallucinations.
Most people would be okay with plaintext content sitting on your server and even publicly accessible by anyone.
But this is HN, and we wouldn't use even an AES-512-encrypted service if it has to leave our computers. Our password could still be cracked with enough computing power. So, we'd all be extremely happy if you could make a version for paranoid people like us.
Also, I don't know how your indexing works, but please make it easy to backup (just allowing us to define the index folder would do). Possible data loss is the tradeoff with local content.
>It seems the naysayers are doing nothing to try and change the situation
You can thank the naysayers for serious research, otherwise people would just come up with stupid abstract ideas since no one would be skeptical or pessimistic.
I agree with your second point, but I also think we shouldn't rush for a temporary solution that would give people a feeling of "we have at least done something about this, now let's stop worrying about it". Startup culture shouldn't apply to public- or crowd-funded solutions.
The view makes sense. We don't want it to happen because it's unlikely to go well. But if it does happen that corporations acquire power, we express our wish that it goes well, however unlikely that is.
Single features don't make up my mind when choosing an OS. By that logic, the only deciding UI feature would be a mechanism to switch between tasks. I don't think anyone will stop using Windows because of the lack of widgets or of a find feature or of a crappy task manager.
You want a cost/benefit criteria? How about (number of people who care) * (how much they care) instead of just (number of people who care)?
I wasn't presenting the be-all, end-all criteria for determining which features to implement, just that there needs to be one in order to make a decision. Your example is likely better, and I'm sure Microsoft's taskbar team uses their own method:
"Part of the hard job of product design is deciding which 20 features you have the resources to pursue and which 180 to leave for next time. If you choose the right 20, people will say you're the best new UI feature in Windows, or even the best Windows 7 feature, and they won't mind too much that you didn't get to the other 180."[1]
I think single features can certainly sway a purchaser. If I like the OS X notification center quite a bit and its integration with 3rd party applications I use a lot, then it may well cause me to lean in the direction to purchase a MacBook over a Lenovo. Of course they're all taken as parts of a whole, but it's still conceivable that people may not be able to perform their job/task in a way that they are accustomed to without X feature.
In addition, while some features may not sway you, it is not unlikely that you are an exception to the rule.
What's so awesome about Android is that Google can't reject you, since you can just install any APKs you want. If you can't appreciate that (among all the other freedom features, like root, ADB, customization, etc), you don't really get Android's philosophy.
That's true — I'd acknowledge that as a nice aspect of Android from a developer or enthusiast user point of view.
I believe that iOS would be less successful if it had similar capability, though. (I'm also the kind of person that doesn't really mind spending $100/year on a Dev account to install what I want.)
The point is that for the vast majority, and for developers looking to make a living, the play store can reject you. So for my purposes Google is pretty much in full control here.
The entire American tip culture seems very weird to me as a Frenchman, where it is always included as a fixed percentage in the price. It looks to me like every waiter becomes a beggar when it's time to pay. Some of them are outraged when you pay too little; other times someone leaves a huge tip because he liked the waitress and the other waiters feel bad. It's just an unfair lottery and it's always awkward anyway.
Even the logic of promoting good service seems useless. The manager could easily take care of that (it's kind of his job) and if for some rare reason I had a bad experience, I can voice my opinion and not come back.
The popular American (and British?) perception of French waiters and waitresses is that they are lazy and rude because they have no incentive to provide good service. (I have never visited France so I don't know if this is true or not.)
Experienced Paris visitor with friends there. Even the French dislike a lot of things with regards to Paris, the waiters, the way they drive (local license plates). Funny thing is: In Paris they dislike people from certain parts of the city. The way they drive, etc.)
I will never completely excuse him in my mind for what he did as the CEO of Microsoft in the 90s in the name of profit. No matter how much he gives back. After all, we still suffer from it today.
Don't blame it on bad intentions. It just happens to be four 1920x1080 screens for scaling purposes. Much like bytes and kibibytes. I'm okay with this.
So much argument... I can't believe some people get this offended by simple words. In this case, Miley doesn't even deny it, she's trying hard to give that image, so it's really childish to complain about it.
I hate this attitude that makes people watch their words. It may be true of public and influential personalities, but who cares your choice of words as long as you convey the message? I believe that everything and everyone can be laughed at.
Sure, you may feel offended inside. But you should at least understand that it makes no sense and refrain from sharing your "I'm offended" feelings. Same thing goes for the other end of the spectrum by the way: you can be sexist but as long as you don't act on it, I don't see a problem. That's what freedom is about.
> So much argument... I can't believe some people get this offended by simple words.
I'm a man, I can walk down the street without being wolf whistled, leered at or otherwise feeling threatened.
Every single woman I know has been hassled in public by men with sexist, threatening language like this. walking down the street they will get an unwanted comments about their appearance, if they ignore them or complain, they get called the kind of things you call "simple words".
Because this kind of language is in the everyday lexicon of of some men, it's used to hurt, threaten and intimidate women.
but y'know, please don't get upset by my simple words yeah.
Not that I like the proprietary Chrome or the fauxpen Chromium...