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Disable Google Drive drive letter

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Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#21

Post by Silhouette »

mjw1007 wrote: post #12
Gigachad wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Configuration adds complexity and is a huge source of confusion for users. Google drive strikes me as something that should just work and be so simple that you do not have to configure it. There does not seem to be any genuine reason to make this change a setting because the main objection is just "I don't like it" rather than "it stops me from doing x" or "it makes x harder" It would be much less painful to just hav…

I don't think it's safe to reason from what the "main" objection is. I see one of the comments on that page is: « I just installed the new Google Drive desktop client (Win 10 pro) and the new virtual drive it creates triggers a non-compliance issue with ClearPass OnGuard that my employer requires (because the drive is not encrypted) and thus prevents me from connecting to their VPN. » Maybe this OnGuard thing is bein…

Maybe this OnGuard thing is being foolish

Maybe, but if corporate policy requires all storage to be encrypted and the tool to enforce that policy can't verify that whatever Google's software is doing is compliant, maybe not.

Different policies might be appropriate for software that is used by non-experts in a personal capacity and software that is part of professionally managed IT systems used for business purposes with regulatory compliance obligations. A lot of the modern trends from the likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft might make sense for the former group but they are a significant concern for the latter and for prosumer or small business users who might want to operate more like the latter but are stuck with software aimed at the former.

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#22

Post by amatic »

pedro2 wrote: post #14

Google Backup & Sync is being replaced by Google Drive for Desktop, née Google [Drive] File Stream. Unlike Dropbox, where filenames are searchable by name on Everything, here that doesn't seem to happen -- at least the indexing takes more than 15 minutes with UI frozen. An interesting tidbit: Google Filestream allows mounting on a folder. Google Drive for Desktop doesn't support it yet. Another interesting tidbit: th…

In Everything, try going to options -> folders, and add the google my drive folder. Seems to be working for me

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#23

Post by danielheath »

Gigachad wrote: post #4
grenoire wrote: post #2

Guys... honest question. What happened to settings menus? Why are we taking away configuration from users' hands?

Configuration adds complexity and is a huge source of confusion for users. Google drive strikes me as something that should just work and be so simple that you do not have to configure it. There does not seem to be any genuine reason to make this change a setting because the main objection is just "I don't like it" rather than "it stops me from doing x" or "it makes x harder" It would be much less painful to just hav…

> It would be much less painful to just have users get used to the new behavior than to support a setting for forever.

Painful for who?

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#25

Post by daniel_iversen »

jpalomaki wrote: post #15

Could this be the first step to migrate away from the folder sync? So eventually you would have just the virtual drive approach. Not an expert here, but I believe the folder sync is technically more difficult to get right and there’s likely lot of edge cases that give you lots of trouble.

That seems plausible to me! I know at Dropbox we always spent a lot of time “playing nice” with the operating system while still providing a very deep and seamless integration. So much complexity and working with gnarly and changing APIs.

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#26

Post by ljm »

robbedpeter wrote: post #20
grenoire wrote: post #2

Guys... honest question. What happened to settings menus? Why are we taking away configuration from users' hands?

It's lazy and greedy and arrogant. It's catering to the lowest common denominator, pushing users into a cycle of manipulation and constant change, preventing any nuanced use of software, forcing users to increased dependence on a walled garden. It's a dark pattern - don't let people use the software in unexpected ways that might take potential profit away from another service or future feature. If any use gives more…

Going with Occam's Razor, I think it's really just as simple as product/engineering not making this kind of feature a priority.

Plus, we're talking about Google here, so this new desktop version was 99% likely to have been rebuilt as an MVP.

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#27

Post by richardwhiuk »

2ion wrote: post #19

It needs to run with elevated privileges in order to do this, right? So into the trash it goes. This is right up there with keyboard and mice configuration software running as daemons with administration privileges.

No, if you install the app just for the user who is logged in then you don't need elevated permissions to install or upgrade.

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#28

Post by dannyw »

Gigachad wrote: post #9
aclelland wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've come to accept that it's just a cost cutting measure for larger tech companies, why offer users an option when you don't need to? It costs extra to document, test and offer support for. I can't really think of any software from a major tech company that I use frequently and that's been updated to give me _more_ toggles to customize the app. It's always to take things away.

Apple actually does really well at this where it matters. Their accessibility settings allow a huge amount of customization for making the devices easier to use for disabled people. They just don't have android rom style settings like changing the unlock screen to swipe down rather than up or turning the battery indicator in to a circle.

Configurability matters in a lot more cases than just accessibility.

example: set Spotify to be the default music app.

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#29

Post by yosito »

grenoire wrote: post #2

Guys... honest question. What happened to settings menus? Why are we taking away configuration from users' hands?

> Why are we taking away configuration from users' hands?

Because users are the product, not the customers. Time to choose a cloud provider with a different business model.

Re: Disable Google Drive drive letter

#30

Post by izacus »

grenoire wrote: post #2

Guys... honest question. What happened to settings menus? Why are we taking away configuration from users' hands?

It's just... easier for engineers. Less to test, less code, less to think about. And right now, all software is being built at the pleasure of the software engineers - this is why you're also seeing shift towards things like Electron apps and less options and worse UX. It's just easier for the guy programming it and noone really cares about user experience because there's no real competition.

I mean, what are you going to do, use a 3rd party client for Google's services? You're not allowed to - at least not on the same service level.

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