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Apple now lets you transfer your iCloud Photos to Google Photos

support.apple.com

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Re: Apple now lets you transfer your iCloud Photos to Google Photos

#351

Post by barnabee »

AmericanChopper wrote: post #245
barnabee wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly any company that relies on “safe harbor” style protections or sells online services (alone or bundled with software) as a subscription should be required to fully open and document the protocol.

But most SaaS companies don’t make protocols, they make web applications. So I’m not really sure what’s implied by these trivial-to-implement protocols. Having a functional and well documented API isn’t a protocol. An open protocol would be more like a situation where any vendor could implement an “iCloud service”, and any “iCloud client” could connect to any vendors service.

I don’t agree here. A web application API, properly documented and exposed to any client a participant wants to use becomes a protocol for that service, there’s no difference between CalDAV and the Google Calendar web app’s API except that one is documented, rarely changes, and if offer by a service provider would generally allow any client that implements it to connect, and the other is undocumented and it’s probably against the terms of service to build your own clients. The goal should be to force every API for these providers to meet some minimal definition of a protocol, not to define government mandated standard protocols or force interoperability between services.

Re: Apple now lets you transfer your iCloud Photos to Google Photos

#352

Post by AmericanChopper »

barnabee wrote: post #351
AmericanChopper wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But most SaaS companies don’t make protocols, they make web applications. So I’m not really sure what’s implied by these trivial-to-implement protocols. Having a functional and well documented API isn’t a protocol. An open protocol would be more like a situation where any vendor could implement an “iCloud service”, and any “iCloud client” could connect to any vendors service.

I don’t agree here. A web application API, properly documented and exposed to any client a participant wants to use becomes a protocol for that service, there’s no difference between CalDAV and the Google Calendar web app’s API except that one is documented, rarely changes, and if offer by a service provider would generally allow any client that implements it to connect, and the other is undocumented and it’s probabl…

Your definition removes all distinction between the concept of a protocol, and the concept of an API. Google Calendar doesn't implement the Google Calendar Protocol, there is no standards body involved in determining how Google Calendar works, you're not free to go an implement your own Google Calendar compatible service, and Google can change Google Calendar without consultation with anybody. There is no definition of protocol where a single-service API, designed, implemented and published by a single party is a protocol. Google Calendar implements an API.

If your argument is that companies should be compelled to publish good API documentation, and allow any client to connect to them, then aside from creating a completely unnecessary system of regulatory moats, and aside from using the wrong words to describe this idea, you're likely to run directly into a 1A violation.

Re: Apple now lets you transfer your iCloud Photos to Google Photos

#353

Post by dkonofalski »

varispeed wrote: post #322
dkonofalski wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stop spreading this incorrect info. You already have access to this data on both Google Photos and iCloud Photos. The only notable thing is that Apple is offering to perform the transfer for you.

What do you mean? Have you read this? https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protectio... The fact that you can download a .zip file with your photos is not enough.

It's not just the .zip file. You can transfer all your photos, in original quality, to Google and that includes all metadata. The only notable thing that has changed is that Apple will do it for you, not because of GPDR, but because they're part of the Data Transfer Project.

Re: Apple now lets you transfer your iCloud Photos to Google Photos

#354

Post by WhyNotHugo »

Curious to see this evolve.

Article seems to hint that it's just Google Photos "for now", but that may change in future.

I'd love to have it as a backup mechanism to dump all my photos onto an external hard drive. Doing it now is pretty non-trivial unless you have a mac.

Re: Apple now lets you transfer your iCloud Photos to Google Photos

#355

Post by vishnumohandas »

varispeed wrote: post #195
vishnumohandas wrote: post #167

If Apple opened up their APIs so that data could be imported by ANY authorized third party service, that would be fantastic. This post is about a behind-closed-doors deal with Google. Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see a reason to celebrate.

They have to do it by law (GDPR) if they want to sell their products in the EU. People should start making complaints that they cannot port their data to other services, then they should implement that in no time.

> People should start making complaints

Do you know how to go about this? Thanks!

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