Sync can successfully be used to back-up data on one PC prior to a reformat or the installation of a new operating system. but it seems that users we see in SUMO had no concept of the importance of the Sync / Recovery Key and didn't Print a copy of the final Sync Set Up dialog box. Without a copy of that Key or them using Sync on another device they are SOL as far as recovering their data.
Mozilla Sync seems to be unique among the "clouds" and browser data synchronizing services out there by having a third security credential to access their data on the Sync Servers and to connect to those servers. A credential that they don't "make up them self", one that is auto-generated by the Sync system. And one that is far from the usual "first pet's name", "mother's maiden", etc that might be able to be retrieved from online social networking data. IMO, the concept is sound, but the implementation leaves much to be desired.
That is where users are having a problem, way too often. And I suspected that this was going to be a problem in Nov / Dec 2010 when a new version of Weave / Sync was introduced that eliminated the original "passphrase" as the 3rd credential, and started using the current 26 character auto-generated Sync / Recovery Key.
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Weave/Crypto
How many people can remember their own drivers license number? Or SS#? How many can remember their 16 digit debit / credit card number (that they routinely type into online order forms)?
I can remember all three. Being that my SS# was also my military service ID number, that I have had a drivers license for 48 years, and I have been doing phone and online purchasing for over thirty years - but I still can't remember the CV# that changes every 3 to 4 years, when the card is renewed.
From the number of people I have watched incorrectly copy those numbers down on a form that they were filing out when I was applying for something, and I told them that they transposed a pair of numbers or skipped a digit in the one triple number sequence I have in one of those sets of numbers. They always express surprise that I "know" those ID numbers, so I know that I am far from average with remembering those numbers.
State of the art, industrial-strength security credentials is good in theory, but when your average-user has so little knowledge of the operating system they are using, that they can't even print anything without having a Print button or a contextual-menu Print item in a program, the developers are setting things up for massive misunderstandings or for complete failure, IMO.
I was collecting screenshots and had started a "how-to" to guide users thru the use of Sync up until that change of the 3rd credential, but decided not to follow thru on the completion of that guide because I lost faith in the Weave / Sync project with that change.
IMO, under - What does it do? - I feel at the end of that paragraph there should be a specific message that Sync isn't intended to be a "cloud" or a service to be used for backing up their data for purposes of reformatting or installing a new operating system.
Two common mis-uses if Sync.
And I think that message needs to be on every Sync support article, maybe at the bottom of the other Sync support articles as a disclaimer, of sorts.
Yes, that is a negative "feature" and support articles inform the user of features, how different features work, etc; generally all positive, reinforcing descriptions. But Sync doesn't work as users "expect" or as other seemingly similar services work, so I think this "warning" or disclaimer is very important.
Sync can successfully be used to back-up data on one PC prior to a reformat or the installation of a new operating system. but it seems that users we see in SUMO had no concept of the importance of the Sync / Recovery Key and didn't Print a copy of the final Sync Set Up dialog box. Without a copy of that Key or them using Sync on another device they are SOL as far as recovering their data.
Mozilla Sync seems to be unique among the "clouds" and browser data synchronizing services out there by having a third security credential to access their data on the Sync Servers and to connect to those servers. A credential that they don't "make up them self", one that is auto-generated by the Sync system. And one that is far from the usual "first pet's name", "mother's maiden", etc that might be able to be retrieved from online social networking data. IMO, the concept is sound, but the implementation leaves much to be desired.
'''''That''''' is where users are having a problem, way too often. And I suspected that this was going to be a problem in Nov / Dec 2010 when a new version of Weave / Sync was introduced that eliminated the original "passphrase" as the 3rd credential, and started using the current 26 character auto-generated Sync / Recovery Key. <br />
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Weave/Crypto <br />
How many people can remember their own drivers license number? Or SS#? How many can remember their 16 digit debit / credit card number ''(that they routinely type into online order forms)''? <br />
''I can remember all three. Being that my SS# was also my military service ID number, that I have had a drivers license for 48 years, and I have been doing phone and online purchasing for over thirty years - but I still can't remember the CV# that changes every 3 to 4 years, when the card is renewed.<br /> From the number of people I have watched incorrectly copy those numbers down on a form that they were filing out when I was applying for something, and I told them that they transposed a pair of numbers or skipped a digit in the one triple number sequence I have in one of those sets of numbers. They always express surprise that I "know" those ID numbers, so I know that I am far from average with remembering those numbers.''
State of the art, industrial-strength security credentials is good in theory, but when your average-user has so little knowledge of the operating system they are using, that they can't even print anything without having a Print button or a contextual-menu Print item in a program, the developers are setting things up for massive misunderstandings or for complete failure, IMO.
''I was collecting screenshots and had started a "how-to" to guide users thru the use of Sync up until that change of the 3rd credential, but decided not to follow thru on the completion of that guide because I lost faith in the Weave / Sync project with that change.''
IMO, under - '''What does it do?''' - I feel at the end of that paragraph there should be a specific message that Sync isn't intended to be a "cloud" or a service to be used for backing up their data for purposes of reformatting or installing a new operating system. <br />
Two common mis-uses if Sync. <br />
And I think that message needs to be on every Sync support article, maybe at the bottom of the other Sync support articles as a disclaimer, of sorts.
Yes, that is a negative "feature" and support articles inform the user of features, how different features work, etc; generally all positive, reinforcing descriptions. But Sync doesn't work as users "expect" or as other seemingly similar services work, so I think this "warning" or disclaimer is very important.
