[Monotone-devel] Re: [RFC] M.T. phone home

[Graydon Hoare]

Nathaniel Smith wrote:

> If you made it this far, thanks for reading :-).  I'll probably start
> implementing this in the next few weeks (assuming that the response to
> this isn't an overwhelming "this would be a horrible violation and
> can't be done at all!"), but really want to make sure that we get the
> details right so that people don't feel spied-on or otherwise
> uncomfortable.  So, comments?

I know I discussed this with you, and expressed initial enthusiasm. But 
the more I think about it, the more clearly my preferences err on the 
side of privacy. I kept writing up lists of conditions and criteria, and 
they kept getting narrower and narrower, until I was left with the 
simple conclusion:

  Don't do it.

Much as I've often wished for such abilities in my programs, I have to 
say I now think it's a bad plan. I think people are so fed up with lying 
spyware that the merest hint of "gathering data" is enough to make users 
foam at the mouth. Maybe not every user, but programmers more than 
average, and crypto-y programmers more still.

I think we can gather enough data about "problems", for the short term, 
using synthetic benchmarks and tests. I'd love to gather the ergonomic 
data you'd get from such a feature too, but I just don't think users are 
going to like it, especially not in a domain as sensitive as version 
control.

Currently we're trying to beat the reputation of being "the VC that's 
too slow to use"; imagine how much worse it'd be to have a reputation as 
"the VC that phones home". No amount of user data is worth that. It's 
even worse than being "the VC which is full of buffer overruns" or such.

-graydon