zirco 4.* now opens android browser in background

[GoogleCodeExporter]

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1.upgrade from Zirco 3.* to 4.*
2.open Zirco
3.

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?
I expect to see Zirco run without causing Android default browser to run.  
Instead Zirco runs but also default browser appears in running services and 
consumes RAM. 

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?
This happened on Zirco 4.0 after upgrading from 3.9.  Device is Archos 43IT 
running Android 2.2.1

Please provide any additional information below.

I never use the default browser and don't want to.  If it was simply a case of 
a one time import of bookmarks etc then that would be OK but in fact if I use 
Zirco >3.9 it is opened every time and consumes resources.  

Original issue reported on code.google.com by julianhu...@gmail.com on 26 Oct 2011 at 1:24

[GoogleCodeExporter]

This may be due to zirco now using the same bookmarks database as the stock 
browser. Only fix would be to switch back to an internal bookmarks database, 
which i'm not sure i want to do, as i consider using the stock database is an 
improvement.

I'll think of it, but i don't make any promises :)

Original comment by J.Devauc...@gmail.com on 26 Oct 2011 at 3:15

[GoogleCodeExporter]

One reason I began to use Zirco (with DuckDuckGo search url) instead of default 
browser was so that I'm not automatically giving Google my bookmarks and 
searches and history (they already have my location, mail, and identity).  I 
also found Zirco had nice useability and performance.  But with Zirco 4.* this 
is mostly undone.  As a user I didn't find any advantage in Zirco using the 
Android database.  I hadn't found any problem with the old Zirco in this 
respect.  Now if I use Zirco 4.* I get more resource useage (I want to run one 
browser, not two), less control over my personal information and no advantages. 
 I can see the big advantage in *importing* history and bookmarks to help 
people who migrate from one to the other, but *sharing* history and bookmarks 
is something else - the GPL free software browser now shares my data with 
Google by default, even though I use a non-Google browser and non-Google 
search!  Now I may as well use default or some proprietary browser as Zirco 4, 
or I can use Zirco 3.9 and never upgrade.

The product description states:

"Bookmarks import from legacy Android browser"

but really it should say:

"Bookmarks and History shared with Android browser"

because this is an important difference.

Original comment by julianhu...@gmail.com on 26 Oct 2011 at 4:15

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Hi again,

There is advantages using the stock bookmarks database, maybe not for you 
through. Mainly:
- Simpler and more robust code (not an advantage for users, i admit);
- Bookmarks/history can be shared across browsers. Some people might use more 
than one browser, and maybe happy to get all their bookmarks on all their 
browsers;
- Widgets showing bookmarks use the stock database. So bookmark added in zirco 
will be shown is those widgets.

However i _do_ understand your concerns about privacy. I must admit i didn't 
think of it, even if i'm not sure that bookmarks are synchronized with Google, 
at least until Android 3 (when i setup a new phone with my Google account, it 
synchronize my contacts but not my bookmarks). But it may be the case and i 
understand this point. But please, do not mess this up with GPL or open-source, 
this has nothing to do. Saying Zirco 4 is "proprietary" is _false_, as well as 
saying "GPL free software browser now shares my data with Google by default" is 
_false_.

Now let's get back to more concrete stuff. What i will do:
1) Change the application description, you're right on this point.
2) See if i can implement some "advance" preference for history/bookmarks 
storage, either stock database or application database. And stock database will 
be the default choice.

Thanks for your feedback.

Original comment by J.Devauc...@gmail.com on 26 Oct 2011 at 5:18

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I didn't mean to imply Zirco 4 is proprietary, I apologise for the ambiguity.

"Now I may as well use default or some proprietary browser as Zirco 4"

would be better expressed as

"Now I may as well use default or some proprietary browser as *use* Zirco 4".

However, if sharing history and bookmarks with Google's browser then I think 
it's fair to say that it is sharing that data with Google, even if that was not 
the intention and even if done with one step of indirectness. Unless it can be 
definitely shown not to be the case then the user must assume the data is 
collected by Google in the normal way.  If one disables background data/sync on 
Android the following message is shown "Some applications may still use the 
background data connection".  Google reserves the right for applications to 
collect data even when the user explicitly prefers this not to happen.  

I think your suggestion to offer the choice of an application specific database 
is a good solution that will accommodate all users.

Original comment by julianhu...@gmail.com on 26 Oct 2011 at 6:01

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Done as in comment #3. A new pref will allow to choose bookmarks storage in 
next version.

Original comment by J.Devauc...@gmail.com on 28 Nov 2011 at 7:41

• Changed state: Fixed