Oooh. You're a software developer. That makes you an expert.
Except - as someone who is surround by IT professionals - many of which create systems that are governed by strict compliance issues - ALL of them have stated that 2MB is ridiculous for a cache of the intended purpose. And that QA could have missed this - but the fact that they did is really bad.
Look - defend Apple all you want. Don't really care. At the end of the day - a switch that is supposed to turn something off should turn something off. I know it. You know it. And Apple knows it - which is why they are (for WHATEVER reason) making the switch work correctly. End of story.
P.S. - Since Apple does great marketing and pr spin (my profession) - while I don't buy all the conspiracy theories at all - but neither do I "trust" Apple's altruism nor their rhetoric just because "they say so."
dude you do PR? couldn't tell.
all I am saying is that it is far more likely that this is a bug than intentional. if they wanted to do something intentionally to track people they could have hidden it very easily (and who knows if they do). I never said this was NOT a bug -- clearly it is. "End of story".
You should know that hindsight is 20/20. I am surrounded by IT professionals too -- and wait -- I am one (one who creates systems governed by strict compliance rules) -- one with lots of experience in software engineering and very senior with my company. I am sure that if I asked anybody today if they thought that file size was too large, they would definitely use their 20/20 hindsight to say "of course it is". I would.
But the fact of the matter is that these sort of things are exactly what can slip through the software development process. Most automated test cases are based around things that have already gone wrong (these are called regression tests) -- because you want to make sure you don't make the same mistake twice. It's likely that proactive "unit tests" around this code would have been written to trap the file size growing without bounds and filling up the device. Few would have thought to write a test to check how many records were being stored. Its exactly the kind of thing that is missed in the design process can make its way all the way into production. And, because of regression tests, the kind of thing that should not happen again.
I never said I trusted Apple's altruism. For all I know they are really tracking all of us -- it just won't be in a database stored on my phone. For all I know, AT&T is tracking me, as is Google, and Verizon. All have the capability based on my online Internet and wireless usage patterns and the devices I carry. I am just choosing not to be paranoid about it. This little "media scare" did not make me any more vulnerable to be tracked -- the means has been there for years. Incidentally, Google can read all my email too.
For somebody who doesn't "really care", your sure took offense to my pointing out that it was unlikely that this was some kind of Apple conspiracy. What would be a smoking gun would be finding personally identifiable location data on Apple's servers -- it would be very hard for Apple to talk their way out of that -- kinda like how Google tried to say "we didn't mean to gleam data off unprotected WiFi networks as we rolled our trucks by, we just happened to store it inadvertently." I'm sure somebody intended to keep that data -- it's kinda like accidentally starting a car and driving somewhere -- too many steps involved. Some idiot at Google did it and some smarter person realized the stupidity in it and they decided to come clean and destroy the data.
Apple used this tacky process you described becuase they obviously wanted to CONCEAL it from users, they certainly would not want the FEDS, Washinton and other agencies to know that they where doing it to them, whether or not they picked certain individuals is a matter Congress will settle, im sure if a mafia or cartel had this type of access they would also monitor wall street and join in on the scams.
And yeah Google does record but they at least give you the option to turn it off which makesd them liable if they intrude, Apple uses suckers and propaganda on forums and BS to cover up their sweatshop companies and 3rd party developers who probably helped them spy on competitors.
<sarcasm>
Yeah definitely, and the worst thing about Apple is that the iPhone transmits a signal in the middle of the night that brainwashes the user into fully trusting Steve Jobs as his/her new leader.
</sarcasm>
Please -- go hide in your basement bomb shelter. Just make sure the walls are lined with lead to protect you from those iPhone transmission signals.
