Hi all, I see today listed as the deadline for a decision on a transition plan. I haven't seen significant discussion on this over the last day or two.
What I've seen is: - https://wiki.mozilla.org/User_Services/Sync/Migration - https://services.etherpad.mozilla.org/sync-migration - https://www.lucidchart.com/documents/edit/4678-1408-52b1b652-9823-7a810a00c462 (Sync Migration tab) - Brendan asking "why given how sync works now, we can't keep the option for those users who want the same secrecy property they have now" The most concrete transition proposal I've seen is by Richard and Ryan F., largely captured in the Lucid chart linked to above. It's largely sensible, but it includes elements that I don't consider minimal (e.g., auto transitioning users and upselling). Here's my proposal for a bare minimum strategy for an *initial* transition from Existing Sync to FxA Sync. tl;dr Just let Existing Sync users be. Support FxA Sync and Existing Sync side by side in Fx29 with no attempt to upsell or transition from Existing Sync -> FxA Sync. What this means: 1) For users that are already connected to Existing Sync, Existing Sync will continue to work when they upgrade to Fx29. There will be no upsell to FxA Sync, and no attempt to transition them to FxA Sync in Fx29. Just let 'em be. In Fx29, these users will see no evidence of FxA Sync without disconnecting from Existing Sync first. 2) The default "Create Account" screen for Sync will change to use FxA. We include warnings that this won't work with Sync on Fx29- or Sync with pairing. For users looking for "Existing Sync", we also include a link that will direct them to the Existing Sync "Setup Sync" and "Pair A Device" screens. 3) The default "Login" screen for Sync will change to use FxA. We include warnings that this won't work with Sync on Fx29- or Sync with pairing. For users looking for "Existing Sync", we include a link that will direct them to the Existing Sync "Setup Sync" and "Pair A Device" screens. What this means for the future: 1) We don't necessarily have to commit to a sunset date or strategy for Existing Sync *now*. New users will (most likely) get FxA Sync and old users have the capability to continue to use Existing Sync, if they desire. 2) In Fx29, we lay what technical groundwork we can for a future sunset date, e,g, deprecation messaging channels. 3) In Fx29, we lay what technical groundwork we can for future transition strategies and upsells, e.g., starting to record the Firefox version of connected sync clients. Why I think this strategy is a good idea: 1) It's the simplest thing I can think of that both gets FxA Sync out the door and minimizes disruption for existing Sync users. It's simple enough that I feel confident that it "won't be terrible" for Existing Sync users. If an Existing Sync user doesn't attempt to the add a new device, her experience will be identical to what it is now. 2) It buys us time to design, build, and test transition and upsell strategies from Existing Sync -> FxA Sync that we can land in Fx30+. IMO, upsells and auto-transitions are non-trivial, and add both technical and schedule risk. We have 18 days left! 3) We mitigate negative press (for now). We aren't sunsetting pairing based Sync yet. For users that want to continue to use that, they can (for now). This strategy also addresses Brendan's question of "why given how sync works now, we can't keep the option for those users who want the same secrecy property they have now". If we're lucky and clever, we potentially add pairing as advanced security option for FxA Sync in future releases, in which case won't ever have to sunset it completely. Proposed next steps: 1) Make a decision (Chad, Karen, Jonath, Mayo, ?). Deadline: Dec 6. 2) Flesh out the details and UX more, particularly what some of the "Create Account" and "Login" screens would look like multiplexing FxA Sync and Existing Sync. (Note: even if we don't go with this proposal, we need to do this work anyway, unless we plan on completely eliminating the option of connecting to Existing Sync accounts in Fx29.) Deadline: Dec 7. -chris
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