As I was not able to generate a PDF report and have not updated from 2541 why is it now working?.
Does this program call home? ie is it communicating with Server ?
I would like to know how this problem was corrected without needing to update?
Generating PDF is happening on Google Cloud servers when using PDF button. There was an issue with Google Cloud.
Eventually I’ll make it so that local Google Chrome installation can be used instead if available. Or you can generate PDF documents using Print button then print to PDF. That works offline.
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Does this mean that potentially confidential information is made accessible to Google?
Yes
Effectively NG Software is partly funding Manager by selling pdf content to Google. Google’s business model is to scrap data from any source they can access which they then sell to their paying customers.
Personally the service Google provides doesn’t justify the price.
Thank you @Patch!
Do you also know the answer to the following questions?
- Does this hold for all three editions (cloud, desktop, server)?
- Is, apart from PDF content, any other information being made available to third parties (again for all three editions)?
- Are customers informed that their information may not be kept confidential? I do not remember seeing any warning.
That’s not correct. We pay Google for hosting our PDF conversion service on Google Cloud. Google doesn’t pay us, and they don’t scrape or resell our data. We also do not store any data related to PDF conversion.
Thank you @Lubos for that clarification. I accept that Google nor Manager have the intention to break confidentiality of your users data.
That leaves me with one question. As all American companies, Google falls under the CLOUD act which compels them to hand over any data to the American government upon request, even if the data are actually stored outside of the US. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLOUD_Act)
Can you tell me if, apart from PDF conversion, you make use of any service providers that fall under the CLOUD act and have access to your users data?
Thank you!
Only PDF conversion is hard-coded into the system to use online service. You can chose not to use it by using Print button then print to PDF.
But if you are using email function, then Manager will use online PDF conversion because technically it’s not possible to trigger print to PDF using javascript locally. I wish it would be possible, then we wouldn’t need online PDF conversion at all.
Eventually I’m planning to rewrite both emailing and PDF conversion as Manager Extensions so that it will be obvious these components are not core parts of the program and can be disabled, removed or even replaced with alternative implementation.
Thanks @Lubos. That is again reassuring and I applaud your intention to rewrite these functions as Manager Extensions.
But my question was broader. For example, do you use Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle Cloud, IBM Cloud, or any other American cloud provider, in particular for storing user data?
Thank you again.
@jeroen1 in the context of desktop edition or server edition - no external service is used to store user’s data.
@Lubos: For desktop and server users, that is reassuring. For Cloud customers, is there a possibility that their data might turn up in American owned servers?
Cloud edition is hosted on AWS infrastructure. All customer data is stored on Amazon-operated servers in our AWS account. Amazon does not maintain our customer list, so isolating data for a specific customer would normally require our involvement. If AWS were served with a valid U.S. legal order for specific customer data, they would likely contact us to identify and produce it. We have never received any legal request for customer data.
Avoiding US-owned infrastructure solely due to potential CLOUD Act concerns is impractical. US cloud platforms are among the most cost-effective and reliable options at scale.
If someone is concerned, they can use the server edition and host it themselves on whatever cloud platform or infrastructure they prefer.
@Lubos: Thank you very much for this clear and well-balanced answer. It is good to hear that so far you have not received any requests for customer data.
Still, things can change and I can see that some might be concerned. In that case your suggestion to use the server edition is a very good one, and it is good to see that, unlike others, Manager offers a choice of versions.
Good luck to you and Manager, and best regards.