@ Tootler 24 May 17 - 10:59 AM

Reasons why I do not like plugged-in web services:

1. The provider can switch to new versions which behave differently - the user cannot switch back.
2. The provider may withdraw the function, e.g. being bankrupt or no longer interested in a good reputation
3. They force us to reveal our data to the provider, who may profile us; for example, an online spellchecker will inevitably betray everything we write.
4. The provider may one day start charging a small fee, then a larger one etc.
5. They force us to be online and cause traffic (- the least problem at the moment, but just wait!).

Such doubtful "services" seem to be the future of sophisticated and expensive software anyway. Users must be conscious that this amounts to trusting the provider completely and entirely and for as long as they need their underlying data. While I have no reason to mistrust that abc2xml service, I would like to warn against such "services" in general, all the more since abc2xml is a tiny script that can easily be run locally, and a plugin calling it.

If you now say that installing any software at home also means that we trust the source from which we obtain it - you are quite right. But at least we can access the programme files, so that we (i.e. our anti-virus software) may be able to find out whether they spy on us. I would prefer to have much more control over the type of actions I allow any software or "service" I use.