This thread has been an interesting read, for sure!
Not directly related to gramps, but on topic of syncing -
As a matter of coincidence, I was trying to figure out how to sync Mozilla Thunderbird user profiles across two computers and came across a blog entry where they describe their progress on a sync service. They also describe in the last para what type of information the service will sync.
H’m, nice. This is actually one of the reasons why I only use Thunderbird on my Linux desktop and laptop, and don’t use it in Windows. Syncing the address books is too much trouble, and I have better things to do.
Windows Mail, which will soon be replaced by the new Outlook again (remember Outlook Express?), seems to do most of the syncing for me, when I log on with my Gmail and Outlook address. And of course Edge does a lot of syncing too, for its bookmarks and password, just like Firefox, but not TB. And if you ever used Ubuntu, you may remember a product called Ubuntu One. It’s dead now.
Windows does a lot of syncing, with OneDrive, and other products, and some of that is quite silly, like the automatic syncing of your desktop folder. I find that quite annoying, because I have games that I only run on my desktop, for obvious reasons, and I don’t want their shortcuts on my laptop. That’s easy to fix by using custom settings for OneDrive, so that it only syncs Documents and Pictures, but it’s quite annoying if you set up a new system in a hurry.
Another thing is, that with a centralized logon, Windows insisted to sync my language and keyboard settings, and my laptop has a UK keyboard, and my desktop US international, with a Euro on 5. And since I’m not a touch typist, I really appreciate it if Windows respects the diversity of my hardware.
And all this is completely independent of the actual roaming, that probably noone here actually uses.