So who's left? Microsoft? Doing without?

I'm getting really sick of technology... and I'm a sysadmin for fuck's sake.

Android Police quotes the on-boarding screen of Nearby’s capabilities:

When Nearby is turned on for your account...

When you turn on Nearby...

This tells me that Google is making it selectable. Sounds OK.

The truth, however, is that most people aren't really going to have a meaningful choice about whether location-based services are active or not. Sure, any user can opt out if he or she wants, but there's going to be a constant siren song trying to lure them back in.

The truth is, people will always have a meaningful choice about using location-based services. Personally, if I'm not using the GPS, it's shut off. It will only activate when I dial 911 (and that's a requirement for E911 services, which is sort of a given thing these days)

I'm concerned about tracking as well, but goog's been pretty transparent with what they collect and when. I fear this may be a tempest in a teapot.