> Smear is a workaround for those who care about phase alignment but don't care about frequency error. ... and who don't need to exchange times with anyone else. This last point reduces the set to no one, since it can't extend to everyone (some parties care a lot more about frequency error than phase error!).
I don't quite understand that point. E.g. the typical web server doesn't have much of a need to exchange precise time with others. HTTP, TLS, ... require timestamps, timestamps are shown to users occasionally, but as long as they are roughly right that is enough. As long as all internal systems work off the same standard it is fine. Which seems to be the reasoning under which Google choose to use it, even though one might argue that with their cloud offerings they are not as insular.
I don't quite understand that point. E.g. the typical web server doesn't have much of a need to exchange precise time with others. HTTP, TLS, ... require timestamps, timestamps are shown to users occasionally, but as long as they are roughly right that is enough. As long as all internal systems work off the same standard it is fine. Which seems to be the reasoning under which Google choose to use it, even though one might argue that with their cloud offerings they are not as insular.