Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham
The one vendor we're talking about here, of course, is Google. To date, I really like most of what Google has provided, and even now they seem to going further in the direction that I like. I'd be surprised if they change course so dramatically that I'd want to cut all ties, say, within the next five years (if ever).
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You sure?
Google is always nagging to use your own name on YouTube. They are nagging to get a Google+ account for YouTube, and have made it obligatory for Android if you want to leave app reviews. They're connecting GMail, Google+, YouTube, Docs, and Drive; "all of your data in one place".
That's only one thing I don't like: the integration of all of their services; they're making it almost impossible to sign up for one service, without also signing up for a boatload of others.
Some businesses exist solely to gather data: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, FourSquare... it works, because they are social networks. Google obviously came to that same conclusion, and they obviously had other services already. They're just using Google+ as an excuse to connect everything together. They're even fiddling with the privacy rules for their services.
If Facebook and the others are large with regard to data collection, then Google is the Mother of all Data Collection Juggernauts.
I'll never ever trust all of my computing needs to one company, let alone a company that mines data on the scale Google is doing; the Chromebook is just one more option to get you to use the Google services.
In short, I don't trust them. The only reason for me to have an Android phone and Google account is Maps, and it's only connected to the internet when I'm using Maps. As soon as there is a cheap alternative on an OS that does not require any accounts with any company, my Android phone will be sold.