Quote:
Originally Posted by darryl
I think one of my favourite passages from Alice in Wonderland is instructive here:
Since no one is "to be master" precision is important. And when. as seems to happen frequently, you claim to be misquoted, a little bit of grace in pointing out what you meant to convey would be nice (though not of course compulsory).
What you apparently meant to say, according to your own later post, is that:
"if you are not paying for something, then you are the product, not the customer."
I don't agree with this statement, but it is pointless to get into an argument about it. It obviously derives any semblance of coherence from this particular situation where Google sells the data it gathers, and can not stand as a general principle. Nevertheless, what is the relevance of being a "customer" or a "product"? Since you have not elaborated on this point, I can only guess, and do so at the peril of your future "strawman" allegation if my guess is not to your liking.
Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that your statement is correct (though it is not). What difference does it make? Are you in fact implying that Google does not treat you as well as it would a customer? If so, in what ways? What point or points are you trying to make?
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What difference does it make? Go back and look at where I originally said it.
"Amazon and Google are good for Amazon and Google. One thing to remember with Google, if you aren't paying for something, then you aren't the customer, you are the product. Google's customers are their advertisers, not the people who use Google. That's why they consistently try to force people to log in. It makes it easier for Google to track you and sell more detailed info to their consumers, i.e. the advertisers. "
It's simply a statement which explains certain behavior by Google. There is much to like about Google, but I think that it is a mistake to think that Google, Amazon, Apple or any other large corporation does something out of the kindness of their heart. Many of Google's free apps come from various employee's Friday projects. Google has/had Friday projects not because it allows them to provide cool free apps, but rather because it allows them to keep their more creative programmers. The cool free apps is just a side benefit. Of course, it also gains them other non tangible things that benefits Google as a whole. Google is neither evil, nor good, they are simply a large corporation that has a certain culture which many people happen to like.