I’m finding that enjoying Google products and services on Lemmy is a hot take. Personally I use a Pixel phone and use nearly all Google services from Gmail to Keep.
I’m probably in the minority, but I do not care. If you are happy, that’s the most important, you do you.
I’m in the same boat. I don’t like them but I don’t hate them either. I just see them as a tool. (you can interpret that how you want lol)
Wow that instance name 😂
When I saw it I had to!
I kept reading it as “search” and was wondering what “iu” meant lmao… And I even use arch lol
That’s still all I can see, what is it actually lol
Edit: got it right after posting whoops
“I use…”
Lol no worries it took me a bit
Not the first time I got that haha, someone I knew who’s into kpop was very confused since IU is the stage name of a kpop star
Oh interesting lol
You forgot “BTW” ;-)
Lol I know that’s the meme but it feels so weird to say “I use arch btw :3”
For a minute I was trying to figure out what
iu search linux
meant before I realised what it said
Same here
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Search has dragged. They’re a major contributor to monopoly in digital markets. Drive docs sheets is pretty good; until they enshittify it.
Good or not they deserve to be broken up like amaz.
People keep talking about a federated YouTube… I kind of want a federated Google docs.
PeerTube?
Nextcloud/Owncloud has federation support, though I’ve never tried it. You can also join existing servers, like you can with other fediverse things (though most of them aren’t free): https://nextcloud.com/providers/
I don’t approve of the decisions made by Google, but that doesn’t affect how much I use their services.
However, I am unhappy about the fact that the Google Play Services app is required by their apps, since it constantly runs in the background eating battery, consuming RAM, causing lag spikes and wasting mobile data. For this reason, I use MicroG when possible.
I don’t like the fact that some Google apps (e.g. Chrome) on my phone are not uninstallable, but that’s the OEM’s fault (Samsung in my case). Luckily it’s possible to remove these using ADB (without root).
I don’t like how they want to make it harder to root your own device.
I don’t hate Google, I am deeply suspicious of Google.
This is how I feel. I don’t hate Google. But I do want to see them broken up and regulated much more than they currently are.
I mean I don’t love Google, because loving a tech company would be a bit weird.
But I like their phones and the Android experience. I don’t really care if some nerds on the internet who like to tell everyone how they’ve “degoogled” their phones and get a stiffy about Linux don’t like that.
Same, they’re also one of the few Android smartphone companies left that actually allow you to somewhat easily unlock your bootloader. Your only other option is OnePlus (Which has taken a nosedive in the last few years) or some random Chinese brand that you have to pay all cash for and import
I think people are just pissed that this is what’s become of the company whose motto used to be “Do no evil” and actually practiced it.
Realistically, they aren’t doing anything that much worse than any other Big Tech company is doing or has done.
I hate the G2 Tensor currently inside my Pixel 7 but I like their Android flavor and use a lot of Google services.
The problem with Google is that it has its fingers in too many pies.
The same company runs:
- the OS of the computer in half the world’s pockets
- the quasi-monopolistic client (Chrome) for the world’s only open-standards app platform (the web)
- the crushingly dominant video platform
And so on. This is obviously a big problem in a world where information is power.
Google needs to be broken up at least as much as the oil and railroad companies did a century ago.
Google needs to be broken up at least as much as the oil and railroad companies did a century ago.
This is probably the biggest truth right now, and applies to almost all the big tech corps.
I would like to try some stuff that’s part of Meta, but they’re part of Meta.
Def agree with your point.
I used to love youtube and their search engine but they’ve made it so anti-consumer that I just sort of gravitated to better alternatives. I just fine their ad strategy really gross, theres a huge push for anti-adblock, pushing sponsored links in searches, cramming premium down everyones throats, I’m just sort of done with it.
One of us…
But honestly, I think you’ll find that a lot of the degooglers and such used to be big Google fans, etc. It’s just you eventually get tired of all their bullshit, constantly tracking and advertising to you, etc. And you realize you might need to pay for those services but you don’t trust a company like Google or meta, etc. To not track you still so…
You eventually move on and then you find new things bit by bit to replace all those services. Some free, some paid. Some amazing, some just OK. But at least you’re happier with some privacy.
Aged like milk.
Google.com is still exactly that.
No ads?
Yes?
Try again
You can still be hyper critical of a product you use. I rely on tons of Google services and also use a pixel, but that doesn’t stop me from being disappointed in their behavior at large when it seems like the leadership is allergic to making the easy winning decisions.
The realistic alternative is Apple and frankly fuck that.
Remember when Google was a fast, simple and reliable search engine?
Pepperidge Farm remembers.
Also when they launched Google earth and Gmail? Those were the good times.
Everything that came afterwards is monopoly fuckery and data harvesting. Fuck them
Even Google Plus?
Every.thing
I thought Google Plus was amazing. It’s the only social media I would never foresee myself complaining about, even through its demise due to some politicians complaining about it.
I will never give any respect to any social media that any ONE is in control of.
Then you would’ve been in luck, Google Plus had no counterpart to, say, Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg.
Yeah it does. It’s ONE in charge. I’ll take this right here or Mastadon, Diaspora, anything where control is done by the masses, not any individual. If you think Google isn’t one mother fucker in charge, then educate yourself, because I guarentee you it is.
Google Plus was run differently from normal Google or even YouTube, it wasn’t like Twitter where one voice comes to mind, one voice broadcasting themselves as the rep in any way.
I fucking hate google
- sent using Gmail from my pixel 7
With a user base that mostly consists of a mix of economically liberal privacy advocates and leftists, I wouldn’t expect too many to view a company like Google to be a long term positive influence on the world.
They made the internet a better place originally and now do the complete opposite, that’s my main issue with Gargle these days.
I’m neutral toward Google. Youtube is fine but I don’t watch it constantly. Search has gone to shit and I’ve switched to duckduckgo. Maps are still good. My wife likes her Pixel.
Like it or not, Lemmy is a bit of an odd, fringe community with a lot of fringe ideals.
I use Google products and don’t give a shit about FOSS services or intense privacy. It’s an unpopular view here in Lemmy, but it’s actually how the majority outside of it seem to behave.
I didn’t join Lemmy because of FOSS or privacy nonsense. I joined it because spez got rid of my Reddit app and I don’t want to use some cancerous app with a zillion ads plastered everywhere.
Look, don’t get me wrong…I am against the idea of megacorps as a whole, but not enough to stop using something that makes my life a zillion times easier and doesn’t actively hurt me.
I mean, if you think its not actively hurting you, then you’re willfully not paying attention at this point.
but you do you.
Just don’t come back crying “how could anyone let this happen?!” and begging for help when the hens come home to roost.
Just don’t come back crying “how could anyone let this happen?!” and begging for help when the hens come home to roost.
Can you elaborate on what doomsday scenario you’re referring to? I don’t hear many arguments outside of “Google bad, they’re gonna do a bad thing” without any evidence or description of what the big bad event is gonna be. And before you say “they sell your data,” I know. So does literally everyone else. And I have no intention of living off the technological grid to mitigate that.
And I have no intention of living off the technological grid to mitigate that.
I would argue that you are already living off the technology grid. Before starting my FOSS journey, every software I used was a dull ‘Just click here and let the algorithm do it’s job’. By beeing conscious about the software I am using now, I accidently found a lot of joy in technical things, feeling a lot more ‘on’ the technological grid than before.
Can you elaborate on what doomsday scenario you’re referring to?
I am not the commenter above, but my greatest fear with all those data hungry companies is the control and power we give to not elected entities. Knowing all about every person in a state and knowing how to use this data for targeted ads, targeted video recommendations, targeted search results,…, could make a difference in elections and law making. It is basically undermining democracy, and I am a big fan of real democracy.
I agree with your last bit, and I know plenty of people who are clearly manipulated by their news feeds and targeted advertising, but I’m not one of them. I don’t use ad blockers because it’s a valid revenue mechanism - I have friends who pay their bills through advertising. But I’m blind to them, I’ve never clicked on an advert and actively avoid suggestions.
I’m worried about the societal consequence, but doesn’t that issue need to be addressed by engaging in the politics, not by me using Google less? Data harvesting is unavoidable without huge inconvenience, and life is hard enough.
I feel the same way about climate change - I can reduce, reuse and recycle all I want, but I see my neighbours driving and flying everywhere and filling their bins every week, I probably sacrifice to make zero difference.
I agree. The answer to those concerns is to build a stronger society.
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Yes, your tone will surely motivate OP and other people to take another look at their online privacy.
You’re part of the reason people look at the privacy community in disgust.
You sound like my mother with how desperately you try to twist shit to make it my fault.
I don’t hate them, I just… dislike and resent them for all their bullshit. I still use Google, I have an Android, I use YouTube (albeit heavily modified to make it, y’know, livable) etc for now.
