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Why I Quit Using Google

kylepiira.com

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Re: Why I Quit Using Google

#131

Post by rapnie »

mceachen wrote: post #104
xwowsersx wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's viable for sure, but one thing I'd like is regular backups of the photos from my phone (where most I take most of my photos). That's the nice thing about Google Photos with Google One - all my stuff is backed up to the cloud regularly. I understand, though, that this comes with some risk.

I use Resilio Sync, and have tried SyncThing. Both work. They both have an app you run in your phone, and a companion app you run on macOS, Windows, Linux, or your NAS, and it syncs (even through a NAT) whatever you've configured to backup on your phone to N servers. If you're away from home, you can run it on your laptop next to you, so your phone is backed up quickly, and then throughout the day you laptop can sync…

What made you move away from Syncthing? I plan to sync my relevant Android dirs (downloads, Markor, photos, etc.) to my laptop and archive.

Re: Why I Quit Using Google

#132

Post by fallenhitokiri »

6ak74rfy wrote: post #113

I was considering setting up a Nextcloud instance as a replacement for Google Drive. I did some math and realized that I’ll be paying a lot more on that route - 1TB on Lightsail+S3 vs Lightsail+SSD vs Google Drive. The last was by far the cheapest. Are there ways to bring down this cost? I know some people argue that I could use that host for other self-hosted services to amortize cost but i don’t pay monthly recurri…

A little bit more expensive, but IMHO a good compromise considering it’s hosted NextCloud is https://www.hetzner.com/storage/storage-share

I’ve been using it for a few months and my only complaint so far is that you cannot setup your own (sub)domain but get a random one assigned that’s IMHO not easy to remember.

Re: Why I Quit Using Google

#133

Post by new2628 » 

  I was deeply embedded in the Google ecosystem ...
  I would upload all of my family photos to Google Photos and all of my personal documents to Google Drive ...
  I used Google Hangouts ...
  My home is covered with Google Homes ...
  I have easily invested thousands of dollars into my Google   ...
Honest question: why should one take advice from someone showing such a systematic pattern of poor judgement?

Re: Why I Quit Using Google

#134

Post by Spearchucker »

new2628 wrote: post #133

I was deeply embedded in the Google ecosystem ... I would upload all of my family photos to Google Photos and all of my personal documents to Google Drive ... I used Google Hangouts ... My home is covered with Google Homes ... I have easily invested thousands of dollars into my Google ... Honest question: why should one take advice from someone showing such a systematic pattern of poor judgement?

Maybe because just a few short years ago Google was the darling of the internet because search and chrome were better than anything else. People believed the do no evil spin. And back then why wouldn't they?

Re: Why I Quit Using Google

#135

Post by tempodox »

new2628 wrote: post #133

I was deeply embedded in the Google ecosystem ... I would upload all of my family photos to Google Photos and all of my personal documents to Google Drive ... I used Google Hangouts ... My home is covered with Google Homes ... I have easily invested thousands of dollars into my Google ... Honest question: why should one take advice from someone showing such a systematic pattern of poor judgement?

Tentative answer to your question, with an optimistic outlook: Good judgement comes from experience. You get experience by learning from mistakes. Mistakes come from bad judgement.

Re: Why I Quit Using Google

#136

Post by VvR-Ox »

jvagner wrote: post #32
xenator wrote: post #7

I love that other companies have sustainable alternatives to Google services. But these articles looks more like hype train and doesn’t really add any new value for me. You are not building something new switching from one big corp to another small company that want to become another big company next day. Probably I’m getting old but I remember times when Google doesn’t exists. We had software for files, messages, ca…

The point of this article is to switch from one Google for a lot of services to a disparate group of providers for same services... if one of the service providers goes away, or is no longer palatable, only the service they provide needs to be relocated. Google can suspend your account and the 20-30 things you depend on them can go away (or, at least, be unavailable in a customized fashion based on your own data). Th…

This just puts the focus on another problem then: Tiny companies get eaten by big players [0] until you don't have any choice or it is too much of an effort to you to switch to an alternative solution.

In my opinion it would be helpful to acquire knowledge how to provide services on your own or to connect with people to share services (like a NextCloud).

On the market you will not find a provider that can guarantee to be it's own master or exist at all in years to come. Also I have the bad feeling that a lot of providers try to prohibit data export to keep you caught in their eco-systems (e.g. see Apple deactivating the _basic_ function to export contacts to a SIM card).

So now it is early enough to find a way to own and protect your data but in a few years it may be much worse and some day probably impossible or at least impractical.

The upside to this is that no single service will just "go away" and as long as your NC-server is running you will have access to your services.

[0] e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitio...

Re: Why I Quit Using Google

#137

Post by WA »

I’m glad I never started with Google products in the first place. Except for search and maps, but they aren’t tied to an account.

Re: Why I Quit Using Google

#138

Post by Aeolun »

Mistri wrote: post #39

Has anyone else had experience with getting their Google account suspended? I literally use it for everything in my life, and without it I would probably lose access to a lot. I would change away from Google in a heartbeat but it just seems like too much effort if I can avoid getting my account suspended in the first place. If anyone has gotten their account suspended, what was it for and how can I avoid it?

Good question, but I don’t think anyone knows since Google likely suspends the account without giving a reason.

Since there is no recourse, it’s also hard to get clarification.

Re: Why I Quit Using Google

#139

Post by revskill »

Main reason is don't seriously use Google or any social network anymore is because of privacy. They never respect my privacy. OK, i still use their services, but just for non-serious work.

Re: Why I Quit Using Google

#140

Post by tomaszs »

therealmarv wrote: post #53
tomaszs wrote: post #13

The same goes for Facebook. My company uses a legimate Business Account to handle ads of our clients. Nothing shady there. Regular SMB ads. More or less a month ago i receive an email the whole account has been blocked due to some violations. Whole freaking account. Without any warnings. We had clear history. And this means essencially you can close your company if you run only FB ads because you can not create anoth…

Yes you are so right. Your topic and text (single point of failure) reads for me like a beginning of a whole article. Nowadays there are also new Fintech banks who operate like Google and have only chat and no telephone support. Imagine getting locked out of your bank account (because of a false positive in an Anti Money Laundering AI) and you can reach nobody in time.

Exactly. Part of this problem is visible right now with PayPal, one of greatest FinTech projects. AML lockdowns but also disputes. Lately i have read people sell for twice the price just because one of two transations aproximately is a fraud.
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