Nothing spikes pageviews like Google bashing.
Unless it's Apple bashing.
Nah, Apple has the best PR in the business; even posts about their revenue generate massive views.
Google is FUBAR
41–50 of 278 posts
Re: Google is FUBAR
#42I feel like there are many Google supporters here but to be honest Google is steering to a bad direction if you are like me about efficiency and relevancy. What makes me mad is that we don't have the choice. I don't want all the social bullshit, the +1, why would I even give a crap about that? I don't want to have everything interconnected, I hate the fact that now if I logged in to Gmail I am logged into Youtube. I…
>What makes me mad is that we don't have the choice. If you don't like the social results in your SERP, you realize it's a one click button to turn it off, right? Or were you talking about the +1? Nobody forces you to click on it. I don't get the rage. Google owns a multitude of different sites. Being able to sign into all of them at once is a godsend as far as I'm concerned. So much misplaced anger here..
Au contraire I don't have any anger. If their choice is to sacrifice relevancy for their other social services or they social bullshit, it is fine with me, I am not a fan of Google brand, just a user and I will take my business elsewhere.
To tell you where the problems come from in my opinion:
_ Everything is opt-out, not opt-in. After I realize than I am very pro-choice in term of user experience.
_ The +1 thingy is very tricky, if you click the wrong button and don't read well, that's it you're on +1. And once you're on it, no way to get out
_ Relevancy is killed by the influence of +1. Look at this talk if you have the time: http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bu... . Since it is an opt out 99% of the user won't do it and in the long term it will probably have a bad influence on how people receive and perceive information.
I think my reasons to leave are relevant and not based on rage but a cold appreciation of the future of Google.
Re: Google is FUBAR
#43why does it creep the crap out of me when google gathers personal information, but I dont care if facebook/apple do it?
Re: Google is FUBAR
#44My Gmail account is accessed separately on a remote machine. Its not my main email account. I have no "Google" account, because I do not use Google in that context.
I don't use Google Docs, Google Reader, or log in to Youtube to watch videos marked as offensive.
Use Google for search. Certainly don't use a Google linked version of Android. There are plenty of good alternatives to most everything Google has.
The aggressiveness of Google's actions make me think a launch of a Facebook ad network is imminent, just in time for their IPO.
Re: Google is FUBAR
#45It just occurred to me a main reason they chose "Don't be evil" as their slogan. The foundation of the company is a slippery slope that will forever motivate it to get more personal information and to do more with it -- generally meaning profiting from that personal information in ways people don't know about. Also, they will forever be asked or demanded that information from governments and other companies who want…
Now imagine a company with the very same motivations, but without such defenses to stop the temptation, say like - Facebook.
Re: Google is FUBAR
#46> Nothing happens on an Apple device without Cupertino’s knowledge, and as a result Apple can perfectly tailor its devices for it users (and ratchet up record-breaking quarterly earnings in the process). Are Apple's devices "perfectly tailored for it[s] users"? I don't see any of that tailoring when I use them. The reason why Apple ratchets up record-breaking earnings is that they build things people want; they build…
OTOH, we might discover adding a social dimension to search results may yield better results for a substantial chunk of the general population. If I am looking for a how-to, knowing whether my geek friends found it useful would be a good indicator. It has to be carefully balanced to avoid forming social echo chambers and perpetuating instantaneous events, but, in the end, it may prove useful. And it's a bit of exagge…
> And it's a bit of exaggeration when people gets worried about privacy when they voluntarily submit the data to the very machines they fear. Don
While a valid point, I signed up to g+ and then logged out permanently as I didn't want all my data submitted to a single company (i.e. Google has my search, calendar and gmail) I don't like that they have so much in one spot already but I certainly wasn't going to give them social as well.
I think that everyone likes to have an element of anonymity online and this lets Google have a much clearer idea of the kind of person you are by tying these together.
While we on HN might be clever ones that realise all the data we're putting out there there's a whole world of lay people that have no idea. I assume the outrage isn't so much about the people in the know, but about your grandmother not realising what she's volunteering.
Re: Google is FUBAR
#47I'm really surprised that Google is moving towards a more integrated/proprietary/closed platform. Their advantage was always that they were able to make the chaos of the web sensible to navigate. As a trendsetter in terms of openness they were protecting their own best interests by influencing others to be open (and thus crawlable) as well. I guess Google has decided that the content stored in the walled gardens of o…
What do you mean by Google is moving towards a closed platform?
I mean it in a colloquial sense. By tightly integrating their services and beginning to aggregate primarily their own content through search it seems they are taking a protectionist stance.
Re: Google is FUBAR
#48I have a hard time understanding the whole deal everyone is making of Google finally combining the whole ecosystem they have into one nice package. I don't think the author knows that Google already knows what you use in Google docs, they already mine your email to show ads to you, they already do everything he talks about, they're just now going to let you have access to it through search instead of having to go to…
they already mine your email to show ads to you, they already do everything he talks about, they're just now going to let you have access to it through search instead of having to go to mail/reader/youtube/etc individually
Uhm ok tell me if you like this scenario:
* I'm fed up of my employeer so I'm sending tons of jobs applications from my personal gmail account
* I dont write these mails while at work, but sometimes I login on google services for doin some work-related stuff (let's say use keyword search tools)
* I forgot to logout
* I start searching stuff on the net with my chief for our vmware project and instantly google suggests me as a perfect match my application letter sent to vmware HR
* Thank you google I'm almost fired :)
of course in this case I should've logged out from google, but I'd prefer to possibly opt-out this kind of stuff...
Re: Google is FUBAR
#49> Nothing happens on an Apple device without Cupertino’s knowledge, and as a result Apple can perfectly tailor its devices for it users (and ratchet up record-breaking quarterly earnings in the process). Are Apple's devices "perfectly tailored for it[s] users"? I don't see any of that tailoring when I use them. The reason why Apple ratchets up record-breaking earnings is that they build things people want; they build…
OTOH, we might discover adding a social dimension to search results may yield better results for a substantial chunk of the general population. If I am looking for a how-to, knowing whether my geek friends found it useful would be a good indicator. It has to be carefully balanced to avoid forming social echo chambers and perpetuating instantaneous events, but, in the end, it may prove useful. And it's a bit of exagge…
I have to agree. It seems to be a compromise between "hipster" ideals someone else mentioned or competing. And, the reality is that this was already happening, now, perhaps it's just more transparent and streamlined. Interestingly, isn't this what Facebook is already doing? I view the timeline feature as exactly this. Except, instead of creating a more complete profile based on the things you search or use across platforms, FB is allowing its users to do the legwork and fill in the blanks for them. In other words, you provide a more complete profile or timeline for your life and they have more complete info on your preference, likes/dislikes, etc. Like it or not; it's clear it's the way of the future.
Re: Google is FUBAR
#50Disclaimer: I am a Google engineer. These opinions are my own. Nothing I say in any way represents the company's position, officially or unofficially.
That being said, I see all this as much ado about nothing.
Privacy policies are complex beasts governed by many regulatory environments. Reducing a huge number of these policies to a handful, announcing it ahead of time and giving you controls over privacy all seem like good things to me.
As far as SPYW goes, it's all about giving the users more relevant results. This is something you can opt out of (to some extent with privacy controls, otherwise with logging out).
To me this seems to be another of these "bubble" issues.
Take Apple as an example of that. Every time they release a new (iPhone, iPad, whatever) you'll see people in the tech bubble (largely of SF and NYC) dig up tired old cliches like "its evolutionary not revolutionary" (seriously, I'm so sick of hearing that phrase) and it's "not the upgrade I was hoping for". On HN you'll find people who are still somehow shocked that you can't out-of-the-box sideload a bootloader onto an iPhone (or whatever).
Consumers (outside the bubble) however love these new products. Just look at Apple's 2011Q4 results, which are simply astounding. Thing is, that happens every time and yet the same old jaded "bubblistas" meet every new release with the same mix of lukewarm cliches, disappointment and derision.
I see this as much the same way. All of this is about (IMHO) improving the user experience. You don't have to look very far to see accounts from users who love these new features.
If we know something of your interests (based on G+ and/or search), isn't suggesting more relevant content to you on Youtube (as a purely hypothetical example) a good thing?
EDIT: as far as including Twitter/FB goes, Eric Schmidt addressed this [1]:
> I countered that Google seemed to have all the permission it needed, in that they’re not blocked from crawling pages.
> “That’s your opinion,” Schmidt said, then joked: “If you could arrange a letter from Facebook and Twitter to us, that would be helpful.”
> I pushed back that both have effectively given those letters since their robots.txt files — a method of blocking search engines — weren’t telling Google to go away.
> “That’s your interpretation of their policies,” Schmidt said.
[1]: http://marketingland.com/schmidt-google-not-favored-happy-to...