Sundar is quickly turning Google into the equivalent of Accenture or Tata —- complete with a direct stream of obedient IIT workers.
Google Promises Unlimited Storage; Cancels; Tells Journalist Life's Work Deleted
421–430 of 692 posts
Re: Google Promises Unlimited Storage; Cancels; Tells Journalist Life's Work Deleted
#422That was about how much data Murfie had. Surprise Google cloud storage and egress costs were the final straw that broke the company 4 years ago. It wasn't economical to save the data when I took over, and Murfie still hasn't fully recovered (for multiple reasons).
Re: Google Promises Unlimited Storage; Cancels; Tells Journalist Life's Work Deleted
#423Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google gave him 60 days after they fired him to continue using his account for free. After that they gave him another 5 months in read only mode to find a solution. The short timeframe now is because the user did nothing in over half a year to resolve the problem. Google could have more clearly communicated that read-only state was temporary, but assuming it was permanent seems wildly optimistic and naive.
Assuming that the read only state was permanent would be naive. Assuming that they would give him 60 days notice again before actually deleting his data isn't, except insofar as Google is a terrible company and he clearly didn't realize that.
Google held onto his data for him for over half a year after his plan was cancelled. Google clearly communicated that he needed to address the issue and he chose to do nothing during that time.
Now they are warning him that they are suspending his account in 7 days. If he continues to do nothing they will then notify him again before cancelling his account and deleting his data.
Google makes plenty of bad choices, but this seems like a problem that Burke made entirely for himself.
Re: Google Promises Unlimited Storage; Cancels; Tells Journalist Life's Work Deleted
#424Earlier quoted context omitted.
The six-month grace period notice pretty clearly states his data would be read-only, while the seven-day notice seems to be the first time destruction is even mentioned. I think we can both agree that there's a world of difference between data being read-only and being destroyed. I think it's completely reasonable to say he has 7 days to download it.
I was curious what the context of "grace period" is for Google Drive and found this: https://support.google.com/drive/thread/13321050/what-will-h... "If I cancel my additional storage, will all the files/documents that took up the additional space, be deleted? Or will I still have access to them?" "You will still have access to all your files but, if you have used all storage you won't be able to add or create NEW fi…
The fact that this comment chain is about 7 deep trying to figure out whether the customer was given enough notice or not I think is also evidence that Google has a terrible UX for this anyway.
If your data is going to be deleted, it should be painfully obvious well in advance.
Re: Google Promises Unlimited Storage; Cancels; Tells Journalist Life's Work Deleted
#425Earlier quoted context omitted.
The advertisers don't pay for google storing my data. The advertisers pay for ads displayed and ads clicked. How google does that is an implementation detail. Google does that by storing my data, many kinds of my data. You making the distinction between data that "the user knows and understands" versus data that "is obscure to the user but advertisers care about" is a matter of marketing, in that as the former is eas…
> The advertisers don't pay for google storing my data. The advertisers pay for ads displayed and ads clicked. That's like saying you don't pay the restaurant for the chef, you pay the restaurant for the food. It's a level of semantics that rises to being simply disingenuous. It's a restaurant, not a grocery.
No, it's not semantics, and it shows that you have no clue what you're talking about.
You can sell ads without targeting. In fact you can even sell ads without users.
Source: I worked years buying and selling online ads.
Re: Google Promises Unlimited Storage; Cancels; Tells Journalist Life's Work Deleted
#426People really need to understand that Google is a garbage company that can't be relied on for anything. I've spent years as a consultant, and several more in the startup world, and I'd rather host all my content in us-east-1 than rely on google. * I've had customers get their cloud accounts shut down for a literal three cent billing error, * I've seen people who use Google for advertising pay thousands of dollars and…
Google decided it is time to sell GA for enterprises with 3rd parties involved. One client of mine (1B+ revenue, Xth largest website in Europe where x < 10) did not sort out the 3rd party agreement on time. Google's answer: we are going delete all of your data. Have a nice day!
this seems like there is something missing to the story though, no?
Re: Google Promises Unlimited Storage; Cancels; Tells Journalist Life's Work Deleted
#427The Google drive unlimited policy has been predictably abused by some of the datahoarding and piracy communities. Those groups have been paranoid for[1] a[2] while[3] that this could and was likely to go away, including tracking changes in the way Google marketed this to users. People with pirated movie collections took this risk more seriously than a guy whose livelihood appears to be inexorably linked with the poli…
> unlimited > abused Using the explicitly stated and loudly advertised functionality of a service isn't abuse.
It's not abuse to store the data in an unlimited plan to begin with. But once the unlimited plan is discontinued, continuing to store the data there without paying for it does seem like abuse to me.
Re: Google Promises Unlimited Storage; Cancels; Tells Journalist Life's Work Deleted
#428I’m not following how this is a google problem, and not a feds problem. It sounds like the the used their power to render his account unusable, and as a secondary effect all data was lost.
What company would preserve your data in light of finding CP?
Re: Google Promises Unlimited Storage; Cancels; Tells Journalist Life's Work Deleted
#429Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah usually the thing about deadlines is that you should communicate them as harshly as possible, then let them slip when they do arrive. I.e. they want people off the service voluntarily and deal with the tiny fraction that refuses.
> Yeah usually the thing about deadlines is that you should communicate them as harshly as possible, then let them slip when they do arrive. Is this not exactly what has happened? He was clearly threatened harshly, and... the data isn't yet deleted?
He wasn’t threatened harshly. He was told his data would become read-only, which he took at face value and assumed his data would remain safe. Then suddenly he was told the data would be deleted within seven days.
Re: Google Promises Unlimited Storage; Cancels; Tells Journalist Life's Work Deleted
#430Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hardly think it's fair to say that they were 'taking advantage'. If Google says unlimited, should the typical person really expect that to be taken away? That's a really bad look for Google. "If we offer something that's good value to you, expect it to be taken away suddenly in the future." Those are not the actions of a company I would want to rely on.
With modern connected devices, I absolutely do expect for features (or even total functionality) to be removed on a whim by the manufacturer. Cloud services are no different. Lesson being: do not rely on devices or services that rely on a third party. They absolutely will screw you; it’s only a matter of time. If you do not believe this, then I would say that you have not been around this industry long enough. There…
You see why this is horrific UX and people have good reason to complain about it tho right?
You can't expect customers to go into this as battle-hardened as their opponent.