A Post-Google World? • Hacker News Board

Re: A Post-Google World?

#91

Post by alexashka » Sat, Sep 07, 2024, 11:43 PM UTC

mbrumlow wrote: post #24

tmpz22 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If profits degrade for Google society will feel the impact pretty quickly. Think about how many schools rely on Google for Education for email, SSO, and Chromebooks. Think about people who rely on Google Maps, Sheets, Docs, and other loss-leading products. Think about all the data they scoop up in all their apps. Late game capitalism applied to Google's portfolio would be catastrophic.

I think about this a lot and feel like we are in a horrid position. All of our core service and software is locked up in a handful of companies. For humanity and the future of software’s sake we need to go back to users of software owning their software, preferably by being free and open source. It hurts me as somebody who wants to make money off software, but SaaS is just a bad deal for everybody. My compromise is i…

It's not so horrid once you realize physical resources we all need for daily existence are locked up by a handful of countries, run by buffoons who have no interest in or understanding of philosophy, science or engineering.

Your existence is contingent upon people the best of whom (ones who at least read) think 48 laws of power is a how-to manual. You live among people who know less than nothing.

Software is a land of idealistic, capable angels by comparison.

Re: A Post-Google World?

#92

Post by Rodeoclash » Sat, Sep 07, 2024, 11:51 PM UTC

3eb7988a1663 wrote: post #89

richiebful1 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So should Google be regulated as a public utility? I am leaning towards search being a natural monopoly due to the huge resources required to build an index/algorithms/etc

I have been wondering how hard modern search would be to implement. More and more of the world is getting hidden behind walled gardens denied to search. Reddit, newspapers, Facebook, Twitter, are all locked down or heavily restricted. I am sure there is still a burgeoning small web, but it is increasingly hard to find. Would many consumers notice/care if your search engine only surfaced pages from the top 1000 highes…

We should create non-profit versions of each of the archetype sites that exist. Reddit (forums), Twitter, Search, Email hosting should all have non profit versions ala Wikipedia.

Re: A Post-Google World?

#93

Post by vrc » Sat, Sep 07, 2024, 11:52 PM UTC

viraptor wrote: post #68

IncreasePosts wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why isn't everyone using these better alternatives already?

Inertia and lack of knowledge. Alternatives to Gmail are better in ways that must people don't understand and/or care about. And even if they do, the improvement may not be worth the effort. But, they're definitely good enough if people have to make a switch for some reason.

Cost too.

Re: A Post-Google World?

#94

Post by AceFromOttawa » Sun, Sep 08, 2024, 12:01 AM UTC

xboxnolifes wrote: post #84

tmpz22 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If profits degrade for Google society will feel the impact pretty quickly. Think about how many schools rely on Google for Education for email, SSO, and Chromebooks. Think about people who rely on Google Maps, Sheets, Docs, and other loss-leading products. Think about all the data they scoop up in all their apps. Late game capitalism applied to Google's portfolio would be catastrophic.

If google suddenly disappeared, it would suck... for a year or two. Then everyone would have figured out how to operate, just like pre-google.

More like Microsoft would just swoop in and fill the void.

Re: A Post-Google World?

#95

Post by Lammy » Sun, Sep 08, 2024, 12:02 AM UTC

tmpz22 wrote: post #19

LegionMammal978 wrote: post #4

> At some point, they will give up and realize that the writing is on the wall for their current business model. I'd sooner think hell would freeze over than Google would ever 'give up' on its business model of its own accord. I can hardly imagine half of its services being viable as separate businesses. Which might well be a boon for competitors (especially in adtech), but not for any of Google's current employees o…

If profits degrade for Google society will feel the impact pretty quickly. Think about how many schools rely on Google for Education for email, SSO, and Chromebooks. Think about people who rely on Google Maps, Sheets, Docs, and other loss-leading products. Think about all the data they scoop up in all their apps. Late game capitalism applied to Google's portfolio would be catastrophic.

“If the system breaks down the consequences will still be very painful. But the bigger the system grows the more disastrous the results of its breakdown will be, so if it is to break down it had best break down sooner rather than later.”

Re: A Post-Google World?

#96

Post by tacocataco » Sun, Sep 08, 2024, 12:09 AM UTC

tmpz22 wrote: post #19

LegionMammal978 wrote: post #4

> At some point, they will give up and realize that the writing is on the wall for their current business model. I'd sooner think hell would freeze over than Google would ever 'give up' on its business model of its own accord. I can hardly imagine half of its services being viable as separate businesses. Which might well be a boon for competitors (especially in adtech), but not for any of Google's current employees o…

If profits degrade for Google society will feel the impact pretty quickly. Think about how many schools rely on Google for Education for email, SSO, and Chromebooks. Think about people who rely on Google Maps, Sheets, Docs, and other loss-leading products. Think about all the data they scoop up in all their apps. Late game capitalism applied to Google's portfolio would be catastrophic.

Nationalize it and fold the services into the post office.

Re: A Post-Google World?

#97

Post by cpeterso » Sun, Sep 08, 2024, 12:32 AM UTC

Lammy wrote: post #95

tmpz22 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If profits degrade for Google society will feel the impact pretty quickly. Think about how many schools rely on Google for Education for email, SSO, and Chromebooks. Think about people who rely on Google Maps, Sheets, Docs, and other loss-leading products. Think about all the data they scoop up in all their apps. Late game capitalism applied to Google's portfolio would be catastrophic.

“If the system breaks down the consequences will still be very painful. But the bigger the system grows the more disastrous the results of its breakdown will be, so if it is to break down it had best break down sooner rather than later.”

From the Unabomber Manifesto: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national...

Re: A Post-Google World?

#98

Post by SirMaster » Sun, Sep 08, 2024, 12:51 AM UTC

tmpz22 wrote: post #19

LegionMammal978 wrote: post #4

> At some point, they will give up and realize that the writing is on the wall for their current business model. I'd sooner think hell would freeze over than Google would ever 'give up' on its business model of its own accord. I can hardly imagine half of its services being viable as separate businesses. Which might well be a boon for competitors (especially in adtech), but not for any of Google's current employees o…

If profits degrade for Google society will feel the impact pretty quickly. Think about how many schools rely on Google for Education for email, SSO, and Chromebooks. Think about people who rely on Google Maps, Sheets, Docs, and other loss-leading products. Think about all the data they scoop up in all their apps. Late game capitalism applied to Google's portfolio would be catastrophic.

Lots of people I know have been migrating away from these Google services though without much trouble.

They are a lot more replaceable than most people think.

Re: A Post-Google World?

#99

Post by tryauuum » Sun, Sep 08, 2024, 12:56 AM UTC

tmpz22 wrote: post #19

LegionMammal978 wrote: post #4

> At some point, they will give up and realize that the writing is on the wall for their current business model. I'd sooner think hell would freeze over than Google would ever 'give up' on its business model of its own accord. I can hardly imagine half of its services being viable as separate businesses. Which might well be a boon for competitors (especially in adtech), but not for any of Google's current employees o…

If profits degrade for Google society will feel the impact pretty quickly. Think about how many schools rely on Google for Education for email, SSO, and Chromebooks. Think about people who rely on Google Maps, Sheets, Docs, and other loss-leading products. Think about all the data they scoop up in all their apps. Late game capitalism applied to Google's portfolio would be catastrophic.

maps and email are solved technologies. Even I can deploy a great email service given time. The hard part is managing reputation of public ips and scanning outgoing mail for spam

SSO is also solved. People will survive

Re: A Post-Google World?

#100

Post by animal_spirits » Sun, Sep 08, 2024, 12:57 AM UTC

In the end we will all lose, in my opinion. Google will start to charge more for access to YouTube, along with increasing ads. They will begin to pay creators less due to the increased cost in serving the ads. We will see a decline in the quality and quantity of high production video education.