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Google login now requires Google+ Account

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Google login now requires Google+ Account

#31

Post by cromwellian »

6d0debc071 wrote: post #27
cromwellian wrote: post #6

What's with the Google Derangement Syndrome on HN recently? Any change in any Google service prompts the same "I'm taking all my toys and going home" response. Google used to have a separate profile system just like profiles.yahoo.com, and like Yahoo, having lots of disparate services with weak unification was a problem. G+ is that unifying profile layer. Is it really beyond the pale for a service to prompt you to en…

> Google used to have a separate profile system just like profiles.yahoo.com, and like Yahoo, having lots of disparate services with weak unification was a problem. No, it wasn't. It was very simple. You want an account for youtube, sign up on youtube, you want an account for something else - sign up there. You want your accounts to be the same login across all the services? Use the same login across all the services…

Having to create a separate account on N services with the same credentials is simpler than having a unified account? And what if your login is already taken on one of the other services, now you're forced to have multiple credentials. And then when you need to update something, like change an email address, 2factor authentication, or some other feature, you've now got to edit settings on many services.

If you want an anonymous Google account, simply create one, which is what everyone has been doing for a long time, even for gmail prior to G+, people would create multiple accounts.

The model isn't K identities and N services, you need O(K*N) credentials in the worse case. It's K identities and N services is O(K) credentials.

Re: Google login now requires Google+ Account

#32

Post by turing »

plg wrote: post #19

the problem is that I may want a gmail account or I may want to use google hangouts to videochat with friends or I may want or need to use google calendar ... but I do NOT want to have a social network account. Google has made it so I have no choice.

I'm curious, why are you so vehemently opposed to having an account? You could very easily just not provide public profile information, never post, and never add anyone.

Re: Google login now requires Google+ Account

#33

Post by Lagged2Death »

Yes, I was required to set up a Google+ account some time ago to re-log-in to YouTube or Picasa Web Albums - I don't remember which. The description of what was going on didn't make it clear to me that following the prescribed steps would create a Google+ account, but that was the effect.

However, there was a saving grace, as far as I'm concerned. I was allowed to remove my real name from my Google account and use my ancient on-line alias instead. That's all I ever wanted.

Re: Google login now requires Google+ Account

#34

Post by cromwellian »

mieses wrote: post #10

Most of my family members will sooner dump Gmail than create a Google+ account.

Some would say having your family members avoid G+ is one of the primary benefits of G+. So instead of being barraged by a stream of photos of cousins and aunts you haven't seen in decades, or discussing family gossip, you get to engage in interesting conversations based on people with similar strong interests in particular topics.

None of the people I follow on G+ are 'friends' with the exception of co-workers, instead, they are people who have very interesting things to say and who I like interacting with. Twitter would be a comparable use case, but it is too annoying to have long form stream discussions with followers like this.

Re: Google login now requires Google+ Account

#35

Post by oellegaard »

This is super stupid. I have two business accounts and a personal account. Google now forced me to have 3 Google Plus profiles - and yes, I did discover exactly the same.

I'm actively trying to replace Google with other things. They clearly lost their sense of quality.

Re: Google login now requires Google+ Account

#36

Post by viraptor »

turing wrote: post #32
plg wrote: post #19

the problem is that I may want a gmail account or I may want to use google hangouts to videochat with friends or I may want or need to use google calendar ... but I do NOT want to have a social network account. Google has made it so I have no choice.

I'm curious, why are you so vehemently opposed to having an account? You could very easily just not provide public profile information, never post, and never add anyone.

Not sure about plg's reason, but I will avoid ever creating a plus account due to their strange policies for name verification. I'm not sure if it was improved lately or not, but many accounts were suspended previously when names didn't look English as far as I remember. Mine's definitely not an English one and it contains some non-ascii characters. Avoiding services which require plus accounts is much easier than dealing with potential account suspension.

Re: Google login now requires Google+ Account

#37

Post by andrewflnr »

6d0debc071 wrote: post #27
cromwellian wrote: post #6

What's with the Google Derangement Syndrome on HN recently? Any change in any Google service prompts the same "I'm taking all my toys and going home" response. Google used to have a separate profile system just like profiles.yahoo.com, and like Yahoo, having lots of disparate services with weak unification was a problem. G+ is that unifying profile layer. Is it really beyond the pale for a service to prompt you to en…

> Google used to have a separate profile system just like profiles.yahoo.com, and like Yahoo, having lots of disparate services with weak unification was a problem. No, it wasn't. It was very simple. You want an account for youtube, sign up on youtube, you want an account for something else - sign up there. You want your accounts to be the same login across all the services? Use the same login across all the services…

Um, password re-use is well-known to be a Bad Thing, especially if you're using the same password for gmail as for some seedy site you were curious about. It increases your security attack surface.

Re: Google login now requires Google+ Account

#38

Post by 6d0debc071 »

andrewflnr wrote: post #37
6d0debc071 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google used to have a separate profile system just like profiles.yahoo.com, and like Yahoo, having lots of disparate services with weak unification was a problem. No, it wasn't. It was very simple. You want an account for youtube, sign up on youtube, you want an account for something else - sign up there. You want your accounts to be the same login across all the services? Use the same login across all the services…

Um, password re-use is well-known to be a Bad Thing, especially if you're using the same password for gmail as for some seedy site you were curious about. It increases your security attack surface.

The all eggs in one basket approach exposes you to equal risks online, the minute that account's compromised they've got everything, and worse risks in the case that you leave yourself logged in somewhere.

Re: Google login now requires Google+ Account

#39

Post by plg »

turing wrote: post #32
plg wrote: post #19

the problem is that I may want a gmail account or I may want to use google hangouts to videochat with friends or I may want or need to use google calendar ... but I do NOT want to have a social network account. Google has made it so I have no choice.

I'm curious, why are you so vehemently opposed to having an account? You could very easily just not provide public profile information, never post, and never add anyone.

which begs the question ... why do I need a G+ account?

It's not like I am asking google to implement some ability that has previously been not implemented... rather google has decided to eliminate a little piece of choice ... or freedom ... or whatever you want to call it ... for their users. Why? Because it's better for them.

Which brings one back to something that has been posted many many times ... you are not the customer, you are the product. As long as you're OK with that, go for it... but my bet is that the vast majority of google's users have little concept of the issue of customer vs product.

I'm just a little sad to see google take another step towards being a faceboob instead of taking one step away from them.

Re: Google login now requires Google+ Account

#40

Post by noloqy »

cromwellian wrote: post #31
6d0debc071 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google used to have a separate profile system just like profiles.yahoo.com, and like Yahoo, having lots of disparate services with weak unification was a problem. No, it wasn't. It was very simple. You want an account for youtube, sign up on youtube, you want an account for something else - sign up there. You want your accounts to be the same login across all the services? Use the same login across all the services…

Having to create a separate account on N services with the same credentials is simpler than having a unified account? And what if your login is already taken on one of the other services, now you're forced to have multiple credentials. And then when you need to update something, like change an email address, 2factor authentication, or some other feature, you've now got to edit settings on many services. If you want a…

> If you want an anonymous Google account, simply create one

I did. I had to sign up with a "backup" email address though, for which I entered my primary email address. Now, whenever Gmail users send an email to my primary email address, they see the bogus name that I created the anonymous Google account with. Crap.

And Youtube, please stop asking me to use my "real" name. Is it that hard to remember my preferences?

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