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Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think that's the point. The point is that Google isn't differentiating between a business profile and a personal profile well.
Which is a UX problem, not a "Google attempting to drive me into yet another unwanted "social" network". You don't think it's in Google's best interest that channels create Google+ Pages rather than individual Google+ profiles?
Logging into Google and its services has always been a mess. Once upon a time you could even have a Google Account associated with an e-mail address hosted elsewhere, not through Google Apps. It was always a confusing maze of separate cross-associated accounts (YouTube, Google Account, GMail, Google Groups...) strung together. Actually, it's one of the aspects of Google's services that has clearly improved over time.…
Personally, I like commenting on really unseemly videos and only having an obscure username attached to it.
Logging into Google and its services has always been a mess. Once upon a time you could even have a Google Account associated with an e-mail address hosted elsewhere, not through Google Apps. It was always a confusing maze of separate cross-associated accounts (YouTube, Google Account, GMail, Google Groups...) strung together. Actually, it's one of the aspects of Google's services that has clearly improved over time.…
You still can; that's the only good thing. Earlier Androids required you to have a Gmail account (I just tried a 2.3 Android phone out). So now I have a stupid, half-used Gmail account, and a separate, proper account with my own email. No way to merge them, and then no way to setup older devices without Gmail. And now when I'm in Google Play or their other apps, I've got to switch between accounts -- it's an idiotic mess.
On a side note, Microsoft had functional SSO in the 90s. For all the silly rebranding (and killing and reviving it) at least you could sign in with an email address.
Logging into Google and its services has always been a mess. Once upon a time you could even have a Google Account associated with an e-mail address hosted elsewhere, not through Google Apps. It was always a confusing maze of separate cross-associated accounts (YouTube, Google Account, GMail, Google Groups...) strung together. Actually, it's one of the aspects of Google's services that has clearly improved over time.…
You can still do this, and I recently did. You have to have an alternate email address set and confirmed. Then, you delete your GMail account, which can by done through the products section of the account management page. After that, your Google account's primary email (and thus login) will be whatever your alternate address was set to.
Plus, don't Android 2.3 devices require a Gmail account to setup/login? I just tried using my normal Google Account and it complained "oh you don't have Gmail".
Google is getting pushy now because they can . They've become habitual and omnipresent. Now is the perfect time. A couple of years ago I could see Google's vendor lock-in strategy unfold. I've been trying ever since to completely purge myself of Google, but it hasn't been easy. For anyone thinking of doing the same, be prepared to test many services out.
It's pretty annoying that I can't rate apps I buy though.
Alot of it is just dumb stuff and the rest is stuff that should have been caught.
This is the last week..
Google Apps Admin Interface - It's an unnavigable mess, I use it so seldom that it's not familiarity or the lack of that makes me hate the new one, it's the fact I can't find anything.
Android - Factory Reset Android 4.3 - Open the play store and it hangs, force close it then reopen and it shows you the "Accept Terms" dialog (which was on-screen but not shown the first time) so you can't assent to the terms.
Gmail - wildcard forward for an entire domain does not work and if the support forums (which never got answered) are to be believed this is an issue going back to August last year.
Myriad services don't load on the first attempt, strange error messages.
Throw in the privacy stuff coming out of Google recently and I'm seriously thinking about bringing everything back in-house, I've worked as a sysadmin in the past (though I'm a programmer by trade) and for the hassle I'm having with Google products I could do this stuff myself.
Don't mistake piss poor execution for being evil. Google has had more missteps with its acquisitions and cross service communication than any other company I've worked with in recent memory.
Get over it people, Google+ is the new account system for all Google products. If you don't like Google having a single account/profile system, or the fact that Google+ profiles include a "social" network product, then you best look for alternatives ASAP.
It's OK to not like things.
then you best look for alternatives ASAP.
This is exactly what the author is doing.
But even when the good outweighs the bad, its totally fine to stay using a service without some obligation to pretend like the negatives don't exist or never talk about them.
Google used to be the wunderkind, I remember when absolutely everything they touched was gold...and now they seem to have so much stuff that is broken across so many products. Alot of it is just dumb stuff and the rest is stuff that should have been caught. This is the last week.. Google Apps Admin Interface - It's an unnavigable mess, I use it so seldom that it's not familiarity or the lack of that makes me hate the…