Live data from Hacker News

No More Google

nomoregoogle.com

261–270 of 400 posts

Re: No More Google

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personal anecdote, software engineer/techie for 25+yrs: I never react immediately. Unless directly affected by an event, I accumulate information over time and it will influence my decision making. Reacting is too disruptive to my own life, and those of the people I support (e.g. family.) Would an article like this make my family change? No. Many don't care; most don't understand the impact on themselves. My De-Googl…

I've also moved to firefox across all my devices. I don't use electron apps. I use google search and gmail both personally and at work. I'm not really _trying_ to degooglify, I'm just degooglifying when the chance comes up. I'm also not hardcore enough to switch over the email on all my accounts, the people who contact me, etc. And I like free things. So one step at a random time it is.

Why not use Electron? That's managed by Microsoft, not Google.

Re: No More Google

#262

These anti-Google discussions come and go on the front page of Hacker News, but I'd be curious to know how many people actually degoogle their lives drastically after reading such discussions and articles. I believe it's more of a case of "Oh my god, Google is so disgusting! Shame on Google!", and then people open up a new tab in Chrome to search on Google about their next restaurant destination as if nothing happene…

The first thing is asking if people continue to invest their time in new Google products.

I stopped doing that a while ago, and now as they turn off, in moving to other options. Eg. Google music turning off printed me moving away from chrome and search

Re: No More Google

#263
post #84

Hacker News is incredibly biased against Google. There was recently an informal survey[0] in "Tech Twitter" (i.e. other technical people) regarding opinions about the top tech companies and Google scored second highest overall behind Apple, with something like 85-90% positivity overall across different questions. Facebook, for reference, was something like 35-40%. [0] https://coda.io/@sriram-krishnan/2020-state-of-th…

Yes, this is mostly HN crowd or very specifically HN crowd last couple of years. Something happened at that time period, after that I have noticed HN became less insightful, less interesting and typical internet beating-the-dead-horse conversation. Every single day there would be at least few articles against Google. Even the articles that are not related to Google, people bring up Google and then start the whole beating-the-dead-horse charade again.

Re: No More Google

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personal anecdote, software engineer/techie for 25+yrs: I never react immediately. Unless directly affected by an event, I accumulate information over time and it will influence my decision making. Reacting is too disruptive to my own life, and those of the people I support (e.g. family.) Would an article like this make my family change? No. Many don't care; most don't understand the impact on themselves. My De-Googl…

I moved to DuckDuckGo years ago, Firefox a year ago, from GA to Goat Counter for my personal sites and recently from GMail to Fastmail. It has been slow, but certainly deliberate.

Did you have your own email domain? I have an @gmail.com email and can't even begin to imagine how I could migrate. It's my login everywhere...

Re: No More Google

#265

These anti-Google discussions come and go on the front page of Hacker News, but I'd be curious to know how many people actually degoogle their lives drastically after reading such discussions and articles. I believe it's more of a case of "Oh my god, Google is so disgusting! Shame on Google!", and then people open up a new tab in Chrome to search on Google about their next restaurant destination as if nothing happene…

i don't remember if it was something in particular that caused me to do it, but i de-googled the part that mattered the most. my email. i moved to fastmail with my own domain. a few years later i dropped android too. this way, google can't destroy my online life. it would be very painful to lose my email archive, and access to new emails from other services.

i don't need to de-google myself from search or youtube. they're read-only for me. i don't post videos to youtube. i do use the subscription feature on channels and sometimes create some private playlists, and i enjoy the recommendation sometimes finding me gems, but i could do wityout it, or even re-create it if needed. (all my subscriptions are backed up as pinboard bookmarks with tags)

Re: No More Google

#266

These anti-Google discussions come and go on the front page of Hacker News, but I'd be curious to know how many people actually degoogle their lives drastically after reading such discussions and articles. I believe it's more of a case of "Oh my god, Google is so disgusting! Shame on Google!", and then people open up a new tab in Chrome to search on Google about their next restaurant destination as if nothing happene…

Firefox and DuckDuckGo are my daily drivers, and have been since around the time the Edward Snowden leaks dropped. At one point I was also running a degoogled Android (specifically CopperheadOS), though I've since reverted to using GApps on my current phone for pragmatic reasons.

Really, the only Google service I routinely use directly (i.e. other than because some Android app I use requires Google Play Services to function) is Google Maps.

Re: No More Google

#267

These anti-Google discussions come and go on the front page of Hacker News, but I'd be curious to know how many people actually degoogle their lives drastically after reading such discussions and articles. I believe it's more of a case of "Oh my god, Google is so disgusting! Shame on Google!", and then people open up a new tab in Chrome to search on Google about their next restaurant destination as if nothing happene…

I've partially degoogled, and it was certainly influenced by these kinds of discussions. The most compelling reason I have found for degoogling is to make the question "what happens if they ban me?" get the anwser "nothing much". The next most compelling reason is to protect the world from their influence. i.e. take my influence amongst my family and peers and use it to steer another small part of the world away from…

I wonder if all the people leaving Google for Fastmail will make Fastmail the next Google. It's better to diversify accounts like that, especially in the case of email, which (currently) works across providers, despite attempts by Google and Protonmail to lock users in.

Re: No More Google

#268
So Zoom is supposed to be a privacy-friendly alternative to Hangouts?

Also, all those recommended flight engines/sellers absolutely do track everything as if their life depended on it.

Re: No More Google

#269
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those twitter results seem in line with the general population. Approval ratings by brand: Amazon: 91% Google: 90% YouTube: 90% Netflix: 89% Microsoft: 89% Sonos: 86% Apple: 81% Slack: 78% Instagram: 72% Facebook: 71% Twitter: 61% The reality is that these are very popular companies. https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gfN9bwxFARhIiyxEkQfkVKaf2yc=...

That's a vox media survey weight heavy towards vox readers. Who are Vox readers? Rich under 35. It would make sense why this group identifies with major brands as a status symbol. I would love to see what people over 35 and/or make average income or less think. "Vox Media's properties target educated households with six-figure incomes and a head of house less than 35 years old"

This is incorrect. The survey was conducted in December with 1,123 people, nationally representative of the US. The sample error is ± 3 percent at a 95 percent level of confidence.

Re: No More Google

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those twitter results seem in line with the general population. Approval ratings by brand: Amazon: 91% Google: 90% YouTube: 90% Netflix: 89% Microsoft: 89% Sonos: 86% Apple: 81% Slack: 78% Instagram: 72% Facebook: 71% Twitter: 61% The reality is that these are very popular companies. https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gfN9bwxFARhIiyxEkQfkVKaf2yc=...

Vox isn't a reliable source for this sort of thing. There are research companies and financial publications that do a more thorough, and reputable, job.

This was commissioned by The Verge and conducted by an outside polling firm. The survey was conducted in December with 1,123 people, nationally representative of the US. The sample error is ± 3 percent at a 95 percent level of confidence. Feel free to link another survey, this was just the most recent one I could find. There are similar results from surveys in 2017 and 2018.
Post reply on HN