I’m curious because I see a ton of Google hate on here daily. It’s certainly not all unwarranted, and I do agree with some of the privacy concerns.
That being said I do very much enjoy their products. Gmail, Photos, Chrome, Gemini, Home, Assistant, YouTube, Pixel phones, etc… I’ve tried out many of the alternatives but always come back to their ecosystem.
Curious as to how many of you here on the fedi use Google products without the common associated angst from the FOSS community.
For me it’s a love hate relationship. I love the idea of their products, but hate that often they’re the only feasible options in their categories.
Made a decision long ago that I’m not going to browse the web, setup a calendar of life events or store my email with the largest advertising company in the world.
Their “eco system” is not the best and their hardware has been hit or miss over the years.
I understand why people do use them and I will use their products when absolutely required. I don’t hate them, I just avoid them.
I hate how shit their search is now
I don’t think you understood the question :)
Reading is hard. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There’s this study that attempts to quantify this effect, at least.
i hate all tech corps. you can use (and even like) their products and also think they are evil, oligopolies and all.
i cant abandon my gmail because i don’t even know how many sites and how many people i have given it to. i like youtube because it’s THE slop factory. Maps is also pretty good, love Street View, Chrome is ‘ok’ but Firefox is a perfectly usable (and in many ways, better) substitute (especially given Google’s ad shenanigans).
I at least enjoy their fiber internet service.
it’s the user experience that makes me hate Google more than anything. “oh hey, come use our unified ecosystem, it’s so much better because it’s all Google” but as soon as you have a problem with Google Voice on your Google Pixel using your Google operating system, every fucking department tells you that it’s another department’s problem.
they gutted multitasking after Android 10 because they were afraid it might cut into their YouTube music profits. they’re just turning off their shortened URLs next year. they refuse to update Google Voice in any way. every time I’ve trusted them with something, they’ve broken that trust
Google have done a lot of great things and run some really vital projects that have benefitted the world. Anyone that refuses to acknowledge that is not coming at things honestly.
Yeah that’s my take on it, too.
Plus they’re far too big for “Google” to be a useful entity in discussions. The Google C-suites? The CEO? The Maps team? The Mail team? The support for end-user customers? Need to be more specific, because I bet the Mail team is bigger than some competing companies in their entirety.
Alternatively, if there was no Google or Google like company, we would likely be much further along in tech, and have better functioning democracies. They have limited innovation in maps and search products. They rely on being big to be competitive. Their products are pretty poor given their engineering team size. Digital advertising: they bought their way into a quasi monopoly, siphoning dollars from people that actually create things.
Not trying to compare google to the Nazis, but this reads a lot like “but he build the Autobahns”.
This kinda conflates hate for the unethical practices of the company with hate for the quality of their products, which seems unfair. As a company they’re definitely bastards. There was a long, long period of time where their products were pretty unquestionably top-notch compared to everything else out there. However, for a while now everything has been going really downhill. Then recently it’s really accelerated, especially with them leaning into AI. These days I hardly even miss them anymore.
I don’t hate Google.
I despise them. I loathe them. Common transitive verbs like hate don’t encompass the depth and breadth of my disdain for Google.
I hate google’s products BUT some of their free stuff like Google Fonts and Tensorflow are really nice
I don’t hate Google. I created a Google account before recently to use YouTube.
Mainly because I couldn’t figure out Peertube on the Fediverse.
What’s not to hate? They’re a monopoly corporation that isn’t even pretending to adhere to their “don’t be evil” slogan anymore
I grew up with “hate” being reserved for the very extreme feeling, and I don’t think I have hated anything or anyone since I started understanding what it really means. I have no reason to. Not even Trump. But I do wish they hadn’t missed.
Anyway, so, no, I don’t hate Google. But I am actively trying to find ways to leave their ecosystem. Even paid alternatives.
