Google's catchphrase......

Old and busted: Do no evil
The new hotness: Only do evil

Walker: Old and busted: Do no evil

The actual unofficial motto is "Don't be evil".

If you'd rather not use their services because you don't want to pay with your personal info, then use another service. But they have to keep the lights on somehow, eh?

It's not that easy. When a company gets to be the size of Google, they can manipulate the market like -- well, like Microsoft or Oracle. How many potential competitors have been put out of business or bought up by these corporations? How long will it be before there are no reliable competitors to Gmail or Google Search? Do you love the idea of a giant, rich corporation tracking your movements through your cool, clever Android phone? Do you like the idea of a corporation that makes its living by making your personal information public through Google+? It's clearly different from Facebook. If you don't want to join the mess on Facebook, then don't -- there's no loss. Google owns so much of the Internet it has become nearly unavoidable. It was foolish to trust all that power and money not to become evil. Google may have been the brilliant brainchild of tech nerds, but it is now owned by investors, and trust me, investors don't give a damn about the rest of us.

This About That: Do you like the idea of a corporation that makes its living by making your personal information public through Google+? It's clearly different from Facebook. If you don't want to join the mess on Facebook, then don't -- there's no loss.

That's my biggest problem with it. It's forced on me. I do not HAVE a Google + account, but if I hover over a +1 button by accident (I did this just a few minutes ago) , it asks me if I want to +1 it for the world and has my real name next to it. Probably because I am logged into Gmail, but still.

I wish there was a way to export saved mails and I'd quit Gmail tomorrow. I know I'm really cheesy like this, but I have saved every e-mail my husband has sent me since we started really dating and I'd hate to delete them, just to get away from Google.

serpent_sky: That's my biggest problem with it. It's forced on me. I do not HAVE a Google + account, but if I hover over a +1 button by accident (I did this just a few minutes ago) , it asks me if I want to +1 it for the world and has my real name next to it. Probably because I am logged into Gmail, but still.

I use G+ on Chrome/throwaway stuff, and Firefox for work and such. Then again, I don't use gmail very often. But I'm not logged in when I search for stuff. I don't use two browsers for privacy, I keep one on another desktop and can check chat and such without cluttering up a browser used for work things.

wee: I use G+ on Chrome/throwaway stuff, and Firefox for work and such. Then again, I don't use gmail very often. But I'm not logged in when I search for stuff. I don't use two browsers for privacy, I keep one on another desktop and can check chat and such without cluttering up a browser used for work things.

I log into Gmail in the morning and leave it up all day at work since it's the primary means of communication I use with the real world. I think that's the issue, but I don't like that just because I have my e-mail up, it's somehow attached to everything I do in Firefox.

serpent_sky: This About That: Do you like the idea of a corporation that makes its living by making your personal information public through Google+? It's clearly different from Facebook. If you don't want to join the mess on Facebook, then don't -- there's no loss.

That's my biggest problem with it. It's forced on me. I do not HAVE a Google + account, but if I hover over a +1 button by accident (I did this just a few minutes ago) , it asks me if I want to +1 it for the world and has my real name next to it. Probably because I am logged into Gmail, but still.

I wish there was a way to export saved mails and I'd quit Gmail tomorrow. I know I'm really cheesy like this, but I have saved every e-mail my husband has sent me since we started really dating and I'd hate to delete them, just to get away from Google.


You can always just forward the e-mails to thunderbird, outlook, etc.

dopeydwarf: You can always just forward the e-mails to thunderbird, outlook, etc.

I've considered that and then realized that between those and band-related e-mails, plus just some general saves, it's a few thousand e-mails.

Damnit, technology, creating problems that aren't even really problems, but wouldn't exist if it weren't for you!

I used to have Google Calendar up all the time, but fark me if I'm gonna let Google continue to index my search queries. I have to use Google Calendar because that's how my work schedules things, but I'll find some other calendar program to use elsewhere, thank you very much. Also, I should probably get around to deleting my G+ account.

Yes, I know FB is not the soul of benign stewardship but I rarely post anything truly personal there, and I don't use FB for search.

serpent_sky: I wish there was a way to export saved mails and I'd quit Gmail tomorrow.

I've been thinking how to do this most painlessly. I think the thing to do is to set up the new email and then forward everything you need to save, then delete the rest. I don't know of any easier way. Google, of course, will not export "conversations" to your computer in the easy and obvious way.

I used to trust your answers implicitly. Now, when I finally get them, I wonder.

There is nothing inherently wrong about maintaining skepticism on the internet. One should never implicitly trust anything Google spits back at you, or any other search engine for that matter.

spamdog: GranoblasticMan: People who biatch about Google: technohipsters.

// "Google was cool until it was popular..."

Hahaha, yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

Well, have fun using Altavista, dickholes!

I only use gopher to search the internet. You've probably never heard of it because it's so underground.

From the comments here I get the sense that I sholdn't be keeping my pron collection in Word files I've uploaded to GoogleDocs.

/Gottagobye

jjorsett: serpent_sky: I wish there was a way to export saved mails and I'd quit Gmail tomorrow. I know I'm really cheesy like this, but I have saved every e-mail my husband has sent me since we started really dating and I'd hate to delete them, just to get away from Google.

This About That: serpent_sky: I wish there was a way to export saved mails and I'd quit Gmail tomorrow.

I've been thinking how to do this most painlessly. I think the thing to do is to set up the new email and then forward everything you need to save, then delete the rest. I don't know of any easier way. Google, of course, will not export "conversations" to your computer in the easy and obvious way.

How to export all email from gmail
Fark for some reason won't let me make this into a link, so cut-n-paste this to your browser:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070919202435AA8Bh3X

I didn't hit the link, but I assume these refer to pulling the email out via IMAP or POP. Hell, you can connect MS Outlook to it and pull it down into a .pst file.

rthanu: Google fixed the internet from a vast place of nothingness, helped fostered open source software, made self learning a snap for all that want to

Not to bash too hard on Google, but like a lot of Farkers I was around on the internet before Google! first showed up (yea, lawn etc) and it really didn't 'fix' anything. There were other search engines around at the time that were opening up the internet and open source software was king back then, pretty much the only game in town.

Altavista was my dismal favorite before Google but I could find what I needed. Better search engines would have shown up eventually and the biggest challenge back then was lack of content, not the inability to find it.

Google was in the right place at the right time and was part of the fabric of the growth of the Internet but I don't believe that Google 'fixed' things because there was very little to "fix" and the internet was NOT a vast place of nothingness before Google!.

With Google maturing comes the suck of trash sites and positioning for search placement. Inevitable for any search provider but after all these years it's still just all about porn and piracy. Google grew up with the Internet but I don't think the internet depended all that much on Google.