Expunging Google · duncan-bayne/duncan-bayne.github.com Wiki · GitHub

Recently, Google announced their decision to shut down Google Reader. This latest step in opposition to an open Internet in favour of Google+ has led me to a decision of my own. It's time to expunge Google from my life, to the fullest extent practical.

It's not because Google chose to shut down a free service they were offering, or because of privacy concerns. It's because I think that Google is now working against the potential of the open Internet, and because I think that one gets a better product when one is the customer as well as the user.

As I explained over on Hacker News:

I don't think that Google is acting in opposition to open standards in general, because for the most part they benefit by them. What's clear is that: Google is seeking to increase the monetary value of its users the way to do that is with social media (see Facebook, who are winning this battle hands down) they will push open standards under the bus where necessary, in order to drive users to Google+ As the former PM for Reader puts it (https://www.quora.com/Google-Reader-Shut-Down-March-2013/Why...): "Let's be clear that this has nothing to do with revenue vs operating costs. Reader never made money directly (though you could maybe attribute some of Feedburner and AdSense for Feeds usage to it), and it wasn't the goal of the product. Reader has been fighting for approval/survival at Google since long before I was a PM for the product. I'm pretty sure Reader was threatened with de-staffing at least three times before it actually happened. It was often for some reason related to social: 2008 - let's pull the team off to build OpenSocial 2009 - let's pull the team off to build Buzz 2010 - let's pull the team off to build Google+"

The following is a list of Google products I use, and what I've replaced them with. I'll update it as I go.

Expunged

Search

Google still have the best search engine, no doubt about it. But DuckDuckGo is pretty good, and doesn't 'filter bubble' or track users. So that's what I'm now using.

Chrome

I've liked Chrome for a while, but several of Google's decisions (e.g. not adding RSS support, in order to drive users to Google+) have made me sad. Despite the fact that I still think Chrome's developer tools are better, I've switched to Mozilla Firefox. I can trust the Mozilla Foundation, and I can't trust Google.

YouTube

I've moved my videos over to Vimeo, buying a paid Plus account for US$60 / year. That means I don't need a Google+ account in order to participate in video discussions, which means I've been able to close ...

Google+

I only had a Google+ account in order to participate on YouTube. Now that I've switched to Vimeo, no more Google+.

OpenID

I've stopped using Google to sign in to sites such as Stack Exchange, and now I'm using myOpenId.

Gmail

I'm currently trying out an account with Fastmail (an Australian company). So far their support has been excellent, and they offer an automatic migration from Gmail that copies over all your old email using IMAP. Very smooth.

Drive, Calendar and Contacts

I've replaced Drive, Calendar and Contacts with my own installation of ownCloud. It's great - I've got full two-way sync with my Android devices, and complete control over my own data.

Maps / Navigation - Web

I'm trying out OpenStreetMap for now. Not as polished as Google Maps but it seems usable.

Yet to Expunge

Groups

Google Groups are great for ad-hoc social groups. E.g. I created one to organise reunions with members of my pre-natal class. I don't know what I'll use the next time I have a need for this sort of thing, but will update this page with whatever I choose.

Android

I'm stuffed on this one. Google is still (for now!) better than both Microsoft and Apple. But there are two potential replacements on the horizon: Firefox OS and Ubuntu for phones. Perhaps my next phone won't be Android, and in the meantime, I'm looking to install some decent privacy & ad blocking tools on my current phone. I'll post details here as I go.

Maps / Navigation - Mobile

Sygic seems to be the go here. It's a lower priority for me as I don't use either Maps or Navigation very frequently on my phone.

Talk

I use Google Talk to 'chat' with friends & family ... will have to find an alternative that's nice and user friendly for them to use. At this point I'm investigating DreamHost's Jabber accounts as an easy solution.