This is all so absurd. Why is anyone mad at Google over this Verizon thing?<p>Is Verizon <i>so</i> evil that just talking to them about the future of networks is enough for Google to be evil by association? (Actually, don't answer that.)<p>The argument in this article is that Google touches every part of the internet, and you can't live without their services even if you wanted to, because they're so widespread. I can accept that, but wouldn't that also mean that Google has an interest in a free and neutral internet, because their services are so widespread?<p>The very core of Google's business is derived from indexing all of the content on the internet. Their stated goal is to "index all the world's data". How exactly would cutting back-room deals for special traffic shaping with Verizon help Google?<p>Verizon, however, has a serious interest in preventing competition. They mostly sell network access at a premium price, which they can only do because they've gone to great lengths to limit the choices available to consumers.<p>Verizon seeks to limit access to consumers, while Google seeks to broker access between the user and whatever data they're searching for.<p>The more Verizon can stifle the competition and trap users, the more secure their business is. Google, however, is made more secure by every piece of user-contributed content that gets created. When Google indexes a new website, Google is increasing in value. When a user uploads to Youtube, Google is increasing in value. When someone makes a phone call with Google Voice, Google is increasing in value.<p>I can imagine Google providing internet access, but could you imagine Verizon providing Google-like data indexing services for public use? Remember that Google killed the phone book. We take it for granted now, but that's hugely significant. Verizon should be terrified of them providing cheap wireless communication, but Google need not be terrified of Verizon competing in the data indexing space.<p>Verizon needs to be a successful network access provider, and Google wants to be the hub for all data on the network. It makes perfect sense that they should be in talks.
You can get your data exported from most Google services. There are instructions here: <a href="http://www.dataliberation.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.dataliberation.org/</a><p>The problem is importing this data into some other service.
Interesting that he mentioned Android, search, and GMail as services that it'd be hard to stop using. They all have easy substitutes that are arguably just as good, or at least close (iPhone, Bing, Yahoo Mail/Hotmail).<p>The one place where it's really difficult to stop using Google is AdWords. If you want to buy search ads, Google has a near monopoly, and others can't compete right now. That's where the real "can you even stop using it?" is.
I am not sure I'd stop using Android if Google became too evil. I don't particularly depend on the proprietary Google apps for anything, and it's easy enough to fork, remove references to Google, and recompile. (And yes, I do run the AOSP version of Android on my phone, so I would lose nothing by doing this.)<p>If Google hate becomes something worth caring about, I'm sure CyanogenMod will have a non-Google Android build in about a day. That's what makes Android great; it's just software, not an ideology.
No, No and No.<p>80% of my business is from Google, and 80% of my business runs on Google.<p>I can give up the U.S. dollar, airlines, and banking. But not Google.
<p><pre><code> su echo x.x.x.x google.com >> /etc/hosts
</code></pre>
where x.x.x.x is the IP address of the non-Google search engine you wish to use. ie. ping <a href="http://www.gigablast.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.gigablast.com/</a>
I can only speak of myself, but I don't feel that stop using Google's products would be that hard. I have already two other e-mail accounts which I use in different context, and I actually use different clients for each (pine and mutt via ssh, and gmail's web-interface for gmail). Bing maps is already better in some places than Google's, so I use them both. I'm not liking Google's new image search at all, and I'm beginning to think if I should begin to use Bing's, as it has provided more accurate results (in the cases I have tried it), and has better UI (imho). The list goes on...<p>The most problematic thing to replace would atm be Android. Nokia's offerings aren't quite there yet, Apple would require bit different mindset, and Windows Mobile is...well Windows Mobile. But I'm not sure if it would be that bad to step back to bit dumber phones (meaning mainly Symbian here). Although I haven't even tried any Android device, so maybe it has something amazing what I haven't realized.
If this Net Neutrality thing angers people enough to reconsider their relationship with Google, good.<p>Been trying to avoid Google for years now just because it is not wise to entrust everything to a company. Currently DDG for searches, e-mail handled on my own server. Never Google Docs. AdBlock, NoScript and cookie management help too.<p>Still have a gmail account for reading some Google Groups, which I really do not do anymore, and a GTalk id because one person on my list has nothing else...probably time to change these too.
I think the question "Can you even stop using it?" is closer to "Do you even have that choice anymore?" rather than "Can you avoid going to Google branded websites?". There are so many services either owned or somehow connected to Google that it would take some level of expertise to completely avoid sending at least some of your data to Google.<p>From Doubleclick to Google Analytics to reCAPTCHA, you can encounter Google without ever bringing up google.com or YouTube.
Mad at Google? No. Should I be?<p>Can I stop using it? Well, I use <a href="https://ixquick.com" rel="nofollow">https://ixquick.com</a> for search. I like Google Maps, but there are other alternatives, and I can always grab maps I care about from the gas station, so it is more a novelty and a convenience than a need. I do not depend on any Google services, partly out of disliking the idea of calling out to another server in order for mine to work.<p>So in a word... yes. But I know there are many people who built their business using its convenient technologies and would need to find good replacements. Maybe it is just a matter of marketing; I am sure there are plenty of alternatives for everything Google provides. What is the fear here? Leaving our easy comfort zones?<p>This internet/software stuff is all smoke and dreams. There are better things to get worried about.
No, No, and with lots of effort.<p>Ironically, I almost never use Google search (thanks DDG!), but I have multiple Gmail accounts, plus Docs, Reader, Wave (though no more I suppose), Gtalk, Calendar, Android (no desire to use other smartphone OSes). And this is just personal -- I don't have my own business.
I only use two Google products regularly these days: search and Gmail. I would like to move from Gmail but I haven't found another provider to go to. I used to like Fastmail but, for some reason, I don't like it that they are now owned by Opera.<p>Maybe I just need to hope that someone like Colin Percival gets interested in starting an e-mail service, as I really like the way he runs TarSnap.
I'm disappointed in Google but it doesn't really impact their existing services so I won't stop using them. I certainly won't use whatever services they end up piggy backing on this deal in a few months when the uproar has died down. I'm a firm believer things happen for a reason. Google did this deal for some future project that involves Verizon as the carrier. No doubt in my mind.
Why is Google getting all the heat from this? Any concessions on neutrality in that non-biding agreement is to appease Verizon, why not get angry at them or at the other internet companies that stood idly by and let Google handle the net neutrality burden?
Google is actually in a unique situation where everyday users could continue to take advantage of free services and cost Google bandwidth/electricity while completely ignoring ads.