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.
i used to love google… ive been around since the beginning and used many of their products.
it feels like a friend or family member thats slid into serious meth or other drug use… you can only stick around attempting to help them for so long. at some point you know you have to cut your losses or be further dragged into their destruction.
when they dropped the ‘dont be evil’ was right around the time i also realized they dont actually support their products, and kill them on a whim. i jumped ship ~2012 when they started fuckin around with google voice and had no real ambition with G+. .
They didn’t drop the don’t be evil thing. It’s still right there in the code of conduct where it always was, they just moved it to the conclusion of the document so it’s the last thing that remains with you. See for yourself: https://abc.xyz/investor/google-code-of-conduct/
The supposed removal is a perfect example of the outrage-bait headlines I’m discussing in another comment.
There’s a whole Wikipedia page covering the motto drop. And yes, it was an ugly move deserving of all the bad press.
From literally the first paragraph stating it’s still there.
The original motto was retained in Google’s code of conduct, now a subsidiary of Alphabet. Between April 21st and May 4th of 2018, the motto was removed from the code of conduct’s preface and retained in its last sentence.[9]
If they removed it from the preface and pasted it at the beginning of every paragraph throughout the entire document, a certain type of person would still be focused on the one place they removed it from. Those are not serious people and should not be taken seriously.
They definitely stopped living by that mantra at the same time. It may exist as a footnote to this giant code of conduct but it hasn’t been their MO in over a decade. The reaction is justified.
Make up your mind, which one is it?
If it’s any consolation, they haven’t killed Google Voice. They haven’t updated it since 2012, but it’s still around.
I loved them for a long time and was around since the beginning as well. When they opted everyone into Buzz without their consent I became real cautious about what I share with them. I still use some services, and even used Stadia when they had it. However, I’m ready for them to turn anything off at any time and don’t share any info with them that I wouldn’t want public.