6 ms·

A megathread on breaking away from Google

62 points by rinze 8y ago

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
mattnewport 8y ago
I've been mostly Google free for a while now, other than for some work stuff where I have to access some Google Apps docs. I also still use YouTube because that's where lot of the content still is sadly. What I'm using instead: - Search: DuckDuckGo, occasionally Bing - Phone: Windows Phone, pre ordered a Purism Librem 5 - Browser: mostly Firefox and Brave, Edge on mobile and occasionally on desktop - Maps: Bing Maps (occasionally resort to Google Maps tho) - Email: ProtonMail - Calendar: Outlook.com, but I still use Google Calendar for some things - Cloud storage and backup: Dropbox and OneDrive
- craftyguy 8y ago
  Same here, but instead of getting in bed with microsoft I've moved to using FLOSS components.
  - FrozenTuna 8y ago
    That's what I was thinking. Are people just leaving google to use all the microsoft products? That makes 0 sense to me.
    - d0lph 8y ago
      Some of it is for support reasons.
- ocfx 8y ago
  This is essentially just swapping out one perceived bad egg for other bad eggs. Microsoft is no better when it comes to privacy concerns.
- dublinben 8y ago
  What concerns about Google have you addressed by using alternative services from Microsoft?
  - mattnewport 8y ago
    To me Microsoft seems the least bad option these days when there aren't great FOSS options available. I've had a strict no Apple policy for many years so while I wait for the Librem 5 Windows Phone seems like my least bad option. I looked into some of the open Android based alternatives a bit (Lineage etc) but there don't seem to be really great options currently. For maps I should probably look at Open Street Maps more but I mostly use maps on my phone where being on a Windows Phone with limited app selection the built in Microsoft solution is the simplest / laziest option. I'm a VR developer so I'm primarily working on Windows for the foreseeable future. Microsoft options end up being the fallback there too (why I sometimes use Edge or Bing over my usual choices).
    - jacksmith21006 8y ago
      MS actually puts ads in the OS and also nags constantly to use Edge. But then on top MS solutions less quality, imo, than Google.
      - harrygeez 8y ago
        We need to stop pretending Microsoft's the only company that puts ads on their OS. The only consumer products I think Google does better are YouTube, Maps and search. Office+Outlook > Gsuite. Windows Phone > Android if weren't for the lack of apps. Windows > Chrome OS. Outlook > Gmail probably comes down more to preference but I'd like to hear why you think Google's offerings are better.
        jacksmith21006 8y ago
        No I mean literally in the OS. Never had an ad from Apple or Google inside the OS. MS has gone someplace not aware of anyone else ever doing?
- jacksmith21006 8y ago
  Curious on how would using Microsoft be better?
taylodl 8y ago
YouTube is the most difficult service to break away from, simply because it has all the content - and more and more of my entertainment time is spent watching YouTube. I'm thinking YouTube was Google's most ingenious purchase.
- rinze 8y ago
  YouTube subscriptions work fine with RSS, just to add to this. I have them added to my ttrss, don't even have to log in to watch videos (which is not exactly 'breaking away from YouTube', but I think it's a healthier approach.)
  - craftyguy 8y ago
    Or use hooktube.com, which strips out all Google-related tracking stuff from video links on YouTube. There are even greasemonkey scripts to rewrite YouTube.com URLs to hooktube.com automatically.
    - sgtmas2006 8y ago
      I just use youtube-dl, it's simple and can be automated easily. Toss a URL at it and get a nice quality version. I really wish people would start publishing videos elsewhere for download, with high bitrate versions. I can (and do, as we all) live with the artifacts, but I don't mind some bandwidth. Even if it were patreon exclusive (to offset the costs for hosting) I would become a patron for that alone.
      - Something1234 8y ago
        How would you deal with video hosting? It's a high bandwidth application, and would be very expensive to self host. Just an hour of streaming takes about 1 GB or $.25 if you're using AWS. Multiply that out across a couple hundred users and many hours of streaming that's very expensive.
        toomuchtodo 8y ago
ejrv 8y ago
I've recently moved from Gmail to Fastmail (which also has a calendar), and to MicroG + Yalp instead of Google Apps on my phone. Both have worked very well for me as privacy-conscious alternatives, with minimal hassle after the initial setup. I'm still using Google search, YouTube, and Chrome on the desktop, for lack of alternatives I've gotten along with, but that's about it. I'm very happy how much less of my data that exposes to Google, but at the same time, it does still feel like a bit of a pyrrhic victory.
go_prodev 8y ago
What's with all the tinfoil hats? Google != Facebook. Unpopular opinion perhaps, but I believe they use the information I share to enrich my user experience. It seems less about monetization and more about providing customized services. What am I missing?
- fwdpropaganda 8y ago
  > I believe they use the information I share to enrich my user experience. Manifestly false. They use your information to target ads. The pages that you've browsed will affect the ads you see on youtube and the paid search results you get. That's right, the paid search results you get are modified not to enrich your experience, but because some advertisers pay more for people with your browsing profile. Does that improve your experience, or does that improve google's advertiser's experience?
  - relics443 8y ago
    YMMV but it improves my experience because I get to use all these great products and features Google has, without lifting a finger, and in most cases without paying a penny. All I have to do is ignore the ads on my screen (which my brain seems to already do).
    - fwdpropaganda 8y ago
      > all these great products and features Google has My post wasn't meant to dissuade anyone who's happy with being tracked from using google. I was merely pointing out that the post I was responding to tone of "google is tracking me for my sake" is in most instances based on nothing but faith, and in other cases known counter-examples exist.
  - repolfx 8y ago
    It does both. I'm going to see ads no matter what, if I'm not paying. Seeing ads that might be occasionally relevant to me is better an the prior status quo of seeing seizure-inducing punch the monkey ads. These days I mostly see ads for programmer tools: I'm a happier web user as a result. This idea that ad targeting is some kind of shady evil is a very recent one and, as far as I can tell, artificially created by the press as part of a proxy fight against Google and Facebook as disintermediators. It doesn't seem based on anything real.
jrnichols 8y ago
Does it sound odd that I've always been Google-free anyway? By virtue of being a Mac user. Search? Switched to DDG or Bing. I gave up Google Maps ages ago, using Bing/MS's map offering, and when Apple Maps came out I went to that. Email, has always been IMAP on servers I host myself. I never even went down the Google rabbit hole like many of my friends did. It's curious how they claim Apple is so proprietary when they're using Android, Google Photos, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Chat (or whatever it's called this week,) Google Music, Google Play, and maybe youTube, I mean Google TV. The Apple ecosystem has been pretty good for me.
- bobdole1234 8y ago
  You understand that Apple uses Googles infrastructure to provide services, right?
  - jrnichols 8y ago
    Are we really going to stretch it out that far? That just because Apple is using a small section of some Google infrastructure it means all of the end users aren't "Google free?" That's ridiculous. I, as an end user, am not signed into any Google account at any time. Just because some encrypted bits are on a server Google owns doesn't make one a user.
    - bobdole1234 8y ago
      But you are materially supporting their bottom line.
- jacksmith21006 8y ago
  Apple is just using Google. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/26/apple-confirms-it-uses-google-cloud-for-icloud.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/26/apple-confirms-it-uses-googl... Apple confirms it uses Google cloud for iCloud - CNBC.com
  - jrnichols 8y ago
andyonthewings 8y ago
There are pretty complete alternatives to all Google services in mainland China, well, because the Great Firewall blocks Google. I doubt if anyone really want to move from Google to those Chinese alternatives though because privacy is even worse.

62 points by rinze 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

I've been mostly Google free for a while now, other than for some work stuff where I have to access some Google Apps docs. I also still use YouTube because that's where lot of the content still is sadly. What I'm using instead: - Search: DuckDuckGo, occasionally Bing - Phone: Windows Phone, pre ordered a Purism Librem 5 - Browser: mostly Firefox and Brave, Edge on mobile and occasionally on desktop - Maps: Bing Maps (occasionally resort to Google Maps tho) - Email: ProtonMail - Calendar: Outlook.com, but I still use Google Calendar for some things - Cloud storage and backup: Dropbox and OneDrive

craftyguy 8y ago
Same here, but instead of getting in bed with microsoft I've moved to using FLOSS components.
- FrozenTuna 8y ago
  That's what I was thinking. Are people just leaving google to use all the microsoft products? That makes 0 sense to me.
  - d0lph 8y ago
    Some of it is for support reasons.
ocfx 8y ago
This is essentially just swapping out one perceived bad egg for other bad eggs. Microsoft is no better when it comes to privacy concerns.
dublinben 8y ago
What concerns about Google have you addressed by using alternative services from Microsoft?
- mattnewport 8y ago
  To me Microsoft seems the least bad option these days when there aren't great FOSS options available. I've had a strict no Apple policy for many years so while I wait for the Librem 5 Windows Phone seems like my least bad option. I looked into some of the open Android based alternatives a bit (Lineage etc) but there don't seem to be really great options currently. For maps I should probably look at Open Street Maps more but I mostly use maps on my phone where being on a Windows Phone with limited app selection the built in Microsoft solution is the simplest / laziest option. I'm a VR developer so I'm primarily working on Windows for the foreseeable future. Microsoft options end up being the fallback there too (why I sometimes use Edge or Bing over my usual choices).
  - jacksmith21006 8y ago
    MS actually puts ads in the OS and also nags constantly to use Edge. But then on top MS solutions less quality, imo, than Google.
    - harrygeez 8y ago
      We need to stop pretending Microsoft's the only company that puts ads on their OS. The only consumer products I think Google does better are YouTube, Maps and search. Office+Outlook > Gsuite. Windows Phone > Android if weren't for the lack of apps. Windows > Chrome OS. Outlook > Gmail probably comes down more to preference but I'd like to hear why you think Google's offerings are better.
      - jacksmith21006 8y ago
        No I mean literally in the OS. Never had an ad from Apple or Google inside the OS. MS has gone someplace not aware of anyone else ever doing?
jacksmith21006 8y ago
Curious on how would using Microsoft be better?

taylodl 8y ago

YouTube is the most difficult service to break away from, simply because it has all the content - and more and more of my entertainment time is spent watching YouTube. I'm thinking YouTube was Google's most ingenious purchase.

rinze 8y ago
YouTube subscriptions work fine with RSS, just to add to this. I have them added to my ttrss, don't even have to log in to watch videos (which is not exactly 'breaking away from YouTube', but I think it's a healthier approach.)
- craftyguy 8y ago
  Or use hooktube.com, which strips out all Google-related tracking stuff from video links on YouTube. There are even greasemonkey scripts to rewrite YouTube.com URLs to hooktube.com automatically.
  - sgtmas2006 8y ago
    I just use youtube-dl, it's simple and can be automated easily. Toss a URL at it and get a nice quality version. I really wish people would start publishing videos elsewhere for download, with high bitrate versions. I can (and do, as we all) live with the artifacts, but I don't mind some bandwidth. Even if it were patreon exclusive (to offset the costs for hosting) I would become a patron for that alone.
    - Something1234 8y ago
      How would you deal with video hosting? It's a high bandwidth application, and would be very expensive to self host. Just an hour of streaming takes about 1 GB or $.25 if you're using AWS. Multiply that out across a couple hundred users and many hours of streaming that's very expensive.
      - toomuchtodo 8y ago

ejrv 8y ago

I've recently moved from Gmail to Fastmail (which also has a calendar), and to MicroG + Yalp instead of Google Apps on my phone. Both have worked very well for me as privacy-conscious alternatives, with minimal hassle after the initial setup. I'm still using Google search, YouTube, and Chrome on the desktop, for lack of alternatives I've gotten along with, but that's about it. I'm very happy how much less of my data that exposes to Google, but at the same time, it does still feel like a bit of a pyrrhic victory.

go_prodev 8y ago

What's with all the tinfoil hats? Google != Facebook. Unpopular opinion perhaps, but I believe they use the information I share to enrich my user experience. It seems less about monetization and more about providing customized services. What am I missing?

fwdpropaganda 8y ago
> I believe they use the information I share to enrich my user experience. Manifestly false. They use your information to target ads. The pages that you've browsed will affect the ads you see on youtube and the paid search results you get. That's right, the paid search results you get are modified not to enrich your experience, but because some advertisers pay more for people with your browsing profile. Does that improve your experience, or does that improve google's advertiser's experience?
- relics443 8y ago
  YMMV but it improves my experience because I get to use all these great products and features Google has, without lifting a finger, and in most cases without paying a penny. All I have to do is ignore the ads on my screen (which my brain seems to already do).
  - fwdpropaganda 8y ago
    > all these great products and features Google has My post wasn't meant to dissuade anyone who's happy with being tracked from using google. I was merely pointing out that the post I was responding to tone of "google is tracking me for my sake" is in most instances based on nothing but faith, and in other cases known counter-examples exist.
- repolfx 8y ago
  It does both. I'm going to see ads no matter what, if I'm not paying. Seeing ads that might be occasionally relevant to me is better an the prior status quo of seeing seizure-inducing punch the monkey ads. These days I mostly see ads for programmer tools: I'm a happier web user as a result. This idea that ad targeting is some kind of shady evil is a very recent one and, as far as I can tell, artificially created by the press as part of a proxy fight against Google and Facebook as disintermediators. It doesn't seem based on anything real.

jrnichols 8y ago

Does it sound odd that I've always been Google-free anyway? By virtue of being a Mac user. Search? Switched to DDG or Bing. I gave up Google Maps ages ago, using Bing/MS's map offering, and when Apple Maps came out I went to that. Email, has always been IMAP on servers I host myself. I never even went down the Google rabbit hole like many of my friends did. It's curious how they claim Apple is so proprietary when they're using Android, Google Photos, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Chat (or whatever it's called this week,) Google Music, Google Play, and maybe youTube, I mean Google TV. The Apple ecosystem has been pretty good for me.

bobdole1234 8y ago
You understand that Apple uses Googles infrastructure to provide services, right?
- jrnichols 8y ago
  Are we really going to stretch it out that far? That just because Apple is using a small section of some Google infrastructure it means all of the end users aren't "Google free?" That's ridiculous. I, as an end user, am not signed into any Google account at any time. Just because some encrypted bits are on a server Google owns doesn't make one a user.
  - bobdole1234 8y ago
    But you are materially supporting their bottom line.
jacksmith21006 8y ago
Apple is just using Google. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/26/apple-confirms-it-uses-google-cloud-for-icloud.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/26/apple-confirms-it-uses-googl... Apple confirms it uses Google cloud for iCloud - CNBC.com
- jrnichols 8y ago

andyonthewings 8y ago

There are pretty complete alternatives to all Google services in mainland China, well, because the Great Firewall blocks Google. I doubt if anyone really want to move from Google to those Chinese alternatives though because privacy is even worse.