5 ms·

Except it's actually not that easy. Most of the web uses google analytics, so its unavoidable when you visit a website. Most of the web's emails are routed thro

Except it's actually not that easy. Most of the web uses google analytics, so its unavoidable when you visit a website. Most of the web's emails are routed through google; I remember reading a post about a guy who set up his own SMTP server and everything, but then realised that everyone he was contacting was using gmail anyway (can't find the post). Every time you see an add that's served by google, that means that there's a google embed in the page your looking at. Also, what alternative is there for YouTube? there isn't a realistic competitor. If you have an android phone (most of the world does) you're forced to use google play services. In today's world, they're unavoidable. That being said, making them a public utility is a bit forward...

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
caslon 5y ago
"Most of the web uses google analytics, so its unavoidable when you visit a website." I actually mentioned that. Just shim GA connections; this happens with most ad-blocking software, and I believe happens in Firefox's "strict" mode by default. It's really trivial. "Most of the web's emails are routed through google; I remember reading a post about a guy who set up his own SMTP server and everything, but then realised that everyone he was contacting was using gmail anyway (can't find the post)." Only true if the majority of people you converse with over email are boring. "Every time you see an add that's served by google, that means that there's a google embed in the page your looking at." Again, why would you ever look at an ad? That's a ludicrous idea. "Also, what alternative is there for YouTube? there isn't a realistic competitor." Bittorrent. "If you have an android phone you're forced to use google play services." Completely false. Android works fine without Google Play Services. EDIT: Made words better.
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  >""Also, what alternative is there for YouTube? there isn't a realistic competitor." Bittorrent." I should avoid Google's monopoly by becoming a criminal?
  - easrng 5y ago
    Torrenting is not a crime. Piracy is a crime and a popular use of BitTorrent, but BitTorrent is also used for distributing non-criminal things like Linux ISOs and some app and game updates and art dumps (I have friends who release via torrent monthly) and datasets (for research and AI) and many other things.
  - caslon 5y ago
    Insinuating that using Bittorrent is inherently tied to criminal activity is like suggesting the same for a person who uses a car.
    - cycomanic 5y ago
      He was talking about videos, that is bittorrent as an alternative to youtube. So how do you discover legal videos that interest you on bittorrent?
      - caslon 5y ago
        The same way I discover new movies: See what everyone else is checking out.
- easrng 5y ago
  RE: YouTube alternatives there's also PeerTube which also can use p2p delivery. Can confirm that Android works great without Google Play Services, I don't have it. Most Play Store apps break but most of my apps are from F-Droid anyway.
  - AussieWog93 5y ago
    PeerTube is not a serious alternative to YouTube. Almost all of the most popular content is missing and there are no reasonable alternatives. It claims to have over 400,000 videos on the site; YouTube gets 700,000 _hours_ of video uploaded each day. Android without Google Play, unless you live in mainland China, does not "work great" the way most people want. I've done it and it was basically like not having a smartphone at all. You cannot use banking apps, social media, games, streaming/Chromecast, maps (yes, I know OsmAnd exists; it has next to no information about businesses or landmarks and takes several minutes to plot a route that Google Maps or Waze calculates in less than 5 sedonds). Firefox is a reasonable alternative to Chrome and K-9 mail is good but that's about it. Unless MicroG suddenly became good in the past two years it's not a feasible solution even for people who are technically-minded.
    - anticensor 5y ago
      > (yes, I know OsmAnd exists; it has next to no information about businesses or landmarks and takes several minutes to plot a route that Google Maps or Waze calculates in less than 5 sedonds) OsmAnd, unlike Google Maps free tier, will always draw you an actually optimised route (though without considering traffic congestion).
- fossuser 5y ago
  I think it's more possible than others are suggesting, but I think there are exceptions. There is no good competitor to YouTube - there are a lot of bad ones yes, but no good one. I'd argue this is objective fact. I use fastmail and my own domain, but most people use gmail - I don't think that's that big of a deal though. It's odd they'd target Google in the OP - telecom providers like Comcast and Spectrum are much worse in how they treat their customers and in those cases there really isn't another option most of the time.
- Siira 5y ago
  > the majority of people you converse with over email are boring. The majority of people are “boring.” Not acknowledging your approach’s failure points (in this petty way) isn’t good marketing, really.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

caslon 5y ago

"Most of the web uses google analytics, so its unavoidable when you visit a website." I actually mentioned that. Just shim GA connections; this happens with most ad-blocking software, and I believe happens in Firefox's "strict" mode by default. It's really trivial. "Most of the web's emails are routed through google; I remember reading a post about a guy who set up his own SMTP server and everything, but then realised that everyone he was contacting was using gmail anyway (can't find the post)." Only true if the majority of people you converse with over email are boring. "Every time you see an add that's served by google, that means that there's a google embed in the page your looking at." Again, why would you ever look at an ad? That's a ludicrous idea. "Also, what alternative is there for YouTube? there isn't a realistic competitor." Bittorrent. "If you have an android phone you're forced to use google play services." Completely false. Android works fine without Google Play Services. EDIT: Made words better.

ClumsyPilot 5y ago
>""Also, what alternative is there for YouTube? there isn't a realistic competitor." Bittorrent." I should avoid Google's monopoly by becoming a criminal?
- easrng 5y ago
  Torrenting is not a crime. Piracy is a crime and a popular use of BitTorrent, but BitTorrent is also used for distributing non-criminal things like Linux ISOs and some app and game updates and art dumps (I have friends who release via torrent monthly) and datasets (for research and AI) and many other things.
- caslon 5y ago
  Insinuating that using Bittorrent is inherently tied to criminal activity is like suggesting the same for a person who uses a car.
  - cycomanic 5y ago
    He was talking about videos, that is bittorrent as an alternative to youtube. So how do you discover legal videos that interest you on bittorrent?
    - caslon 5y ago
      The same way I discover new movies: See what everyone else is checking out.
easrng 5y ago
RE: YouTube alternatives there's also PeerTube which also can use p2p delivery. Can confirm that Android works great without Google Play Services, I don't have it. Most Play Store apps break but most of my apps are from F-Droid anyway.
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  PeerTube is not a serious alternative to YouTube. Almost all of the most popular content is missing and there are no reasonable alternatives. It claims to have over 400,000 videos on the site; YouTube gets 700,000 _hours_ of video uploaded each day. Android without Google Play, unless you live in mainland China, does not "work great" the way most people want. I've done it and it was basically like not having a smartphone at all. You cannot use banking apps, social media, games, streaming/Chromecast, maps (yes, I know OsmAnd exists; it has next to no information about businesses or landmarks and takes several minutes to plot a route that Google Maps or Waze calculates in less than 5 sedonds). Firefox is a reasonable alternative to Chrome and K-9 mail is good but that's about it. Unless MicroG suddenly became good in the past two years it's not a feasible solution even for people who are technically-minded.
  - anticensor 5y ago
    > (yes, I know OsmAnd exists; it has next to no information about businesses or landmarks and takes several minutes to plot a route that Google Maps or Waze calculates in less than 5 sedonds) OsmAnd, unlike Google Maps free tier, will always draw you an actually optimised route (though without considering traffic congestion).
fossuser 5y ago
I think it's more possible than others are suggesting, but I think there are exceptions. There is no good competitor to YouTube - there are a lot of bad ones yes, but no good one. I'd argue this is objective fact. I use fastmail and my own domain, but most people use gmail - I don't think that's that big of a deal though. It's odd they'd target Google in the OP - telecom providers like Comcast and Spectrum are much worse in how they treat their customers and in those cases there really isn't another option most of the time.
Siira 5y ago
> the majority of people you converse with over email are boring. The majority of people are “boring.” Not acknowledging your approach’s failure points (in this petty way) isn’t good marketing, really.