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Email (and calendar) being cross compatible is accident of history and pretty unique. No other popular service[3] uses a common shared and accepted protocol Go

Email (and calendar) being cross compatible is accident of history and pretty unique. No other popular service[3] uses a common shared and accepted protocol Google does allow your data to be exported[1] including YT videos and most of other things in your account in a non-proprietary[2] format, in addition the APIs from Google are fairly deep to extract a ton of information from your account It is not their problem that other services do not always support imports from Google even when such peers exist. Google is no means a saint, or supporter of open formats or of easy export formats, but for a company they do a reasonable job for a feature designed for people leaving their ecosystem [1] https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3024190?hl=en https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3024190?hl=en [2] Non-proprietary to them, even if not fully open i.e. MP4 or DOCX instead of only supporting WEBM or ODT [3] Used by regular users, not sysadmins i.e. DNS / Certificates by CAs et al. do not count

themagician 3y ago
None of this matters when they ban you.
- manquer 3y ago
  Be proactive and take periodic backups anyway. It is bonkers we treat SaaS as always available and that data will never be lost forever[1] Big Co may not loose data in the abstract sense, but it can be still lost to us, not just of suspended accounts, it could be access is now restricted by new pricing tiers, or because Big Co have decided you are no longer active and deleted your data or myriad other reasons. Always take backups . [1] it shouldn't matter if it is paid or free service either. There is always things in the ToS that allows Big Co to do what they want without notice.
arp242 3y ago
Sure; I agree that Google is actually pretty good in this regard; I was just commenting on the fact that your previous comment didn't really connect with what the previous person was talking about. That said, I think the big issue here is not so much about data and exports, but rather that Google occupies a fairly central space in the internet. If you want to make money developing mobile applications then Android – and thus a Google account – is kind of required; there's been plenty of "I have a business selling Android apps and it was taken away from one day to the next with no explanation". The same applies to YouTube: you can make money posting videos on the internet with out it, but it's a lot harder.

themagician 3y ago

None of this matters when they ban you.

manquer 3y ago
Be proactive and take periodic backups anyway. It is bonkers we treat SaaS as always available and that data will never be lost forever[1] Big Co may not loose data in the abstract sense, but it can be still lost to us, not just of suspended accounts, it could be access is now restricted by new pricing tiers, or because Big Co have decided you are no longer active and deleted your data or myriad other reasons. Always take backups . [1] it shouldn't matter if it is paid or free service either. There is always things in the ToS that allows Big Co to do what they want without notice.

arp242 3y ago

Sure; I agree that Google is actually pretty good in this regard; I was just commenting on the fact that your previous comment didn't really connect with what the previous person was talking about. That said, I think the big issue here is not so much about data and exports, but rather that Google occupies a fairly central space in the internet. If you want to make money developing mobile applications then Android – and thus a Google account – is kind of required; there's been plenty of "I have a business selling Android apps and it was taken away from one day to the next with no explanation". The same applies to YouTube: you can make money posting videos on the internet with out it, but it's a lot harder.