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> Hell, I'm an anti-Google evangelist now. Welcome to the club. I still have a gmail I use for some family and old friends, and there's a lot of history there

> Hell, I'm an anti-Google evangelist now. Welcome to the club. I still have a gmail I use for some family and old friends, and there's a lot of history there, but I generally avoid using it unless it's a throwaway now. And... when dealing with clients, I suggest alternatives to GA, google maps, etc. Occasionally they override me, but I'm helping to get alternatives out there. 12-15 years ago, I was using google pay/wallet/something to accept payments for some projects. They just... rebadged it, changed the terms, etc. I couldn't even figure out what it was being changed to entirely, but, they seemed to not give a shit about orgs like mine who were trying to use their products to conduct business, so I gave up. I've told my stories to many folks in person; I'll get "oh, you didn't understand abc.." or "that's never happened to me - you must have done something wrong". About a quarter of those people later indicate to me that... yep... they've been hit by some weird google bug or issue or deprecation or abandonment that cost them time/money with no real support options, and they then take steps to get off the google train. I know I still have a ways to go to get anything critical to my life out of google's way, but every month I get a bit closer.

esperent 3y ago
> alternatives to GA, google maps The problem is, as a small brick and mortar business, there is no alternative to Google Maps. I mean, sure. Technically alternatives exist. But if your customers don't use them, they are meaningless. Of course we are listed on OpenStreetMap. But my guess is that since we opened, the number of customers we got that way rounds to zero. Meanwhile, we get delisted from Google Maps and our revenue instantly drops about 70% (we are in a tourist area). It sucks. There's nothing we can do about it except make frustrated posts like this.

esperent 3y ago

> alternatives to GA, google maps The problem is, as a small brick and mortar business, there is no alternative to Google Maps. I mean, sure. Technically alternatives exist. But if your customers don't use them, they are meaningless. Of course we are listed on OpenStreetMap. But my guess is that since we opened, the number of customers we got that way rounds to zero. Meanwhile, we get delisted from Google Maps and our revenue instantly drops about 70% (we are in a tourist area). It sucks. There's nothing we can do about it except make frustrated posts like this.