I use Gmail, Maps, search, and, to a limited extent, the original, "basic" applications within Google Apps (is that still what it's called?). For the rest, Goo

I use Gmail, Maps, search, and, to a limited extent, the original, "basic" applications within Google Apps (is that still what it's called?). For the rest, Google has basically taught me not to make the investment. (I don't have any Adword nor advertising needs, at the moment. Otherwise, I imagine I would be using them.) I was thinking of switching from the default text messaging application to Hangouts, on my phone, for the sake of maintaining a history of texts that the default app will dump beyond a certain count, but after incidentally running across comments about how fucked over Hangouts apparently has become, I'm pretty much not going there. Google seems to be doing fine, revenue-wise, but they are losing me as... well, I guess I'm one bit of the "merchandise" that forms the basis of their revenue. I don't hate Google. And I like the initiative on security and, "true names" aside, privacy. But I'm not excited any more about their product development. Even in the physical world, I understand the impending, huge market for autonomous cars, and I like the pressure that Fiber has been providing to the erstwhile moribund large-scale ISP marketplace. But I miss the "moonshots." Although maybe they gave e.g. solar power enough of a nudge -- if not a push -- when it needed it, domestically. P.S. Personal pet peeve. In my work, particularly in large organizations, I saw the need for something like Wave. (Anyone who's ever wasted time and effort on the outside of an extended and essential email chain conversation might relate -- as one example. Or trying to effectively maintain same and keep all in the loop and revisions straight, when on the inside of one.) But the terribly overburdensome (in terms of client processing demands for average clients of that time) and partially cryptic UI were a big initial turnoff. Back to Gmail and Apps and whatnot. What Googlers actually seem to use for their own work, and lives (Maps, Picasa now become whatever...), seems to be better maintained. "Initiatives" to "secure markets" (Plus, I'm looking at you)? Yeah, not cutting it. Initially, I would have given Plus a chance. Except that, for much of what interested me on it, I didn't care to go about publicly using my "true name" (health, psychology, and technical topics where some of my opinions might put off a potential employer).