Discussion on:

10 Google services you can live without

Slow day? I hope you didn't get paid for this crap? What a stupid article.

Wow, I'm gobsmacked by the level of bias in this article.

I came here thinking that there were going to be some suggestions for BETTER alternatives to Google services, not simply telling me alternatives exist.

All searches are the same? Why include it?

Online mail is practically the same? Does the author know how difficult it can be switching mail providers from your client/customer perspective, much less managing that interminable time between providers?

I'd go on but honestly I think the 100+ people above have spelled it out already. I'm sorry I clicked the link and wasted my time TR.

Thanks for letting us know that there are other entities on the net besides Google. How would I ever have survived without this information?
If this is the quality of your writing then I really don't blame your girlfriend!

... when the name of your company is being used as a verb. As in:

"Hey, Bob, I need you to research which are the ten largest bodies of water in the world."

"Geez, Fred, couldn't you google that yourself? Do I have to do all your googling for you?"

Seriously, the author of this article actually thinks we CAN DO WITHOUT Google Search, but we CAN'T DO WITHOUT Google+? This is completely the opposite of the experience I, and everyone I know, have had.

What he fails to realize is that Google completely relies on the market to tell it which of their products is good and which isn't. Google had an absolute winner with the search engine, the docs, the YouTube, and the Gmail, some middling success with some other things (like Google Voice, which I personally happen to love), and some outright flops with things like the G+ (maybe someone uses it, but no one I know does).

But good for Google for trying their hand at these things, because one thing they have never done is force crap onto their users. If you don't want to use their docs, don't. If you don't want to use Gmail, don't. Google has done something that Microsoft wishes it would have learned years ago - they give you components that function well independently and can seamlessly integrate together, but don't require you to use one in order to use the other.

The fly in the ointment is that schools that use Google Apps love it because it is is free and manageable. It's hard for non-profits to escape the economics.

Why would I be trying to look for alternatives to Google? I'm looking for alternatives to Microsoft products and services.

Strange the repeated mention of 'the king of lockin', Microsoft, as an alternative to Google....
I would take pretty strong issue with that.

Mr. James's views are obviously tainted due to his relationship with Microsoft. Android is gaining strength all of the time. Windows 7 Mobile is a joke. My son bought a Windows phone and has never said a good thing about it. Google Search, who could replace that! Bing from Microsoft does not even compare.

Come on Tech Republic, check the stories out before you post them. One sided slants don't help anyone.

I can't remember every reading such a condescending review on this site. So much for credibility.

you get your comment deleted.

Attack ideas and not people. It's as simple as that.

even focusing on the 'ideas'. They've made the assumption (since that's easier than reading a few paragraphs) that a TR article with a 'list' of alternatives to google-whatever must perforce be a feature-by-feature comparison, and conclude that the mention of an alternative is your (agenda-driven) claim that the non-google choices are 'better'.
Google partisans would better spend their posts here on trying to quell the legit privacy concerns of those of us who have quit (or are contemplating quitting) the google-web. But, no; we get your article misconstrued en masse....and name-calling.

Yes Google is data mining and so is the other service providers that were mentioned in the article.

it's just business, they are in the information business. The more information you have the more powerful you are. Google is in the lead and MSn and Yahoo and all want to become Google. There is no such benefit in people switching from one to another all are the same.

If people don't like the article or want to question the motivations of the author or quality of the data that makes this article, fair enough, but to attack the author or other people involved in the discussion personally? No dice.

TR has become a hotbed of venom and bile with far too many people skim-reading stuff and then putting on their keyboard warrior cape and mask ("I must fix this perceived injustice by spewing hate and fury at the Internet. To the Blog-cave! ROFLcopter, away!") so it's nice to see some commenters injecting some realism and even-handedness and TR staff willing to step in when it gets too personal.

Just one question though - given the amount of flak some of your own writings attract ("Jason, ur sux0r who lluvz appl 2 much. U R m$ haytah fanbouy! rantrantrant" and stuff like that), do other TR staff play firebreak for you?

The points look like laboured personal opinions.

Personally I am a great admirer of Google & those of enjoy all the "free" services
should not grudge them their revenue model.

Google has no pretensions of being like Mother Theresa's Charity Organization.

Android is a singularly successful and admirable achievement.

-jnc

I live in Swindon and even though Google wiped Swindon off its maps I still think Google maps is great.

If I need to drive anywhere new then its easy to get the directions and then you can view the route in its 3D or streetview.

I use streetview to look around the place before going. You can easily find possible parking places. Land marks to look out for and you can even 'drive' the route in 3D mode before even getting in the car.
Bing etc are all supposed to be able to do this in the future, but in all cases I've tried its "missing data".

One cool thing to do online is find photos of your self on streetview.
Poeple have seen me waving to the goole mapping car twice. Shame they don't keep updating/expanding it.

You can also look around the area you live with google as its zoom is much higher than Bing etc.. I've found a hidden park area close to where I live. Never knew about it for a decade before seeing it on google maps.
I often go looking for land or derelict houses using streetview and just roaming around.

I do believe that all of us regular Tech Republic readers have been drawn into a devisive Com Box Battle. We feel that Our Side is under attack and must defend it, or else we find the counter-attack is attacking Our Side and must pounce. This is how Tech Republic holds our attention in a documentable way in order to sell more advertising. We, gentleman, are the product!

What "independent tests show that Google???s search quality is not significantly better than its competitors"? Is that a joke? That is far and away the opposite of my own experience, and Google having over 70% market share in search engine usage certainly implies I'm not alone. Links or it didn't happen.

Google Maps stomps any other mapping service because of ease of use, Streetview, and flexibility across platforms.

Google Talk and Skype are both excellent, but Google Talk has uses and features Skype doesn't, and is free where Skype charges for more advanced services.

I'll take Android and open source over the other mobile OSes anyday. It IS the alternative, not the other way around, and the better one at that.

In many cases their stand-alone services are better than their competitors. Google's biggest advantage, though, is the integration of features between all services, which is smooth in a way no other provider of any other services can claim. As to the others (Blogger, Reader, Checkout, and Docs), well, yeah, most people could do without those services entirely, let alone Google's versions of them.

I make almost no use of the three "can't do without" services and use several of the discardable services daily. No mention of Google calendar, it's integration with gmail or both's integration with Android. Regarding search, if you have access to some magic engine with Google's content (indices) and the advanced syntax which Google offers to search please let us know. All I've found are weak competitors serving up the "mom's" results, good for "mom" but useless for me.

This is a typical case of someone wanting to just get noticed, by writing something that nobody else is writing. "Get rid of Google Search and Android", and, "Keep Google+"...? Um, other way around! You want to ditch the things that Google is killing the competition at but keep the junk that is useless?

Sorry, not me, I like to be productive with my devices, and turn my phone into a free (and legal) hotspot withou having to pay extra to my carrier. I like to be able to just speak all my SMS and Email messages that get auto-translated into text so I never have to use the on-screen keyboard. I like that I can browse server shares from my phone, and remote desktop into any computer from my Android. Seriously, this author must live in a very static IT environment that never has any challenges.

If all you do is send email, browse websites, and play fart sounds on your phone then sure, iOS is great for you!

I really don't see the point. There are lots and lots of choices around and I think we should use all that work for us. I think anyone who relies just on one set of options will be in a bind. These things all change too quickly. I try to use whatever works from anyone and always have an alternative on hand. Google still provides the best search for me as do their maps. I use others but find them not quite good enough. I use gmail, but also yahoo and Hotmail and Verizon and mail.com. When one goes down the others are up usually. The only company I pretty much steer clear of is Apple because they make everything both expensive and proprietary.

I think we can all expect that if we use computers at all - for anything - we are being tracked. Even when we exercise all the privacy options. If you don't want to be tracked by someone you had better use nothing electronic. So just pay attention to everything - all the time. That is the price of this progress.

For that matter if you receive or send snail mail you are being tracked. If you bank at any bank you are being tracked. If you have a driver's licence, if you pay taxes etc.etc. The world of privacy is long gone so you had better adapt. The biggest problems are that all of our data is in the databases of companies who get hacked and then we can get compromised.

I'm not Google fanboy but I'd like to know what contenders you are talking about here because I have not found anything which returns the same level of quality in its results and I'm a librarian, not just a casual user. Bing is useless, Yahoo is beyond useless. I try and use DuckDuckGo as a Google Search replacement and I find it good most of the time but I sometimes find myself adding a !g before things to get decent results for more in-depth topics.

Google don't force you to use their apps or search engine. When you install or upgrade IE the only search engine is Bing you have to go through several steps to add the search engine of your choice. I have moved to Talk after Skype was purchased by Microsoft. The Skype toolbar and adds are annoying to say the least. I no longer use IE or Skype because these programs keep hijacking my settings.

Guess the Google+ button is acceptable. My first comment seems not to have been acceptable. Will this survive?

Justin James! Who would miss such a lame article?

I know I'm not catching everything, but, as far a Google is concerned, I'm a 'person' approximately half my real age who lives in the US somewhere, but not where they think, and ... what else?
As for Facebook, I 'know' 30 or so people who may or may not 'know' me. Am I real? Or am I a Facebook entity...
The cheapest advertising is that which gets into everyone's face for as little 'cost' as possible. Google doesn't get that.

Yahoo doesn't have free pop3 and i don't know about hotmail, but i suspect not. I like the ability to just use my email reader instead of having to go online to get my email with a browser. This has worked well for me as I change ISP's, and still gives me the abililty to check my email via the web when not at my personal computer

Adwords (maybe) but not the search? and Google+? I'd say this article is 80% wrong on the first list, and 67% wrong on the 2nd list.

Justin,

You call that an "article", well this "ad for Microsoft" is something I can do without.

Very poor analysis, though I agree that Google is not the "be all end all" (nothing is) of solution sets. Please keep in mind that Google's tools do work and don't burden you with frequent (often nightly) critical updates to boilerplate code (ala Microsoft Update). And Google Maps and Google Earth blow Microsoft's maps out of the water.

Speaking of Microsoft, Microsoft is the "Big Blue" of the 2010's. They have tried and failed to become "THE main player" in the market, and now see the perennial "cash cows" of Office and Windows leaving once green pastures for the slaughter house run by Apple Google, Amazon, and a host of others.

SO, why was market domination" by Microsoft OK, and what Google (and others) are doing not ok???

Microsoft essentially had "ads" for new products in the not commercial part of the nightly news! Remember when 95 came out, how about XP???? Microsoft is ALWAYS mentioned on the network news, and still they lose market share.

Did LINUX get equal time??? How about Android??? Seriously, how about the leader now APPLE?????

I agree now is a time for decentralization, but this is "unabashed bashing" of Google is undeserved, particularly when you:

A.) Do not specify alternatives to anything!
B.) Are not pointing out flaws of OTHER providers.
C.) Seem to be only complaining and not actually saying anything of substance.

I have read other posts, and yes I agree Google is by no means a malevolent entity and is indeed "Data mining", but frankly how many big companies are not doing that??

Maybe you should dust off a TRS-80 computer and hook up a modem to the BBS, and start writing new apps in well it would have to be assembly, as BASIC is probably co-opted as well

Jim

Whew, I thought I was misreading this. Google search is the go-to search. Yahoo is great and Bing seems to be reliable, but diss Google Search? And gmail, for its failings, has the best spam filter around. Maps is so easy, and Docs is meant to GET US AWAY FROM OUR DESKTOP, and not still be tied to it. Really...

It is really absurd that so many "IT Pros" have failed to understand why the article was posted and they have posted all these stupid comments.It is wise for one to apply Critical Thinking before they start assuming they have understood what they have read. The word used in the article was ALTERNATIVE and not BETTER ALTERNATIVE. James says they perform the same or similar web functions. Everyone making these stupid comments and insulting JJ should have noted that the alternatives being provided were for a specific group "those security-conscious enough to have
reservations about using google-net". I am very disappointed by all these Irrational comments. People should read and understand before they start posting Irrational comments.

"Well said that man". We all have our own opinions but I've been amazed at some (most) of the almost spiteful comments posted, and I've read them all so far. Disagree by all means but keep the vitriol to yourself.

This whole article just shrieks of "duh". Of course you don't need Google. You don't need Bing, or Angie's List, or Orbitz, or Coupon Suzy either. But anyone who is not intellectually compromised understands that the reason most of the internet is "free" is that you are trading personal information, translated into advertising and marketing, for those "free" services. Companies have to make money to survive, and no one is willing to pay what it actually costs to provide these services. How about YouTube at $0.50 a video? Yeah, that would last about 10 seconds. So if you don't like that trade, turn the damn thing off.

We need an article to tell us this?

He is just saying that you "can" use alternatives that are imho far worse on functionality/speed and with the same company policy of the maker of that program. No reasoning why to use this or that, no other information whatsoever except spreading some fud. The least you can say about this article is that it is poorly researched and colored from a certain corner (microsoft partner).

Question is here: would the same quality of article be accepted if it described alternatives to windows, ms-office, ms visual studio, ... Also without a simple comparison, but just: "you can live without, and you can believe me on my word"

I can technically dive into a pit of lava, but that wouldn't be wise to do it. From a reporter I expect objective facts from at least 2 points of view, so that they tease me to think about something.

-I went on bing maps a few weeks ago and there was only 1 of the restaurants, of which there were 6 on google maps in my city.
-people seem to be still switching to gmail; they say it is easier than msn which confuses itself with live mail.
-never used google docs
-I would like to know more about the security issues with google maps.
-Anonymous got kicked off google blogger.
-never used google reader.
-google checkout seems to be synonymous with android (so no choice)
-never used google talk yet, but because of the problems that skype had, people seem to be trying everything else. (Im still waiting for the p2p free version)

Although not "truly" a Google service, I find the Google Dashboard (http://www.google.com/dashboard) to be an invaluable resource.

Some of the afore mentioned Google apps I do not use. I've used both iOS and Android operating systems and I have to admit I'm in favor of the Android. My reasons: bigger screen on the phone, I like the 4.5 screen size and the iOS screen hasn't gotten any bigger; I find the Android system much faster.

As for Google tracking our moves, that's a whole different topic for another time. That's my 2 cents.

TechRepublic does a great job of informing its readers on what is going on in the IT world. No one said you had to agree with everything that is written; it is just FOR YOUR INFORMATION.

If I already use Gmail, why would I switch? (Same as why get off Outlook or Lotus or Groupwise or ...) You cannot get by without email of some sort and if you didn't jump onto Gmail initially, why not?

I use google docs to transfer data from one system to another. It's faster than gmail (which is what I use to transfer files from one system to another).

Are there alternatives? Yes.
Are they better? I can't tell from this article.

I use a large number of Google services and have been very happy with them. As another pointed out: Google Maps is fantastic and I can not go without. The others a nowhere near as good. Yahoo requires a paid version to use with a standard email client. GMail and Hotmail will work with clients. AOL will too.

Yes, I do have an AOL account. Ironically hip douche-bags are made, not born. Now, if you'll excuse me I have to trim my soul-patch, get another tattoo for no good reason, and buy an old amateur sports team t-shirt from a trendy boutique for $90 they bought at a garage sale for $1 (Go Benning's Truss and Beam Hornets!) and a new wool knit cap to wear during the summer.

Why should people switch from Google, except to satisfy their own misplaced paranoia about Google? Why do you think companies like Yahoo, Apple and Microsoft are more trustworthy?

In most cases, alternatives were not provided. So it's quite useless in my opinion to say it's easy to switch from a Google service, without offering an alternative solution, and WHY the alternative solution is almost as good.

The bottom line though, is you cannot offer a single provider for most of these services. For the same reason a lot of people enjoy the Apple ecosystem, a lot of people enjoy Google's full service offering. Single sign-on, easily transfer data between services, wide platform compatibility, ability to delete your account, reliable, fast, secure, extensive API's...

Justin just doesn't realize a lot of Google's customers are educated users who choose Google because their offerings are simply better then their competitors.

Heaven forbid if Google make too many good products though, as then we'll have to force ourselves to use inferior products to avoid Google mining our personal data and serving us tiny advertisements on their FREE services. Much safer to spread your personal data across a dozen different service providers right?

Clearly, you dislike Google because of its success in markets that overlap Apple. Better search results - really? Equivalent services - really? Your overreach reveals your awful bias. Please eliminate all bias, attempt some minumum of due diligence in regards to actual (i.e., real) research, then rewrite. Or attend a Google re-education camp and join the modern world instead of griping. Better, find another hobby.

I'd never heard of Justin James, I have now. My impression is that he is an anti-Google hack. Maybe he'll change my opinion in the future, if I choose to read any more of his stuff. If it's like this, I won't.

Seems that your article proposes to live without Google... lol That's all well and good, I guess...however, GMail vs Hotmail? Gmail wins everytime, if only for free IMAP connectivity... I am still struggling with the idea of having to have a whole other native email client for my phone since Hotmail is my "legacy" email program, yet I don't have the convenience of IMAP. For my Windows 7 main machine, Windows Live Mail serves the purpose, but it would be nice to have something like Thunderbird work...or even Outlook for that matter...without having to double down on the Hotmail server to ensure that emails I put places on my phone end up where I left them on the server... lol

Other than that...yeah...you're pretty much right (if you don't have an Android phone)...

I've been seeing a lot of nasty comments from people who not only love Google, but apparently want to marry it and have its baby. The vitriol is way out of proportion to the piece, even for the most ardent fanboys. Look, I couldn't live without Google search but that doesn't make me want to disparage the author or question the journalistic integrity of a whole site just because an alternative is offered. Looks like some kind of organized hate spree. How about some "full disclosure" on your parts?

Yahoo is not a good and safe free email provider alternative to Gmail. It is one of the most vulnerable email providers I have ever utilized.
As far as not using Google Docs...have you ever tried teaching non-tech people how to save OpenOffice, OfficeLibre or any of the other "free" productivity suites in a way that would make them readable for people who used MS Office? Google Docs is user friendly, and it is easily compatible with MS Office, without having to use the 'save-as'.
How about that Bing...do you like getting a bunch of results with so many bells and whistles it actually slows down your browser? I don't.
Google Maps for me has been wonderful...on my Android phone. The gps apps I have tried from Sprint, Verizon, ATT and MetroPCS do not compare to Google...most of them have had outdated information, and their traffic warnings are useless. When I discover errors on Google Maps for business locations/directions, I contact Google with the correct information. It doesn't take them long to make the corrections. They do verify and send emails back to let you know they've made the corrections.
I am not afraid if Google knows about me...everyone else does.
What about that Microsoft? If they are on the majority of computers around the world, what makes you think they don't know about you...they can turn off your computer or wipe your hard drive from remote locations...They can make your computer crash with an instant update that is no longer compatible with your video card or motherboard bios...as an IT Professional, I know about back door vulnerability...don't you think Microsoft knows and has access to all of those computers too?
Android apps are like PC software when comparing to anything that has an i in front of it or it grows on trees. There is more of it, and less expensive. I'll keep my Android thank you!