Google: people weren't using it.
The People: you cancel literally everything you create, so why should we bother?
Google's business model also doesn't really fit to what VPN customers are looking for. They hardly would implement a zero log policy, for example.
Remember when people were using allo and Google play music? Google doesn't.
I loved Allo. I was really depressed to have to use Whatsapp after Google cancelled it. And one of my favorite things to do was use my Google rewards points to buy music.
And they wonder why no one invests time and interest in any of their new "experimental" products.
Allo didn't ever make sense. What about Hangouts. Hangouts worked with imessage. And also works better than allo did And also works better than aloe did at any pointat any point.
Whats crazy is Hangouts is still going (in the form of Chat and Meet). I've had the same group chat going with a few buddies on it for years and years now. And it is still better than anything outside of Signal in my opinion for messaging.
Same for Google Inbox.
I'm legit still pissed off about that one
Google is what the Fox network was in the 90s and 2000s.
Add it to the pile.
Tbh at least this one makes sense, who is going to use a VPN (an internet privacy tool) from Google?
who is going to use a VPN (an internet privacy tool) from Google?
Exactly. That would be like using a web browser made by Google so they have direct access to your internet browsing history. Ridiculous!
My purpose for a VPN is more about connecting to WiFi APs I don't control. Google VPN worked just fine for that.
These days you don’t get much extra benefit on a VPN over TLS which you get on 99% of websites.
I disagree here, as an American using a Swiss exit node (most compliant) websites are forced to allow a much higher degree of privacy to comply with the laws there.
While I block all third party advertising and tracking anyway, it’s incredibly satisfying seeing websites explicitly list out everything they’re tracking about you and having that “reject all” button.
when traveling Communist countries in Asia with google fi it was really nice to have
but then they revoked my data service while charging me the same amount every month, because they said I'm traveling too much.
I did. Because it was free with another service I'm already paying for.
Whenever Google launches a product or service wait at least 5 years before even trying it to see if they’re serious, got it
It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy at that point. Like Netflix with new shows.
Netflix: here's this new show
People: yeah you guys always cancel stuff after the first season or two, I'm not gonna get invested in something that will just get canceled
Netflix: man, these viewership numbers are low. CANCELED!
.
I had to help out a client this week because this migration broke their website. Turns out that Squarespace's omain forwarding feature drops query params. This brokes thousands of links. Fun times.
Oh yikes. I would’ve recommended Gandi but they were bought out too. Seems like no one wants to play the registrar game anymore.
I get on my VPN to provide less data to Google. Routing my traffic through an advertising company always felt like a bad idea to me.
I've had like three primary email accounts since the dawn of the popular internet in the 90's
The first was Hotmail because that was a big deal at the time.
The second was google because the interface was slick and it came with (what was at the time) a lot of free storage.
The third is protonmail specifically because after decade+ on Google I realized they pretty much have the keys to the kingdom on my life's data. All my personal relationships and business being filtered through their inbox for a long-ass time. Just because they "know me" inside out for a significant part of my life doesn't mean I gotta just keep feeding them data indefinitely.
How you finding protonmail compared to Gmail? The thing I like about Gmail is I can find shit in my endless history....I also love the calendar integration.
Protonmail is fine for searching old emails and they have their own calendar integration. I self host calDAV for my own calendar so I cannot comment on protonmail's other cloud services but I'm happy enough with their email service that I subscribe yearly for it.
That's the downside of not getting data mined, you need to pay for these services. Setting up a private cloud is not impossible for a derp like me but a private email server is definitely well beyond my skillset so that's something I pay for.
Even having done professional mail hosting for years at one point in my sysadmin career, I still think paid email hosting is worth it even for those with the skills to stand it up themselves, at least for any inbox that might see actual important communication.
The reliable infrastructure, and the reputation management demands on a self-hosters time are a tough sell, when the cost to make it someone else's problem is comparatively low. :D
At this point, I’m surprised anybody (including myself) still buys/uses Google services, given how risky it is that you’ll become dependent on them and then they kill off the product(s). I really need to get off my ass and switch mail providers.
Google mail is extremely unlikely to get shut down.
But anyway, Proton Mail allows importing e-mails from Google.
grumbles about inbox by gmail
Inbox was absolutely stellar and I can't believe they got rid of it.
"don't worry the inbox by gmail features will be moved into gmail shortly"
Most people will use whatever the default on their device is. Most phones that aren't iPhones come with Google apps and services set as default.
The only Google services I still use are YouTube and in rare cases Google Maps. But if YouTube continues to enshittify I'll stop using that. I've been using Google Maps mainly to get information about places to eat/sleep in cities, not really for navigation.
I can recommend Proton.
ProtonMail is pretty awesome and makes it very easy to switch.
I'm surprised anyone uses Google services considering how they infiltrate your privacy.
A Google VPN is as private to me as giving a six year old a cardboard box and asking them but to look inside.
So no one spoke up or no one listened to guy who said "this is a bad idea, no one really trusts us"
Google One was a pretty sweet deal on paper.
But unfortunately, Google's superpower of making really cool things and then killing it off continues to exist.
half-arsing a product, people are hesitant to try it, due to other killed off products, google kills product. repeat
And the more they kill the more the reputation grows
Like when stadia was announced my friends and I took bets on how long it would last or if any stadia exclusive games would ever get to launch
If you don't care about "moving your virtual location" using vpns, check your router settings, you might just find an option to enable a VPN server. It'll be fast, and guess what.. It's free
Also did I mention that you control the data flowing trough it
But how am I going to prevent someone from hacking my Google Glass if I click the wrong link in a Google Group now?!
Who would use that shite?
Or are you hiring VPN and MITM combo here?
RIP to the only VPN that reliably let you watch streaming services overseas.
Here's to enabling the OpenVPN / Wireguard feature on your router.
May as well call it "Google Drive Storage Plans" again then? Aside from some dysfunctional AI features that's pretty much the only thing you get, no?
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