Remember when Google was just a search engine? Yeah, me neither. With the way Google has infiltrated every nook and cranny of our digital lives, it’s almost hard to imagine life before Google. For the past two years, I’ve used Google services like Search, Reader, Blogger, Alerts, News, and Buzz as my means of professional communication. I use Chrome on my PC and Android on my phone. I’ve used Picasa to manage photos, YouTube for entertainment, and Earth to explore. And I’m not even going to start with Maps, Calendar, Notebook, Scholar, Images…you get the idea. And now, I’m supposed to join Google+, the future of social media. A seamless integration and consolidation of existing Google services into a harmonious user-experience that addresses the beauty and richness of sharing in–
Damn it. No. Just no. I’m not having this social media crap. Google, you’ve reached your breaking point. And I don’t know if you’re being diabolical, or just capricious, but it’s not cool to haphazardly screw around with your most popular services just because you really, really, really want me to start circling my +1 in your hangout. Besides sounding pervy, that’s just not the way to customer loyalty. Your fans are roundly criticizing you and calling this the week you messed up. And though the grumblings about Google haven’t reached angry Apple fan-boy levels of derp yet, I’m sure that in the near future we’ll hear people loudly proclaiming that they’re “done with Google” (probably the same people who “moved to Canada” after the last election, if you catch my drift).
Given how weird Google has been lately, I’ve decided to embark upon an experimental journey. Sure, Google does things that irritate us. Sure, Google doesn’t understand privacy. But, can we really live without Google? I don’t know, but I’m going to try. Over the next few months I’m going to intentionally divest myself from as many Google products and services as possible. My overarching question is this: can a moderately tech-savvy reference librarian manage to survive the Internet without the help of Google? Here’s the plan…
The Plan
I intend to play around with alternatives to each and every Google service that I currently use, both professionally and personally (with two exceptions that I’ll explain later). This means a different search engine, browser, RSS reader, blog, image host, office suite…you name it. If Google makes it, I won’t use it for three months. But, I have to make two exceptions. First, GMail. I use GMail to sign-up for, and receive notifications from, other services. But, still, given that my GMail address is on emergency contact forms and user accounts, I can’t get rid of it too easily (though I’m working on it). Second, I can’t just stop using my Android phone. But, I’ve stopped syncing to my Google account, I don’t really download apps, I use the Opera mini browser instead of the Google option, and I’ve turned off Google’s location services. It’s the best I can do. As to the rest…
Like I said, I’m moderately tech-savvy. I don’t do coding or server stuff, but I know my way around a computer and I know enough not to fall for the old “build a GUI interface in Visual Basic” trick. I’m comfortable using most social media sites, and I encourage their use, though I tend not to share very much. I guess you could say that on the Librarian Internet Technology Skills Scale, where 1 is Michael Gorman and 10 is my awesome coworker Jason Griffey, I’m around a solid 7. (See Figure 1)*
So, though there may be awesome server-side solutions to abandoning Google, I won’t go that route. Instead, I’ll look for ready-to-use, freely available alternatives to as many Google products as I can think of. Here’s a preliminary list:
Google version | New version | |
Browser | Google Chrome | Opera |
Search | DuckDuckGo, Bing, Yahoo | |
Blog | Blogger | WordPress |
RSS Reader | Google Reader | Netvibes |
Image Hosting | Picasaweb | Flickr |
Image Organizer | Picasa | Windows Live Photo Gallery |
Maps | Google Maps | Mapquest |
Office Suite | Google Docs | Office + Dropbox, Zoho |
Social | Google+ | Facebook, Friendfeed |
Research | Google Scholar | The library |
Microblogging | Buzz |
I’ll be logging out of all of my Google accounts, uninstalling Google Chrome, Picasa, and Desktop, removing bookmarks to Google websites, and I’ll try my best to avoid using any Google product. For three months. However, I will use Google in the following situations: (1) to illustrate a point or compare Google with a competing service, (2) if I need it to help a patron, or (3) if after a good faith effort I simply can’t find a reasonable alternative.
Now, I’m not saying it will be easy. I doubt that Google can be completely eliminated. But, I have a feeling that I’ll survive. I also don’t want anyone to get the impression that I’m anti-Google. I love Google. Google is wonderful. This is just an experiment, not a statement. I’ll be sure to post updates along the way. Hopefully, by February 2012, I’ll have a new perspective on life after Google.
Oh yeah, and welcome to the new blog.
*For the record, Gorman is one of my favorite librarians and he probably isn’t really a Sith Lord.
Wow … good luck! I’m a little sad that you’re going with Opera over Firefox (and a little baffled), but the rest of your choices look pretty solid. I’ll be interested to read about how this goes.
I’m sorry you’re sad that I went with Opera. 😦
I’ve always had Firefox installed right along side Chrome, and it isn’t going anywhere. But, I chose Opera because of it’s ability to sync with the mobile version on my smartphone. I also really like the stacked tabs feature and, though the default settings seem incredibly memory hungry, Opera has a ton of built-in features to help drastically reduce CPU cycling and memory use. All in all, I’ll say that Opera is comparable to Firefox, given my usage patterns (i.e., few, if any, extensions).
Wow. If you pull it off I’ll salute you. No WAY I can give up G-mail. Reader maybe. Plus for sure. Chrome I never use — am a Firefox guy. Scholar? Take it or leave it!
Gmail will be the tricky one, for sure. But, if I can get rid of everything but Gmail, I’ll consider the experiment a success.
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I find this post interesting because I’ve become increasingly unhappy with Google’s search engine–the results just seem, as you put it, increasingly “weird.” I’ve had more success lately with Bing and Blekko, which surprises me.
Android on your phone???
Yep. I have an LG Optimus with the Gingerbread version of Android. Unfortunately, I can’t switch phones at the moment, but at least I can disable quite a few features.
Fantastic! I’ve done some of those things, but now I’m thinking I should take up the full gamut of your personal challenge, thought I can’t quite manage without Google for now. Post full of ideas nevertheless.
Actually, getting rid of Google’s search is fairly easy. It’s Gmail that’s proving to be the problem.
Do you have an alternative to google calendar? I’m hopelessly tied to that one.
I just use the Exchange calendar through Outlook. I wish I had a good recommendation for people who don’t already have a work calendar.
I read most of my Gmail through Outlook, along with my work email. Even if you can’t get rid of Gmail, you could at least not go to their site.
I’ve considered just forwarding everything, though I would still be making use of Google’s servers. On the flip-side, if I could keep the Gmail web-client but avoid using Google servers, that would be my choice.
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