At the time, Google was genuinely more trustworthy than Microsoft. I don’t know if you remember when Google had ‘do no evil’ as part of its mission statement, but it seemed like they actually made some token effort to follow that.
Microsoft, of course, is doing its best to make Windows as bad as Android in the spying-on-users front.
I remember the Internet years before Google was a thing, so, yes. I remember when Gmail came out with 1GB which was absolutely unprecedented. Yahoo was giving 100MB, which was considered more than enough, and was more than enough for most people. 1GB seemed impossible to fill.
Shortly after, people began complaining of Google using your own email to market stuff to you and they were accused of snooping. They said they didn’t, it was all automated, but we didn’t really know. Google just gave us a bunch of free shit and most people never questioned why. I remember they said “don’t be evil”, but I’m not sure they ever meant it.
Google has ever really only wanted your data. They’re a data broker. Search, Gmail, and Android all serve that end. Microsoft and Apple are computer companies. Apple makes the computer and the operating system. Microsoft just makes the software, but they also have the Surface line now. But their goal from the start has been every desk running Microsoft software, regardless of who makes the hardware.
Oh, I also remember when LG was called Zenith and TVs came in big wooden cabinets called consoles. That’s not actually 100% right. Zenith died out and LG bought the brand. I think Zenith was American or maybe Canadian, somewhere in North America, and LG was always Korean AFAIK. Like how Motorola was American (that, I do know) and Lenovo is Chinese, and Lenovo bought Motorola. Still, the legacy of Zenith TVs, for better or worse, resides in LG’s current legacy. A lot of people who used Zenith TVs use LG TVs and they don’t know the connection. You tell them, and they’re like “oh, that tracks.” They just followed quality, and LG has made some quality screens… spying issues with software notwithstanding.
Google was a search engine, first and foremost, and made their money primarily with ads on their search engine. Fairly unobtrusive ads, I might add. Because it was the best search engine, hands-down. Ostensibly the reason for Android was so that Apple wouldn’t have a monopoly and be able to shift people away from using Google as their default search engine. An open platform and open internet benefited them, because they were the best.
Now they’ve taken a hard dive into rent-seeking behavior, and their search engine is terrible.
Microsoft, on the other hand, engaged in anti-competitive behavior pretty much right from the word ‘go’.
At the time, Google was genuinely more trustworthy than Microsoft. I don’t know if you remember when Google had ‘do no evil’ as part of its mission statement, but it seemed like they actually made some token effort to follow that.
Microsoft, of course, is doing its best to make Windows as bad as Android in the spying-on-users front.
I remember the Internet years before Google was a thing, so, yes. I remember when Gmail came out with 1GB which was absolutely unprecedented. Yahoo was giving 100MB, which was considered more than enough, and was more than enough for most people. 1GB seemed impossible to fill.
Shortly after, people began complaining of Google using your own email to market stuff to you and they were accused of snooping. They said they didn’t, it was all automated, but we didn’t really know. Google just gave us a bunch of free shit and most people never questioned why. I remember they said “don’t be evil”, but I’m not sure they ever meant it.
Google has ever really only wanted your data. They’re a data broker. Search, Gmail, and Android all serve that end. Microsoft and Apple are computer companies. Apple makes the computer and the operating system. Microsoft just makes the software, but they also have the Surface line now. But their goal from the start has been every desk running Microsoft software, regardless of who makes the hardware.
Oh, I also remember when LG was called Zenith and TVs came in big wooden cabinets called consoles. That’s not actually 100% right. Zenith died out and LG bought the brand. I think Zenith was American or maybe Canadian, somewhere in North America, and LG was always Korean AFAIK. Like how Motorola was American (that, I do know) and Lenovo is Chinese, and Lenovo bought Motorola. Still, the legacy of Zenith TVs, for better or worse, resides in LG’s current legacy. A lot of people who used Zenith TVs use LG TVs and they don’t know the connection. You tell them, and they’re like “oh, that tracks.” They just followed quality, and LG has made some quality screens… spying issues with software notwithstanding.
Google was a search engine, first and foremost, and made their money primarily with ads on their search engine. Fairly unobtrusive ads, I might add. Because it was the best search engine, hands-down. Ostensibly the reason for Android was so that Apple wouldn’t have a monopoly and be able to shift people away from using Google as their default search engine. An open platform and open internet benefited them, because they were the best.
Now they’ve taken a hard dive into rent-seeking behavior, and their search engine is terrible.
Microsoft, on the other hand, engaged in anti-competitive behavior pretty much right from the word ‘go’.