> And before the Google army comes in, let me say one thing. I used to love Google. Used all of their services. Built stuff with their services. Each computer I touched got Chrome installed. I was a fan boy. But then they started changing.
Just because they didn't satisfy your demands you decide to take such a drastic turn? Perhaps they were trying to satisfy other casual Internet users as well.
Not to say you're wrong or whatever, but a huge company like Google tries to satisfy as many people as possible to increase their market-share. I don't necessarily see something wrong as long as all the negative side affects aren't solely absorbed by the consumer.
There's nothing wrong with compromises here and there - any healthy relationship consistently needs to deal with them.
I don't think that Google showing a propensity to give services the axe, rather than simply deprecating them and giving them little or no support is a case of "not satisfying demands." That, mixed with their history of spotty support for the things which they DO officially support gives them the appearance of being a shifting platform. This lead me, at least, to depend on them as little as I have to.
Hey, that's your opinion and I can't call it wrong! Although I strongly feel like Google Reader was by far the most used service they are going to axe. I was pretty upset when Google Notebook was axed, but I just moved my data elsewhere. I don't really expect much with deprecation after that incident because while the service was deprecated, the lack of support/updates just left me never wanting to use it anymore.
If that is the tipping point for you, then by all means show support for alternatives. I know I do a terrible job at ensuring Google isn't the only player in the game.
Just because they didn't satisfy your demands you decide to take such a drastic turn? Perhaps they were trying to satisfy other casual Internet users as well.
Not to say you're wrong or whatever, but a huge company like Google tries to satisfy as many people as possible to increase their market-share. I don't necessarily see something wrong as long as all the negative side affects aren't solely absorbed by the consumer.
There's nothing wrong with compromises here and there - any healthy relationship consistently needs to deal with them.