I recently had an experience while doing a simple Google search that was so profoundly weird that it stopped me in my tracks.
Understanding this Google se...
You do understand that the internet is just a network of many different computers right? And that one computer can have many different IP addresses?
The Internet is designed to be decentralized, the only reason that it has become so centralized in recent history is because corporations can afford more infrastructure than regular people, allowing them to host a larger portion of the network.
If Google went away, any of those websites that are not actually a part of Google could just go be hosted elsewhere.
Did the phone networks stop working when the government broke up Ma Bell in 1983? Or did shit get way cheaper and better, and evolve into the internet (before devolving into the modern internet)? When did you first have an answering machine? Was it before or after 1983?
Edit to add some thought on the article itself - It’s heavily anecdotal, but an interesting read regardless. The only point she makes that would actually effect me would be the Lyft thing, but I rarely use that application anyway.
They briefly mention Apple Maps, but don’t expand on that later in the article, which would have been warranted. Apple Maps is leagues ahead of Google Maps for navigational purposes. I don’t think it has streetview, but I also don’t care about streetview.
Apple Maps always understands an address I enter correctly (Google Maps does not, sometimes you need to put imaginary spaces in between address characters to make it work eg: “27w 702” instead of “27w702” (the actual address)
Apple Maps can find an address that begins with a 0 (Google cannot do this, sometimes it can’t even do an address that brings with 1, and you have to omit that from the address to make it work eg: “n131” instead of “1n131 (the actual address)
Apple Maps has never taken me to the wrong location (Google Maps had done this to me several times before I deleted it. Often this results in you going to the wrong address on the correct street, and only finding out it changed the address when the occupants answer their door confused.) The last time I tried to use it, I put in an address I know, and it dropped the pin on the opposite side of the city, not even on the same road as I had entered. I zoomed in on the pin, and it wasn’t even somewhere that a building exists, but it was labeled with the address I had entered.
Everyone should stop using Google Maps out of convenience, and switch to a better option. I’ve heard of FOSS maps as well but haven’t tried them out yet.
The search engine I use is already better than Google, it’s like how Google used to be. No ads, no AI, just relevant links. It can show results from Google if I ask it to, but I don’t need it to.
Knowledge is a deadly friend
If no one sets the rules
The fate of all mankind, I see
Is in the hands of fools
…
But I fear tomorrow I’ll be crying
Whether you break up Google, Amazon, Meta, SpaceXitter and the rest or not, you’ve got to have sensible rules, sensibly enforced. We’re already crying.
phone networks stop working when the government broke up Ma Bell in 1983? Or did shit get way cheaper and better
Specifically no, because AT&T didn’t go away, it just got split up and regulated. Shit got cheaper for sure, not always better.
If Google went away, any of those websites that are not actually a part of Google could just go be hosted elsewhere.
Read a little deeper about how so many websites have Google services entwined into all the pages they serve. There would be a billion+ hours of rework to get Google out of all the non-Google services that are in some way dependent on Google/Alphabet services. Sure, we could rebuild everything to not use Google, but would the other services that grow up in its place be better? They’re not likely to be cheaper, and under the current regulatory environment they’d likely develop even deeper invasions of privacy while building out their “modern” Google replacements.
Apple Maps always understands an address I enter correctly (Google Maps does not, sometimes you need to put imaginary spaces in between address characters
That’s an interesting perspective. As Android users my wife and I are used to opening maps and asking for a business by name and general description: Green Grocery on Main Street, or Manuel’s Mexican in Midtown Melbourne and it just looks up the address for us and maps to it. Same for anyone in our contacts, just ask for them by name and the address takes care of itself - we can put in addresses, but our “iPhone friends” are constantly asking for the street address of things because that’s what they have to put in. I guess at least iOS is good at address entry.
Apple Maps has never taken me to the wrong location
Again, we’re biased - people who use Google Maps are led directly to our house with no trouble, people who use Apple Maps end up on the next street over looking at our house across a neighbor’s fenced yard and calling us for more directions. We didn’t have to fix Google Maps to get people arriving at our door, but we were able to tweak the road to look more realistic, Apple has no such user feedback interface, at least not that we could ever access.
switch to a better option. I’ve heard of FOSS maps as well but haven’t tried them out yet.
That’s a nice thought. Do you remember the Google Mapping car fleet driving around for 10 years? I think they’re still doing scaled back maintenance, but that was a tremendously expensive project which gave them data quality that under-funded FOSS projects just can’t even begin to approach. So, there’s an interesting question: when we just Fuck Google, do we steal the data they paid to collect? I mean, we could call it AI training, would that make it O.K.?
Good for you, that is what you personally control. It is very different from “ending Google.”
Now, try blocking all Google domains and IP addresses from your routing tables and see how you’re loving life. https://gizmodo.com/i-cut-google-out-of-my-life-it-screwed-up-everything-1830565500
You do understand that the internet is just a network of many different computers right? And that one computer can have many different IP addresses?
The Internet is designed to be decentralized, the only reason that it has become so centralized in recent history is because corporations can afford more infrastructure than regular people, allowing them to host a larger portion of the network.
If Google went away, any of those websites that are not actually a part of Google could just go be hosted elsewhere.
Did the phone networks stop working when the government broke up Ma Bell in 1983? Or did shit get way cheaper and better, and evolve into the internet (before devolving into the modern internet)? When did you first have an answering machine? Was it before or after 1983?
Edit to add some thought on the article itself - It’s heavily anecdotal, but an interesting read regardless. The only point she makes that would actually effect me would be the Lyft thing, but I rarely use that application anyway.
They briefly mention Apple Maps, but don’t expand on that later in the article, which would have been warranted. Apple Maps is leagues ahead of Google Maps for navigational purposes. I don’t think it has streetview, but I also don’t care about streetview.
Everyone should stop using Google Maps out of convenience, and switch to a better option. I’ve heard of FOSS maps as well but haven’t tried them out yet.
The search engine I use is already better than Google, it’s like how Google used to be. No ads, no AI, just relevant links. It can show results from Google if I ask it to, but I don’t need it to.
King Crimson 1969:
Knowledge is a deadly friend If no one sets the rules The fate of all mankind, I see Is in the hands of fools
…
But I fear tomorrow I’ll be crying
Whether you break up Google, Amazon, Meta, SpaceXitter and the rest or not, you’ve got to have sensible rules, sensibly enforced. We’re already crying.
Specifically no, because AT&T didn’t go away, it just got split up and regulated. Shit got cheaper for sure, not always better.
Read a little deeper about how so many websites have Google services entwined into all the pages they serve. There would be a billion+ hours of rework to get Google out of all the non-Google services that are in some way dependent on Google/Alphabet services. Sure, we could rebuild everything to not use Google, but would the other services that grow up in its place be better? They’re not likely to be cheaper, and under the current regulatory environment they’d likely develop even deeper invasions of privacy while building out their “modern” Google replacements.
That’s an interesting perspective. As Android users my wife and I are used to opening maps and asking for a business by name and general description: Green Grocery on Main Street, or Manuel’s Mexican in Midtown Melbourne and it just looks up the address for us and maps to it. Same for anyone in our contacts, just ask for them by name and the address takes care of itself - we can put in addresses, but our “iPhone friends” are constantly asking for the street address of things because that’s what they have to put in. I guess at least iOS is good at address entry.
Again, we’re biased - people who use Google Maps are led directly to our house with no trouble, people who use Apple Maps end up on the next street over looking at our house across a neighbor’s fenced yard and calling us for more directions. We didn’t have to fix Google Maps to get people arriving at our door, but we were able to tweak the road to look more realistic, Apple has no such user feedback interface, at least not that we could ever access.
That’s a nice thought. Do you remember the Google Mapping car fleet driving around for 10 years? I think they’re still doing scaled back maintenance, but that was a tremendously expensive project which gave them data quality that under-funded FOSS projects just can’t even begin to approach. So, there’s an interesting question: when we just Fuck Google, do we steal the data they paid to collect? I mean, we could call it AI training, would that make it O.K.?
One of the other many cartography companies can do it