The World’s Most Useful Company?

…consider that Google probably knows more about you than the people who love you, and unlike them, it doesn’t have your best interests at heart. — Shelley Powers

Exactly. And i don’t expect them to.

Go read her entire post, especially if you’re a Googler. Other than the FUD-inspiring title, she outlines the many ways Google may collect data on the users of its services.

I now use many of Google’s services:

• search


• gmail


• calendar


• reader


• analytics


• writely


• spreadsheets


• maps


• groups

The only one in that list i don’t enjoy using is Google Groups (mainly due to the partial feeds). I’ve toyed with Blogger and Notebook. The latter just needs some feeds to be useful.

I know not everyone takes the time to think about what it means to be a user of one of these “free” online services. That’s why i believe Shelley’s post is very relevant. At the same time, i know many non-technical web users who have the view that their personal email, search words, etc. just isn’t that valuable. They are probably right.

Google wants to make money. I want Google to make money so that they can continue to provide me useful services that are free. Google needs users to sell ads to make that money.

Their objective, combined with their business model, means that they must continue to take care of their users; protecting their data and privacy.

In short, Google turns “evil” and i walk. They know i won’t be alone.

Loyalty notice: All my email is mirrored to another service. I download my iCal file and OPML file every night. I export completed docs and spreadsheets to the laptop.