I sold my soul to Google

Having always been a bit wary of big corporations in general, and one that starts with “M” in particular, it is an uncomfortable feeling when I realise I’ve sold my soul to Google. Not quite a Faustian bargain perhaps but certainly I’ve committed the execution of my business and private computing to them.
I swore I’d never be beholden to a corporation again, and I’ve devoted some effort to disentangling myself from the Seattle megacorp. I’m not there yet but every year I come a step closer.

In the process of escaping the Big M, I had been eying up Ubuntu (I already run my netbook on HP Quickview). But I think I’ll be going Chrome OS in 2012. (Microsoft will be supporting my current Windows XP until 2013). My phone dates from 2003 and runs Windows Mobile 3 but my next phone is likely to be an Android (I’ve never been sucked into iCandy).

I already standardise on Chrome, GMail, GCalendar (shared with my clients), GReader, iGoogle, Maps, Earth, Trends, Books, YouTube for video publishing, and Google Docs for spreadsheets, presentations, and file storage. My websites use Analytics, AdWords, AdSense and Webmaster Tools. Oh and I use Google Search exclusively. One day I may pick up Apps Engine, Chat, Picassa, Groups, Goggles, Sites… So much more to explore.

I’m still stuck on MS-Word (recall that I write books) and Visio, but it is just a matter of time before I have Microsoft out of my life. (For non-Google escape paths, I do projects in OpenProj, graphics in The Gimp, and websites on the LAMP stack and Drupal).

So what am I thinking by abandoning one relationship only to fling myself into another? This one’s different Mum. Really. This one tells me it loves me, that it won’t be evil.

Actually now that I’m past my half-century I’d like to think I don’t fall for that bovine excrement any more. I go into this relationship with eyes wide open. Google are in it for the money. (And I reckon their advertising revenues are falling steeply in the recession, but who’d really know?)
There is nothing idealistic about entrusting so much of my life to Google. Google do something that so many other IT suppliers fail to do: they deliver value. They deliver stuff that is cool, is useful and it works. Much of it is “free” (nothing in IT is free). Despite the hysterical yelpings of the media, they “don’t be evil”. They don’t lock up my data. They don’t screw me with useless upgrades. They don’t corrupt standards to their own ever-so-slightly incompatible versions. They are transparent. The abysmal failure of Wave, and their cynical handling of it, just shows they're human.

Regular readers will know this is not my first love-song to Google. But now I'm even more swept away. As long as Google continue to be amazingly creative about coming out with exactly (or nearly) what I need, enrich themselves without extorting me, and are half-way decent in their dealings, I’ll leave my soul in the GooglePlex.