Google Does Evil

[viscousmemories]

I may be a die-hard Google fanboy, but some things just can't be waved away.

Google Pulls Plug, Everyone Misses Point (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2170676,00.asp)

In a nutshell, Google pulled the plug on their online movie service without so much as a how do you do, leaving subscribers who purchased the ability to download and watch movies on their home systems dead in the water.

Apparently they offer a refund, but require users to jump through a few hoops to do it.

I'm still a Google fanboy, but a little less comfortable with that position today.

[Ensign Steve]

Oh, are we hating on google today? This is a few months old, but I think I forgot to post it the first time around.

OpenDNS Blog » Google turns the page… in a bad way. (http://blog.opendns.com/2007/05/22/google-turns-the-page/)

For my own perspective, I use a 14" laptop, so I get nothin' but ads up to and beyond the crease.

In a nutshell, Google and Dell partnered to put some hard to find and even harder to remove search "helper" software that returns a bunch of paid ads first if you fuck up typing in the address you want. Here is their example if you accidentally type digg.xom instead of digg.com:

http://www.google.com/hws/dell/afe?hl=en&s=http://digg.xom

[Ari]

Interesting. One reason I don't think the subscription model of music/movie buying will ever work. Why tie your access to music/movies into a company that either doesn't have your best interests in mind or can go belly up?

Just think if they had allowed the program to go on for awhile before pulling the plug and leaving everyone in the dust.

[MonCapitan2002]

I think it is pretty fucked up what Google did. Leaving their customers in the lurch in that fashion really sucks. Hopefully, their actions will come back to bite them in their collective asses.

[Ymir's blood]

They announced that at least some YouTube videos are going to have overlaid ads now too.

CNN link (http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/biztech/08/22/youtube.advertising.ap/index.html)

[MonCapitan2002]

I'd be one of the ten percent who would kill the advertisement immediately. I would rather pay a fee to a subscription service in order to avoid advertising then put up with the shit.

[Corona688]

Wow, google stealing a microsoft idea.

I wouldn't call this "evil". Like all their software it comes with functional, no-bullshit uninstallers. Everywhere I go I find google toolbar installed by accident, but one click kills it and it leaves no bits of itself behind.

As for the average user not being able to uninstall it, well, it may be too much to ask of the average user, but goddamn it, if they're literate, it shouldn't be.