What would it take?

[Vehtemas]

So, I figured I would ask here since it is a much more computer related question, here it goes.

What would it take, as in what new services would they need to implement, for Google to take over all of your online life?

They have the social media (granted Google+ would need to grow, but the infrastructure is there), they have the email (no brainer), they have picasa, youtube, google apps for business, in fact my work is almost about to make that transition, google docs, google music (I find myself using this daily at work or on my phone, its basically pandora but my collection of music...), calendar, and dozens of smaller applications.

All of these sync perfectly to an Android phone, and almost all of them you can buy extra storage for super cheap ($5 a year for 20 gigs of extra storage...).

I guess to me they would need a reliable and well priced backup/sync service similar to dropbox or SugarSync to complete their offerings. If I could have all of it on one account it would be perfect.

 

[9to5cynic]

*free* lol. I'm cheap. Also, a wiki is a good thing, I've been spending too much time there lately. And besides emailing files to yourself, they don't have a dropbox clone (do they?!!). They're getting there aren't they? When you list out all the services, it's pretty mind blowing really. Go google. The one company I trust (even with the privacy issues and what not, I believe they *really* do not want to 'do evil').

 

[Vehtemas]

*free* lol. I'm cheap. Also, a wiki is a good thing, I've been spending too much time there lately. And besides emailing files to yourself, they don't have a dropbox clone (do they?!!). They're getting there aren't they? When you list out all the services, it's pretty mind blowing really. Go google. The one company I trust (even with the privacy issues and what not, I believe they *really* do not want to 'do evil').

That is my one big wish list is something like dropbox or SugarSync. I understand they may charge for large storage but everything else is free, they found ways to give you a bunch of free shit for some simple ads here and there it really is insane when you think about it.

I have my connector gmail account (primary for phone etc) and three google app accounts that are my personal domains, I just use Google apps for free so i have:

Js@lastname.com (personal/jobbhunting)
Josh@sidejob.com (I fix pcs on the side and people are more prone to trust you if the email is more professional)
Js@agent(emp number) - I use to work for Geek Squad and had an Agent number, I have bought a domain based off that number, this is for spam and for general day correspondence that is NOT personal, or someone I don't trust with my personal account name.

I don't really email anyone from my connector free gmail account, I have all the other accounts forward mail to my connector account and the connector account is setup to send mail as them through their smtp server so it doesn't show that stupid on behalf of crap. This method means I can use a spam@charactername account all I want, then when it gets bad, delete it and name one spam2 with no issue.

For all that you might be asking how much they are charging me? All of those domains cost me $10 a year each, or $30 total, the email accounts and google services with each are free as long as I don't want more than 10 email accounts. I can also use picasa, google docs, and every other google service.

 

[alostpacket]

Are you asking Google in particular or asking what a complete computing ecosystem would be?


Personally I think they'd need a serious Linux distro -- not this chrome netbook nonsense.

I think they'd need, maybe to buy out sony's playstation division heh.

Wikis are good -- also they'd need to stop killing the little projects like AppInventor and Knol.

I think they should buy out Adobe and port all the software to Linux.

I dunno - complete dominance is hard I think. I'm sitting here looking around the room thinking about all the companies that make the stuff I use.

 

[Vehtemas]

Are you asking Google in particular or asking what a complete computing ecosystem would be?


Personally I think they'd need a serious Linux distro -- not this chrome netbook nonsense.

I think they'd need, maybe to buy out sony's playstation division heh.

Wikis are good -- also they'd need to stop killing the little projects like AppInventor and Knol.

I think they should buy out Adobe and port all the software to Linux.

I dunno - complete dominance is hard I think. I'm sitting here looking around the room thinking about all the companies that make the stuff I use.

I was asking more about a 100% online cloud presence, although their new chromebooks are a step in that direction.

 

[alostpacket]

Ahh, that's a good question too --

I guess for me, cloud computing is just and added convenience to local storage.

For every cloud app I use I have it synced to a desktop program in one way or another.

 

[Vehtemas]

Ahh, that's a good question too --

I guess for me, cloud computing is just and added convenience to local storage.

For every cloud app I use I have it synced to a desktop program in one way or another.

Really?

I find that the bulk of programs I use are online in nature. Picasa, sugarsync, google contacts/calendar (I don't have any type of local calendar/contacts program), email (gmail).

In fact the only true local applications I use daily would be office and Minecraft...

 

[alostpacket]

Yep - Picasa has a windows app, plus I keep everything local and on a NAS
Email: Thunderbird, own several of my own domains
Calendar: Thunderbird(Lightning I think) synced with Google
Contacts: Thunderbird, synced with Google.

It all works pretty well for what I need, and I have a local copy in case anything ever went kaput.

 

[Vehtemas]

Yep - Picasa has a windows app, plus I keep everything local and on a NAS
Email: Thunderbird, own several of my own domains
Calendar: Thunderbird(Lightning I think) synced with Google
Contacts: Thunderbird, synced with Google.

It all works pretty well for what I need, and I have a local copy in case anything ever went kaput.

Hmm, I like the label system from Gmail too much to go full Thunderbird or local email client.

Hmm, I take it back, Thunderbird is AWESOME for its label sync as well, however it turns out I still prefer to go via online email, I like having the exact same setup I am aware of no matter WHERE I am in the world. It makes life easy.

 

[mikedt]

So, I figured I would ask here since it is a much more computer related question, here it goes.

What would it take, as in what new services would they need to implement, for Google to take over all of your online life?

Well Google already has my email, contacts and calendar. Which is already a good chunk of my 'online life'.

For most other things though like office productivity, presentations, movies, music, photos, I keep things local, as I'm not always online. Something like a Chromebook would be rather useless for me, well apart from browsing and email. Although I do use Google Music though, often downloading the MP3s rather streaming them.

 

[Vehtemas]

Well Google already has my email, contacts and calendar. Which is already a good chunk of my 'online life'.

For most other things though like office productivity, presentations, movies, music, photos, I keep things local, as I'm not always online. Something like a Chromebook would be rather useless for me, well apart from browsing and email.

Why not use Google Music and Picasa?

Google Music allows for 20,000 song uploads for playing via the net ANYWHERE plus Android phone usage.

Picasa is limited to 1 GB, but you could pay for another 20 gigs for 5 bucks a year.

 

[mikedt]

Why not use Google Music and Picasa?

Google Music allows for 20,000 song uploads for playing via the net ANYWHERE plus Android phone usage.

Perhaps I should have made it a bit clearer, I'm using Google China Music. google.cn/music which is basically a free MP3 download and streaming service, that's only available in Mainland China. It's not for uploading your own music to, which I believe Google USA Music is intended for, and is not available outside the US.

Picasa is limited to 1 GB, but you could pay for another 20 gigs for 5 bucks a year.

Currently I'm using GIMP for my picture needs, and backup photos online via Apple's MobileMe or iCloud or whatever they call it now. Apple's service is one of the few photo hosting services that's easily available here, without having to go through a proxy. That's why I use it.

 

[Vehtemas]

Perhaps I should have made it a bit clearer, I'm using Google China Music. google.cn/music which is basically a free MP3 download and streaming service, that's only available in Mainland China. It's not for uploading your own music to, which I believe Google USA Music is intended for, and is not available outside the US.



Currently I'm using GIMP for my picture needs, and backup photos online via Apple's MobileMe or iCloud or whatever they call it now. Apple's service is one of the few photo hosting services that's easily available here, without having to go through a proxy. That's why I use it.

Oh, didn't notice you're from China hahaha.

Ignore the music part then =P

 

[mikedt]

Oh, didn't notice you're from China hahaha.

Ignore the music part then =P

That OK haha. Hey thanks for the tip about Picasa though, trying it now, looks promising, and doesn't have to be online.

 

[Vehtemas]

That OK haha. Hey thanks for the tip about Picasa though, trying it now, looks promising, and doesn't have to be online.

I like it since it syncs with the desktop application, allows one to upload specific folders and then share said folders.

 

[9to5cynic]

Are you asking Google in particular or asking what a complete computing ecosystem would be?


Personally I think they'd need a serious Linux distro -- not this chrome netbook nonsense.
True. I need local versions of my stuff, I'd like to be able to have a completely offline computer if need be.
I think they'd need, maybe to buy out sony's playstation division heh.

Wikis are good -- also they'd need to stop killing the little projects like AppInventor and Knol.
They killed appinventor? Never got around to using it, guess I'll have to delete that bookmark... :'(
I think they should buy out Adobe and port all the software to Linux.
YES! And maybe release the source
I dunno - complete dominance is hard I think. I'm sitting here looking around the room thinking about all the companies that make the stuff I use.

Added to the quote. That doesn't count as a message. Silly me.

 

[mikedt]

I like it since it syncs with the desktop application, allows one to upload specific folders and then share said folders.

I discovered one thing about the Picasa face recognition, it doesn't recognise black people. No problem with Chinese or Mongolian though, even with sunglasses. Is it racist? I also heard that the Microsoft Kinect has problems with black people as well with recognising them.

I've got quite a few pictures of a couple of friends who are black, and I mean they're really dark skinned, not like Obama. Picasa didn't recognise their faces at all.

It works..


...as long as one isn't black. hmm.

 

[Vehtemas]

I discovered one thing about the Picasa face recognition, it doesn't recognise black people. No problem with Chinese or Mongolian though, even with sunglasses. Is it racist? I also heard that the Microsoft Kinect has problems with black people as well with recognising them.

I've got quite a few pictures of a couple of friends who are black, and I mean they're really dark skinned, not like Obama. Picasa didn't recognise their faces at all.

It works..
View attachment 24342
View attachment 24349
...as long as one isn't black. hmm.

Well, I hate to be the one to say it, but the contrast is NOT as good on a black person's face due to their skin eh?

I would say it is physics, although again I am no scientist and I have nothing against black people..

 

[mikedt]

Well, I hate to be the one to say it, but the contrast is NOT as good on a black person's face due to their skin eh?

I would say it is physics, although again I am no scientist and I have nothing against black people..

Presumably professional facial recognition systems have no problem with skin colour. I know law enforcement agencies often use computer facial recognition techniques for crime detection etc.

I can just imagine some biometric security system having a problem, "Sorry mate we cant clear you for security, because you're not compatible with our new face recognition system. It's nothing personal of course.".

 

[Vehtemas]

Presumably professional facial recognition systems have no problem with skin colour. I know law enforcement agencies often use computer facial recognition techniques for crime detection etc.

I can just imagine some biometric security system having a problem, "Sorry mate we cant clear you for security, because you're not compatible with our new face recognition system. It's nothing personal of course.".

Hahahaha very true.

Although I doubt Picasa uses anything professional grade. It probably uses basic three to five point identification. Too much change in lighting throws it off.

 

[johnlgalt]

Hmm, I like the label system from Gmail too much to go full Thunderbird or local email client.

Hmm, I take it back, Thunderbird is AWESOME for its label sync as well, however it turns out I still prefer to go via online email, I like having the exact same setup I am aware of no matter WHERE I am in the world. It makes life easy.

I don't mind using the main web interface for GMail, but Thunderbird, with IMAP support built in for GMail accounts, works flawlessly with GMail and labels.

I have roughly 130 server-side filters to shunt mail away from my Inbox to other labels (but not archived) so that my Inbox stays relatively clean - and I have more filters and labels set up in all 6 of my accounts (4 GApps accounts from my domains and 2 regular Google accounts). With Thunderbird, I can create and / or delete any labels that I've created in GMail itself, and I can put them anywhere I want, which was a lot harder in GMail web client until they recently started introducing nested labels (which I've already been doing for the last 2 years by creating the labels {in Thunderbird they are treated and symbolized as folders} by simply creating the folder with a full path, e.g. if I wanted a folder called foo that was nested under my Inbox, in Thunderbird I'd simply create a folder called INBOX/foo and in GMail it would show up as a label called foo nested under INBOX).

Another post further up (I think I forgot to mark it for replying) mentioned file sharing - currently, Google Docs can't do all files but it can do most types of documents, including PowerPoint and PDFs. And, word on the street has it that Google may be testing a broader scope file sharing, but there are so many out there that already do this that it is very late in the game (like SugarSync, DropBox, Box.net, etc.)

If it wasn't for my domains, I'd probably be a lot less dependent upon Google, but the first domain I bought, when I found out I could route all my email through Google, I was stoked, b/c setting up the GApps accounts were easy as pie - once I left 1to1 as my registrar lol.

I know a lot of ppl look down on GoDaddy but I only use them a as registrar b/c, frankly, they control panel is so easy to work with when it comes to making the necessary changes in configuration to use a GApps account with a domain that After the first, I continue to use GoDaddy as my registrar.

 

[Vehtemas]

I don't mind using the main web interface for GMail, but Thunderbird, with IMAP support built in for GMail accounts, works flawlessly with GMail and labels.

I have roughly 130 server-side filters to shunt mail away from my Inbox to other labels (but not archived) so that my Inbox stays relatively clean - and I have more filters and labels set up in all 6 of my accounts (4 GApps accounts from my domains and 2 regular Google accounts). With Thunderbird, I can create and / or delete any labels that I've created in GMail itself, and I can put them anywhere I want, which was a lot harder in GMail web client until they recently started introducing nested labels (which I've already been doing for the last 2 years by creating the labels {in Thunderbird they are treated and symbolized as folders} by simply creating the folder with a full path, e.g. if I wanted a folder called foo that was nested under my Inbox, in Thunderbird I'd simply create a folder called INBOX/foo and in GMail it would show up as a label called foo nested under INBOX).

Another post further up (I think I forgot to mark it for replying) mentioned file sharing - currently, Google Docs can't do all files but it can do most types of documents, including PowerPoint and PDFs. And, word on the street has it that Google may be testing a broader scope file sharing, but there are so many out there that already do this that it is very late in the game (like SugarSync, DropBox, Box.net, etc.)

If it wasn't for my domains, I'd probably be a lot less dependent upon Google, but the first domain I bought, when I found out I could route all my email through Google, I was stoked, b/c setting up the GApps accounts were easy as pie - once I left 1to1 as my registrar lol.

I know a lot of ppl look down on GoDaddy but I only use them a as registrar b/c, frankly, they control panel is so easy to work with when it comes to making the necessary changes in configuration to use a GApps account with a domain that After the first, I continue to use GoDaddy as my registrar.

I have one domain with Godaddy and 2 with Enoms, all registered through Google Apps.

I use Sites to make my side job work site.

I also use Google apps to use my three domains (I have a personal one (my lastname.com), my business one (personal business), and my public personal one, which I have multiple accounts for, J for me and SU for my spam haha, it is awesome to not have to worry about MAKING an account for it haha).

Anyways, I must admit if they made something similar to SugarSync for online data backup then I would LOVE it and focus everything on Google.

As of this moment pretty much everything goes through Google anyways.

P.S. I cannot give up my gmail website, I prefer to have everything go right through my primary gmail account and I want to keep it that way so its the same no matter WHERE I go.

P.P.S. I am heavily invested into Nested labels, and if they didn't have nested labels I would be much more likely to jump ship out of Gmail and to Thunderbird.

And yes I use filters excessively to route everything where it needs to go, although I keep them non archived in my inbox and I just archive them when I am done reading them and BOOM they are right in the right label.

 

[richphitzwell]

Personally ive asked the same thing about Facebook and have my own thoughts on that. But keeping it google, i would not trust google with much for one reason, changes they make. Google apps they foced us to create a new account which messed up google checkout and now they are forcing us to wallet and im fine with that except wallet doesnt appear to allow you to sell and u have to around the backway to get to your checkout seller account. Then google decides to stop support for most ecommerce forcing us to modify what they started to work.

Anyways this is one example but you can see a trend over the years of them starting something , abandoning it for another competing product they developed while trashing the DB making you to resign upto start again. Just ask where was google plus born from and whathappened to the users of wave and buzz to understand my frustration

 

[Vehtemas]

Personally ive asked the same thing about Facebook and have my own thoughts on that. But keeping it google, i would not trust google with much for one reason, changes they make. Google apps they foced us to create a new account which messed up google checkout and now they are forcing us to wallet and im fine with that except wallet doesnt appear to allow you to sell and u have to around the backway to get to your checkout seller account. Then google decides to stop support for most ecommerce forcing us to modify what they started to work.

Anyways this is one example but you can see a trend over the years of them starting something , abandoning it for another competing product they developed while trashing the DB making you to resign upto start again. Just ask where was google plus born from and whathappened to the users of wave and buzz to understand my frustration

Hmm, that is very true.

I have never used Wave or Buzz, I tried using Wave but it frustrated me.

The Majority of stuff I use, like Music, Voice, and Google Apps have always worked.