E-Dribble

It’s been proven before, but Google keeps confirming that the only way that a free open source system or product  will dominate a closed source, proprietary commercial system is if the free open source system is being driven by a commercial, closed source and proprietary entity. Google’s Android system has overtaken the iPhone in sales.

It really isn’t much of a big deal when you take into account that getting into an iPhone is still much more expensive than a phone running Android.  Many people are choosing Android because they either can’t afford or don’t want to spend the money required to own an Apple product.  It hardly determines a superior product.

Who cares why it’s happening, right?  We should just be cheering that open source is finally trampling a proprietary product on it’s own turf!

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In line with their plan of world domination, Google decided to turn GMail into a Facebook clone, with their most recent addition being “Buzz”. Most of us(myself included) found out how to turn it off. Not all were as charitable as I and began bitching in earnest.  You see, Google made it a royal pain in the ass to turn it off.  They let you think you were turning it off with the handy link at the bottom of the page when in reality you were only hiding it from your view, allowing their social network to gain users that didn’t know they were part of a social network any longer.

For those of us that despise social networking, Google has finally added the ability to actually opt out of the bullshit that is “Buzz“.

Or, it’s just another button that doesn’t do what they say.

Eric Schmidt of Google says that only miscreants need privacy. So, if you worry about what Google is doing with your data, you should be ashamed of yourself. You probably also deserve to go to jail.

Now, I’ve talked about the thin veil of Google’s “Don’t be Evil” facade.  Usually just to poke fun at those that might actually believe it.  So far though, this story just doesn’t rate any space here.  We all know that the giant that is Google doesn’t feel you should have any right to privacy.  Big deal, right?

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I tend to get giddy when stories ridiculing various targets of opportunity overlap.  In a story that might leave me smiling for weeks, Techdirt has regaled us with the potential fantasticalness  of both “The Cloud” and Microsoft.

Microsoft bought out Danger, the maker of the Sidekick phone.  One of the phone’s main selling features was that your data was stored on remote servers.  I know, how fucking handy is that, right?

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To the 40+ authors of the “news” articles hyping the upcoming Google OS I found in my reader today.  You are all a bunch of fucking sheep.

That is all.

A /. user was testing the new Microsoft filter system.  Upon initial use and with the filter set to the lowest setting, the filter blocked Google.  Disabling the filter brought the Goog back.

The nerds are currently deciding via /.’s commenting system if it was intentional or not.  They’ll let you know what they decide.

As time passes, I grow as weary of Google’s tactics as I am of Microsoft.  I use both daily, so I can hardly say that I feel strongly enough to be rid of them, but I sometimes hate to think of my role in this as an enabler.

Just not quite enough to go without my OS and Google Maps.

Former brains behind the now dead and buried Netscape browser have unveiled a cloud storage solution for those of you that would like to store all of your sensitive, important and valuable information with faceless people around the intardnet that promise not to lose, harm or misuse your data.

It stands to reason that a group of people that did so great in the browser wars would now up the ante by offering to store your data that could potentially ruin your life were it to be, lost,  placed in the wrong hands or compromised.

I don’t have a problem with the fact that Netscape developers are getting into the cloud storage business.  I think for that to happen, I would have to find cloud storage a viable technology.  I find the whole premise of remote storage to be utterly laughable,  so at most, the Netscape angle is just a higher level of laughable.

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Remember when Google’s motto was “Don’t be Evil“? Well, Google long ago turned that into lip service, but at least upheld a facade of a corporate entity driven by do-gooders and white knights.

Take their latest stand for all that is good.

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