Can you imagine a day without interacting with at least one Google product? From search to email, maps, documents, and awesome Android phones, the tech giant’s reach is undeniable. Google’s suite of services has become a crucial part of our daily routines. Even though you can escape it by trying Microsoft, Apple, or Proton’s ecosystem, you unknowingly use a service or two from the Android maker. Let’s see how Google’s things have become so necessary for us, even if we didn’t decide to rely on them.
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Most Google apps and services are available for free. Whether you use Google search, YouTube, Maps, Keep Notes, Tasks, or a productivity suite, it’s free to download and use. Compared to OneDrive, iCloud, and Dropbox, Google offers three times the free storage space (15GB compared to 5GB) to all new subscribers.
After all, users are more willing to try a new service if there’s no financial risk. This encouraged experimentation and early adoption of Google’s offerings. Also, when something is free, users might be less critical of its features. When you are invested in a free service, the transition to other free Google services becomes seamless and convenient. A Gmail account makes signing up for YouTube, Google Drive, and other Google products easy.
Here is where you can’t ignore or escape the Google ecosystem. Google’s Android is the most widely used mobile operating system worldwide. The Google TV OS is also popular in major regions worldwide. Most of Google’s services, such as YouTube, Chrome, Maps, Gmail, Search, and more, are preinstalled on millions of devices.
You need a Google account to get started with your Android device. You also need the Google Play Store to download popular apps and games on your device, which requires a Google ID to start the installation process.
Even if you use an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, the built-in Safari browser uses the Google search engine as the default. You have used one of the Google services unknowingly. Many users don’t change the default settings, especially if the default option appears to function adequately.
Google locks you into its ecosystem by making its services the preselected option on widely used platforms and within its popular products.
The difficulty of complete avoidance
You will run into a Google service
Even if you try to avoid Google, you might interact with websites that use Google Analytics, embed YouTube videos, or rely on Google Cloud infrastructure. Many websites, applications, and online services, even those that appear to be alternatives to Google products, may be hosted on GCP (Google Cloud Platform). This means your data and interactions might pass through Google’s servers indirectly.
reCAPTCHA is a popular service to differentiate humans from bots. It’s a Google product. You may encounter it frequently when signing up for services or making purchases. Google’s advertising network is one of the largest globally. Even if you avoid Google’s direct services, you will likely run into ads served by Google on other websites and platforms.
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While there is no shortage of alternatives to Google services, some are hard to replace. Take YouTube, for example. It boasts an unparalleled volume and diversity of video content. From educational tutorials to entertainment, music videos, and livestreams, almost anything you can imagine in video format exists on YouTube. It’s a one-stop solution for video content for billions of users.
The Google search engine is another such product. The company spent decades indexing the internet and refining its algorithms to deliver highly relevant search results. While other search engines exist, Google remains the de facto choice for most.
Your car’s navigation system is likely powered by Google Maps. The Android maker invested heavily in collecting and maintaining accurate map data, including satellite imagery, street view, and real-time traffic information. This level of detail and accuracy is difficult for competitors to match.
The seamless way Google’s services work together creates a convenience that is hard to replicate with alternatives. Besides, it requires time and effort as you must migrate years of emails and large video libraries, and adapt to the new interface.
Let’s talk about collaboration. Since most of us have a Google ID, it is easy to collaborate on a document, note, task list, spreadsheet, or presentation.
The price of convenience
It started as a powerful search engine and has become an essential hub for communication, information, navigation, and more. Looking at the alternatives, the promise of open source tools and self-hosting makes a compelling case. Still, they require technical knowledge to implement and maintain, and lack the collaboration that makes Google’s suite convenient.
