The outcome of any serious research can only be to make two questions grow where only one grew before.
As part of a series, I am looking at my relationship with Microsoft, Google, and Apple brands and how they have become part of my work life.
I now use Google for a few services on a day-to-day basis, surprisingly not their search engine. I use Google Apps often and with our firm moving our IT infrastructure to Google Apps it will soon be woven into the fabric of all we do.
Would it be possible to go a work day without Google? At this point I would have to say that it would be possible by having all Google based email routed to another account. Would it be possible to go without Google on a long-term basis? I believe it can certainly be done. The Google Apps I use all have synonyms with vendors like Zoho which would give equivalent services. The search engine could be replaced with a Microsoft, Yahoo, or niche equivalent.
Is a move away from Google desirable. Definitely not. At least not for me. There is something comforting in the fact that these applications are while not great, good enough for most things I do. I trust that they will keep getting better over time (Google has a good track record with me in this area). Perhaps it is that Google has done a great job of setting my expectations at a level which they can meet. After all, “they’re still in beta”. I also like the financial and service / reliability model associated with using Google (despite recent outages).
While I’m sure that some day I will be forced to move away from Google, or another next best thing will come along, for now Google seems to have me.
Taking a step back and looking at my relationship with Google I would categorize it as familial. While they didn’t start here, they have become the one that provides me a safe place to work, with not best in class but good enough apps, and charge me friends and family rates.
I am curious about your thoughts in this area as I know I am not the only on thinking along these lines.
