» How I Became (Mostly) Google-free in About a Day. By Leo Babauta Are we too reliant on Google’s services? As long-time readers know, I love Google’s products and use them daily, as they’re absolutely the best I’ve tried in their categories: Google search, Gmail, Google Chrome browser, Google Reader, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Picasa, mostly. But is it dangerous to give all our information and to rely so completely on one corporation?
Should we be worried? Should we be looking for alternatives? Another thing that concerns me is the commercialization of every aspect of our lives. I’ve been thinking about this for some time. However, last week, I decided to try an experiment: could I go (mostly) Google-free? It took me one day. Here’s how I did it, and how it’s turned out so far. First, Overall Principles Remember that my main reasons for doing this are that 1) I don’t want all my data in one corporation and 2) I don’t want everything I do to be pervaded by advertising. And in an ideal world, those alternatives would also be: Google Search. Stealth. Schmedley™ GAMMA. Dual Maps: Google Maps, Street View and Virtual Earth in an embeddable control - www.mashedworld.com - www.mapchannels.com.
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