Yes, a simple take it or leave it situation. There are alternatives. I don't get people getting mad because a private corp is doing something with their own software.
Can you uninstall Google Maps from an android phone?
It's because that private corp is so big that it is starting to control much of the internet and devices so this is an issue very much in the public purview.
It's not as simple as take it or leave it. The corp in question spends billions to insinuate itself into your life, make you dependant, eat competition, and then you can take it, but you definitely can't leave it.
Yes, that starts with "leaving it". Though some found my comment above irritating, the more people use these apps or try to make it "their way", these corps won't go anywhere.
Yes, either you take it, or leave it. Imagine everyone leaving google today. They can't make money. People made them rich, people can take them down. If genpop doesn't understand, you have to find your own ways to navigate thru the internet because google won't go away anytime soon.
I would love to hear your opinion about how to take google down, without making people "leave it".
You're right, but the percentage of Google users aware of how evil they are is probably less than 0.5%.
An overwhelmingly large percentage of users won't care about what could happen as long as nothing happens directly affecting them. Mass surveillance companies like Google, Facebook know this and take advantage of it.
Technology activists aren't strong enough to start a wave that would lead to people abandoning these evil corps..
Also, as others mentioned, they eat up all competition.. so there aren't really any good options left apart from Google products in areas they compete.
> Most people aren't persnickety, anal, border line autistic nerds so Google/Facebook knowing who they know or where they are, when they're using software to tell their friends where they are or are using maps to literally work out where they are right now is just not an issue.
Please don't insult people for caring about privacy.
Not "caring about privacy"; having retarded notions that you can walk around with a tracking device like one might expect a criminal be forced to carry and somehow still have privacy by deleting this cookie or logging out of that service.
It depends on how the system is configured. IIRC custom roms need extra steps to get any official Google apps, so it's certainly possible to configure most phones to not have Maps installed. That said, I think most OEM phones do ship with Google's suite of apps configured as "system" apps that really a few more hope to jump through and could potentially result in instability if any OEM designed system on that phone has a built in assumption about the presence of Maps.
tl;dr: Yes, but you might have to jump through some hoops
> I don't get people getting mad because a private corp is doing something with their own software.
Maybe it's because they created a situation where it's nearly impossible to avoid "their" software because it's integrated into the product the user actually paid for.
If you buy an Android phone you don't buy bare metal. That's not how Android phones are marketed and it's not how Google wants Android phones to be perceived. An Android phone is a device with Google Play, Google Maps and Google Search integrated into the operating system and providing core services. That's how Google wants you to think about Android and it's in their best interest for you to do so.
From a customer point of view, Google Maps is part of the Android device's core functionality. From a marketer's point of view, it's the same. From Google's point of view, it's also the same.
But although Google Maps itself has great offline functionality and in theory only needs online access for map data, traffic information and optimised routing, Google plays bait and switch by demanding you consent to being spied on in order to actually use it.
Sure, it's their software and they can do what they want but customer rights exist, privacy rights exist and competition law exists. They're being intentionally deceitful and maliciously abuse their position to coerce users into giving consent for providing Google with far more data than they need to provide the service.
You are so right. I am just frustrated that they reached global ubiquity and treated user data as a for-profit product rather than a for-good application.
In the last 18 months, Google transitioned from being a 'build products people will use to enhance their daily lives' company (with Google profiting immensely but for the enhancement of humankind) to a company that is nonchalant in the sale of human data, often to the detriment of their users' experience
It’s not just the past 18 months. Let’s not forget the “force Google+ down everyone’s throats and make every Google product worse by needlessly rerouting important functionality through G+”
What choices? And I mean ones that people would actually use or know about? Apple Maps is basically it, and it's only one one platform. Bing Maps...maybe? But Google has an effective monopoly on consumer based maps.
Ask someone in the US who/what "HERE" is, or ask an app developer what mapping API they are using and if HERE is even remotely on the radar. Because, you'll quickly learn that brand penetration, despite operating for a long period of time, is basically 0 in the US. I have tried to implement Bing and OpenStreetMap but customers immediately complain that we're not using Google. Why? Because Google has brilliantly tied marketing of business/AdWords with their map bundle. There's no escape.
maps.me works pretty well, they use open street map data augmented with ad based reccomendations. You download maps so you don’t need wifi to navigate. Best for walking or biking directions, getting better for driving
I get it, it's frustrating as hell, but I can understand their perspective.