Weaning Myself From Google

I’ve used iGoogle to track my favourite blogs for a good long while. But they’ve done things to their interface twice now that have baffled and frustrated me. (And a bunch of others.) And with no explanation or ability to revert back to the typical way I work, I’m done.

I’m trying to convert to Netvibes — it seems like it’s in less flux, and offers a template similar to what I’ve become accustomed. I’ve tried a few others too, and they all seem pretty much of a muchness. (Is there anything else out there that you use to make personalised home pages that you can’t live without? I’m eager to hear!)

Migrating from Google is going to cause headaches, ’cause I’ve gotten so enmeshed. (I run blogs on Blogger and use a whole bunch of their other applications.) Though, in fact, part of what convinced me to jump was the recognition of just how enmeshed I am. It’s high time I spread my dependency around… :-)

As a side note, for a long time Google has been regarded as a benevolent Godfather, using its power for the benefit of the human family. But I think we’re going to see the ugly side of what is arguably the most powerful company in the world very soon. That’s another reason for me to cut some strings…with a loud snip. I’m very curious how the world will look when the company starts really throwing its weight around.