escape from Google

I don’t even know what this means! But let’s do it!
Down with Google!

Well, anyone who’s heard me rail against GYM (Google, Yahoo and Microsoft) will have heard this by now, but here goes. I have no beef with the individual people who work at these companies – indeed, they at least are trying to make things better. The corporate leadership of these companies, however, annoys me – not only with the China censorship issue, but in their acquisition practices. It seems that every product these guys come out with – be it Yahoo acquiring delicious and flickr – tends to suffer after the acquisition, and this acquisition addiction negatively affects the software industry. They are the three giant elephants in the room that everyone bows to, and that makes me a little aprehensive.

I’ve not used google anything (search, maps, anything) since I heard they were censoring the internet in China. I cannot believe how appalling and wrong this is, and that we aren’t exporting some freedom and liberty to 1.3bn people. Please use other search engines, and note than AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo all censor in China, too. There are hundreds of alternatives: give them a try! I’m currently using Teoma.