
How to live without Google (2017) - deathwarmedover
https://spreadprivacy.com/how-to-remove-google/
======
auiya
Swapping out a select few of Google's products isn't the same as "living
without Google". Until you've blacklisted their entire netblock range from
your usage[1], you don't realize just how many tendrils they have in every
aspect of your Internet experience. And good luck getting around the other
tech giants' oligopoly of the web as well[2]. The Internet isn't a fun "wild-
west frontier" anymore, it's now completely commercialized into a handful of
super large silos, with mostly no way around them.

[1] [https://gizmodo.com/i-cut-google-out-of-my-life-it-
screwed-u...](https://gizmodo.com/i-cut-google-out-of-my-life-it-screwed-up-
everything-1830565500)

[2] [https://gizmodo.com/life-without-the-tech-
giants-1830258056](https://gizmodo.com/life-without-the-tech-
giants-1830258056)

~~~
vagab0nd
Reminds me of this xkcd: [https://xkcd.com/2105/](https://xkcd.com/2105/)

~~~
auiya
Google created TCP Vegas, Chrome, and extend OAuth 2; so they're likely in the
transport, presentation, and session layers too.

~~~
HNLurker2
Should we be worried?

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phil9987
For a couple of month I have set duckduckgo as my standard search engine, but
I often do not get satisfactory results. Is this because I am used to the
Google results or does duckduckgo indeed not prioritize in a good way?

~~~
derinbay
duckduckgo is definitely not an alternative for google. you can't even
compare.

~~~
datenhorst
It is in some use cases. For programming related queries, it oftentimes gives
me better results than Google because it's not trying to be clever and guess
what I could actually mean.

~~~
vperez
I second this, notably for programming related queries. I have been using DDG
for a year or so now, and never looked back.

------
vinni2
For me where I live (Northern Europe) apple maps and open street maps or any
other maps for that matter suck big time. Google maps is the only app which
can search for places in a meanfingul way. I search for an ATM nearby but I
get results which are 400kms away in apple maps.

~~~
GuB-42
Did you try HERE WeGo?

Originally made by Nokia. I tried it on a trip to Helsinki in 2015 and IIRC,
it worked better than Google Maps.

~~~
rlv-dan
One thing I like about them is the offline mode which is great when traveling
abroad. However their app is less that enjoyable to use.

------
chimen
Still early for a release (work in progress/use at your own risk) but I'm
having real fun working on dnsadblock.com. Within days it made me switch from
Chrome to Firefox. As soon as I changed my DNS server Chrome tried to contact
it's mothership roughly 146,000 times in just 24 hours. Being able to see the
actual numbers is something scary.

~~~
propogandist
Have you tried the ungoogled Chromium build? Not sure why anyone would use
Chrome.

Separately, if you have android you should install Netguard, the no root
firewall, to see how often most apps are phoning home + block them from
capturing unnecessary data.

------
0xferruccio
Not using Google is just the tip of the iceberg!

There’s so much information you leave out there just by browsing the internet
( [https://everysiteknows.ferrucc.io](https://everysiteknows.ferrucc.io) ) or
clicking on things.

I also don’t see any alternatives to Google Analytics, Google Adsense, Google
Fonts and Google DNS. All these services are something most users don’t opt-in
for and are the kind of side businesses that feed the data that makes google
the best search engine out there

~~~
sgjohnson
Google DNS? Easy. Cloudflare DNS.

1.1.1.1 1.0.0.1

------
nottorp
Gmail is the main problem. I use it as a backup email and as an ID for
registering about everywhere.

Thing is, what is a reliable email alternative that is certain to be around
long term, that I can use to register? Google can afford to keep gmail up for
my foreseeable life time, what other email services (free or paid) can I trust
with that?

Edit: I do have my own domain, but I don't consider that as reliable as
something maintained by a large organization.

~~~
auslander
> what is a reliable email alternative that is certain to be around long term

iCloud email

~~~
nottorp
Uh... I'm not sure I trust Apple's online services. Technically, I mean. How
many times did they change their email solution in the past 10 years? I think
it was called mobile.me at one point?

And before anyone goes into Apple fanboy mode, I'm typing this on a macbook
pro, my phone is an iPhone, and my desktop is a Hackintosh ;)

~~~
auslander
I have a hack too :) iCloud will stay. And I'll bet all old adresses are still
working.

~~~
sgjohnson
I have an old @me address. It was just migrated into iCloud.

~~~
auslander
Yup, all of them, @me.com, @mac.com are still working.
[https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201771](https://support.apple.com/en-
us/HT201771)

------
csunbird
It does not matter if you do not use GMail, google/microsoft/<insert any other
popular email provider here> has all your emails anyways, since everybody
sends you emails from those domains.

~~~
erinnh
Quite the difference between <insertproviderhere> having all your emails and
<insertallprovidershere> having all your emails if they were to pitch
together.

------
fooblat
I find startpage.com to give a lot better results than DDG. I never seem to
hear about others using it. Is it just not well known?

~~~
akskos
I use it. But comparing it to DDG is a bit unfair IMHO since startpage is
basically a proxy to google search.

------
richsu-ca
About Google Drive, the article says: "This also means your files are never
stored on a single server in the cloud"

The assumption that all the files in Google Drive is in a single server is
false.

You can sync Google Drive on one or more computers and have local backup
copies too. That is also not mentioned.

------
realradicalwash
and DeepL instead of translate, at least if your language is supported. the
translations are really good.

~~~
spurgu
Yeah generally a lot better than Google Translate.

------
_Codemonkeyism
I'm making micro steps forth and back.

Ditched Chrome, using Brave.

Tried DuckDuckGo but - very subjective - it has results that don't work for
me, so I'm mostly back to Google.

Removed Google Maps, mostly use Maps.me now.

Remove Google mobile Mails app, now using Nine.

------
jayalpha
More like a piece of advertisement for DDG.

Avoiding google is tricky.Not impressed.

------
deathwarmedover
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15246716](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15246716)

------
faissaloo
I'm surprised they neglected to mention invidio.us as an alternative way to
access YouTube, it's a step above using DuckDuckGo for YouTube imo.

------
antoniobg
I've tried with DuckDuckGo for 2/3 months, and the images search, something
that I use quite a lot, was pretty unsatisfactory.

------
lizhaohui
You will find out the answer if you live in China

------
rick22
Has anyone used tor regularly for a long time for news consumption and as a
social interaction with like minded people ?

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ilovecaching
I think it’s funny that people try to cut FAANG out of their lives and still
use Linux, which is primarily contributed to by FAANG and other corporations
like Intel and IBM.

Also DuckDuckGo is so slow. I mean how are they supposed to compete with
Google’s edge network? Then they have innacurate results, the first result is
usually a deceiving looking ad, and you have to take them at their word that
they aren’t also selling your data.

~~~
AnonymousPlanet
And use what? Windows 10? That's like using FB as your operating system.

------
chiefalchemist
Soes anyone know if the Vivaldi browser supports multiple users / instances
the way Chrome does?

------
GlenTheMachine
Does anyone have a good alternative to Google Voice?

~~~
Marsymars
Depends a bit on which specific workflows you're using Google Voice to enable,
but as someone not living in America (so don't have access to Google Voice), I
can give you a succinct answer to that: No.

If I want to be able to answer phone calls on my PC, my only options are
either an SIP softphone, or a Mac/iPhone using Continuity.

~~~
GlenTheMachine
I primarily want two things:

1) one phone number that calls all my phones, and 2) voicemail that sends me a
text and/or email with a transcription of the message

~~~
Marsymars
Yeah, there's no general solution... basically you need all the hassle that
comes with configuring and using a hosted SIP provider for those features you
want.

------
envolt
For Maps -

Well, I don't trust Apple either.

Waze was good, but now Google has it.

------
more-entropy
Yeah, we have a plenty alternative services, but only two dominated mobile OS
(and three desktop). Isn't you are looking for a problem in a wrong direction?

------
gurusblogger1
is it even possible?

~~~
clydethefrog
This personal account showed it's at least very difficult. Many website use
code supported by Google.

[https://gizmodo.com/i-cut-google-out-of-my-life-it-
screwed-u...](https://gizmodo.com/i-cut-google-out-of-my-life-it-screwed-up-
everything-1830565500#_ga=2.109788613.1339556351.1549309045-1494158073.1547676718)

