• ArchRecord@lemm.ee
          0·
          11 months ago

          If you use a reputable adblocker, especially a well known FOSS one like uBlock Origin, you’re not the product. The way they block ads is by downloading static filter lists, not live checking by sending your queries to their servers.

          I’m not saying all adblockers won’t track you, but acting as if people are “Adblock’s product” by using adblockers is simply a misinformed view of how most adblockers operate. (I do agree that marketing adblock as a solution for a legitimate issue doesn’t negate the initial problem or its critics, though.)

        • MindTraveller@lemmy.caEnglish
          0·
          11 months ago

          I’m not saying it’s not a bad thing, I’m just remarking it’s interesting you know in the first place. I didn’t know.

  • Majestic@lemmy.ml
    0·
    11 months ago

    Kind of like Microsoft then. They buy up or spend money trying to break into all kinds of different areas but consistently take bad L’s and get pushed back to their core business time and again after face-planting and alienating those who gave them a shot.

  • Zloubida@lemmy.world
    0·
    11 months ago

    I hate Google and try not use it anymore but there’s still one thing I can’t do without : Google Maps.

    • marine_mustang@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      11 months ago

      Like everything else, advertising pressure has ruined it. You can still search, but just zoom in and look over an area to see what is there? So many businesses missing, because they don’t pay Google to advertise. Apple Maps shows them all, because they don’t make money from advertising.

      Open Street Maps are ok, but my area has a lot of businesses missing. If you know the address you need to go to, then it’s great for routing.

      My personal hobby horse with Google killing things is Reader.

      • leekleak@lemmy.world
        0·
        11 months ago

        Organic Maps are great, however if you’re looking for shops and restaurants (or rather their reviews) Google Maps are second to none.

        • thedarkfly@feddit.nl
          0·
          11 months ago

          OSM can technically replace Gmaps for shops and restaurants if enough people were using and updating it.

          However, Gmaps in unbeatable for public transportation :( no alternative at all

          • leekleak@lemmy.world
            0·
            11 months ago

            Oh, I’m well aware of that, but there are so few cities that have been mapped to the degree to compete with gmaps, that I doubt we ever will reach that level.

            Also reviews. I’m not sure if there even is a way to fix that without creating a separate program with a separate ecosystem in the process…

            • yynt@lemmy.ml
              0·
              11 months ago

              Unfortunately the reviews at GMaps are becoming less and less reliable though, as many businesses begin to have bad reviews removed through lawyers.

              I’ve had it happen to a couple of mine, where Google forwarded the request of a law firm to prove I had actually been at a restaurant more than 5 years ago (where I reviewed it with 3*).

              Even if you can prove it, most people won’t and in that case the restaurant went from 3.8 stars to 4.6, which is a shame really. It confirms a hunch that just as with Amazon the reviews get a lot less reliable.

            • thedarkfly@feddit.nl
              0·
              10 months ago

              Ooh, nice. Thanks for making me discover it! I would have liked a FOSS alternative, but this is pretty good.

              Edit: argh, it’s nice for local urban commute, but it doesn’t work outside or between big cities :(

          • Holyhandgrenade@lemmy.world
            0·
            10 months ago

            In Europe you can usually download an app for the public transit in that specific country/city. However, Google Maps is the only one that will show you how to get to a specific address (not just the train/bus station).

            • dunz@feddit.nu
              0·
              10 months ago

              I use Transportr for that. It integrates with the different local metro systems. Works great in Sweden at least🙂

            • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
              0·
              11 months ago

              It’s like the map from an angle without a specific destination. Helpful for showing the surrounding map area.

              If you’ve driven a car with a built in map display, it’s basically that but for your phone.

      • yum@lemmy.eco.br
        0·
        11 months ago

        I have tried using it for a while but a few updates ago the search functionality was kinda messed up (and still is) so I had to switch back to gmaps :(

      • scrooge@infosec.pubEnglish
        0·
        11 months ago

        I can never stick with those alternatives, the traffic conditions feature is simply too good to miss

        • SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml
          0·
          11 months ago

          I find Waze quite good for traffic conditions. The only thing it always tries to steer me wrong with is that there’s 2 main routes home from work, around the North East of the city, and on the bypass around the West/South of the city. It always wants to take me on the bypass as when I’m at the exit for the other route, traffic is way lighter. However by the time I’m halfway home on the bypass traffic has brought itself to an essential standstill. And there’s no real ways cutting across the city that avoids the high traffic section of the bypass that doesn’t take longer than sitting in traffic. Also…the NE route is at most 15mins longer due to speed limits, but it’s 20ish km shorter.

      • fossphi@lemm.eeEnglish
        0·
        11 months ago

        OSM is great in some places. But outside of the more techy areas, it’s a barren land. I something do my part with streetcomplete, but anyway, it’s not there yet (in most places)

        • stinerman@midwest.socialEnglish
          0·
          11 months ago

          Yeah I contribute to OSM but apps like OsmAnd are a far cry in features from Google Maps. The paths are very much not optimized. If I tell it to go back to my hometown it takes me about 15 minutes out of the way. And I can’t tell it to go to a certain house because the houses aren’t mapped yet.

          Should I help map them? Yes. But for your average user that’s not going to work.

          • InFerNo@lemmy.ml
            0·
            11 months ago

            OsmAnd blows google maps out of the water in terms of features, but google does better with less. It’s easier to use and it has everyone contributing to traffic analysis with them even realizing.

    • SinJab0n@mujico.org
      0·
      10 months ago

      The problem is how microsoft doesn’t want to lose the title as shittiest software company, that shit about copilot is absolute distopian nightmare fuel.

      Even orwell would be like; “wow wow wow, thats to far”. At least we could say we were in a “happy world”, now this shit (USA, EU) is north korea ccp edition 2.0, redux.

  • jh29a@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    0·
    10 months ago

    They are the IMO most supported Single-Sign-On provider. I think Facebook, which I don’t even have, was mostly for games, and then apple also isn’t an option, and that’s just it besides using firefox’ built in password manager for another email/password combination. What’s your opinion on log in providers?

    • LastElemental@lemmy.world
      0·
      10 months ago

      On iOS I find Apple Maps to be better in general. I don’t think Google maps is as much of a monopoly as it once was

    • guiguinofake@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      10 months ago

      Yeah. I tried using OpenStreetMap for five minutes until I realised most of my city doesn’t have the house numbers mapped out.

      • LemmyHead@lemmy.ml
        0·
        10 months ago

        In my experience, google maps has the same issues in some areas,e.g. Tanger. OSM was way more reliable there. You could help fix those issues by contributing. I think it’s fun and you’ll get to know your neighborhood better

    • Beaver@lemmy.caEnglish
      0·
      10 months ago

      I’m going to spend an hour happily contributing to openstreetmaps in response :P

    • aard@kyu.de
      0·
      10 months ago

      Maps also has gone to shit. Complex routing including public transport is pretty much the only thing it still is useful for. For using maps as maps openstreetmap has been better for a long time, even before Google decided to dumb down their maps. For bicycle routing osm also is better nowadays as Google is missing most of the small paths.

    • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.socialEnglish
      0·
      10 months ago

      And they’ve been neglecting that. There are a couple of street names that they have wrong, and I’ve been using the edit feature fruitlessly for over 8 years. I’ve included links to local business web sites with the new name of one, links to municipal web sites with the new name, geo-tagged photos of the street signs, and even links to the municipal ordinance that changed the names in 2003. It all goes into the same black hole.

    • मुक्त@lemmy.ml
      0·
      10 months ago

      Maps was crowdsourced like wikipedia. Still is.
      It will turn to shit as crowds migrate. And the crowds are migrating.

  • hardy@lemmy.ml
    0·
    11 months ago

    Theres much much more… Smaller kills sometimes are the most effective. Think about Google RSS Reader the best rss reader to ever exist…

  • tacosplease@lemmy.world
    0·
    10 months ago

    The UI for GMail is awful. Can’t even follow conversations on my phone app. Just put that shit in order like Outlook does. Fuck.

      • KinglyWeevil@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        0·
        10 months ago

        You know what I don’t want when I search for an email Microsoft? I don’t want your fucking suggestions about what I’m looking for.

        • BluescreenOfDeath@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          10 months ago

          I have to use Teams, Outlook, and Sharepoint for work.

          What kills me about the search functions in all of them is how bad it is. I work for an ISP, and we use identifiers for different services. I can search SharePoint for the unique numerical identifier of a circuit and get multiple results returned.

          Granted, the first is usually what I’m looking for, but none of the other returned results have the identifier anywhere in them.

          Same for Outlook. So much junk noise returned when searching for anything.