I used to get really excited when Google did things. Getting early access to Gmail, setting up Google Drive, remember when some of us thought Google Glass was gonna change the world?
But now, whenever I hear Google is getting involved in something, I worry. How are they looking to exploit users this time? What kind weird subscription/micro-transaction model are they trying to push on us? How are they gonna enshitify this? And even if it is good, how long until they just abandon it?
I used to love Google, but now, while I do use and even pay for some of their products/services, I take steps to obfuscate my use, use alternatives where possible, and just basically give them as little trust as I can while still living my day-to-day interacting with people who don’t worry about these issues.