Google continues the enshitification of the apps that made them such a dominant company.
I mean… We probably should have seen it coming.
They’re not a “disruptor” in an industry when they give away the product for free at a loss…they’re just anti-competitive. We got a free ride at the cost of basically destroying all competition for Google. They got to sit back and chill and now they can reap the benefits of zero competition… eg doing whatever the fuck they want since there’s no competitive alternative.
Uber did this too. Remember when you didn’t have to tip?
It won’t work. It will just lower the barrier to entry. I don’t disagree that this is their angle, it’s just… Short sighted.
I wish you were right. If I thought there was an actual shot at Google suffering consequences for bullshit like this, I’d short the stock. In reality, they’ll somehow be up. They’ll launch some stupid new thing and this will be completely forgotten. It’s bad enough that every time Maps updates, it resets my customization to avoid tolls. I live in NoVA. These tolls are absolute fucking bullshit and I ain’t paying it.
It’s bad enough that every time Maps updates, it resets my customization to avoid tolls. I live in NoVA.
Not finding this to be a problem personally. Having lived in multiple areas with tolls.
They got to sit back and chill and now they can reap the benefits of zero competition… eg doing whatever the fuck they want since there’s no competitive alternative.
Ah, capitalism. <3
the product
If it’s free, we’re the product.
If it’s free, we’re the product.
That’s where they messed up.
The product is crowdsourced realtime traffic and editing so searchers can use a mapper that will get them there effectively. They need to understand how it affects ad revenue from search. If the app isn’t easy to use, their editor army and distributed telemetry will dry up.
Organic Maps (available on F-Droid and the Play store) is the closest FOSS alternative to Google maps i have been able to find. Routes are not perfect (they work but could be better) and time estimations are best-guess as it is completely offline minus map downloads, but its a great alternative and also has killer hiking trail data that beats Google’s by a country mile. The offline bit also means that it works without a data connection, and for the privacy-conscious it’s a major boon.
Was unaware of Organic Maps, downloaded today. Thank you!
Also available on iphone (downloading it now), ready to drop maps as the degoogling continues.
Reminds me of when they started doing that thing where they pretended to be helpful by having the GPS voice call out the name of a business on the corner where your turn is - “Turn left after ‘business’ on the left” - but in reality those businesses were paying to inject their name into your driving directions.
When it started, I immediately suspected they were possibly paid sponsorships, which was all but confirmed when it told me to turn “after Bank of America, with drive-thru ATM, on the right.” Stealth advertising mid-navigation… insane.
As absolutely shitty as having ads is that 1 feature is immensely helpful especially in big cities. This helps to avoid needing a last minute turn.
Now: Testing a “feature” that adds sponsored stops to your trip.
Soon: This “feature” is rolled out. You can’t opt out.
After: For a small fee, you can use our app without distractions, such as sponsored content.
Even Later: for a small fee, you can get more personalized ads
Honestly I just wish they’d give us the option to subscribe to an ad-free experience now. I’d even make an exception in uBlock for Google ads if they’d apply “ad-free” to other sites and let me buy that experience while still supporting the content makers I support.
I go through a lot of effort to prevent myself from seeing ads online. That overall effort (not just for Google, but for my entire web experience) is probably worth $50-100 per month of my time, and I’d gladly pay that if it meant I didn’t have to put in the effort. I’ve been slowly unsubscribing from streaming services because of their ads policies…
If I could just get it to stop tagging Liquor Stores as significant landmarks while I’m driving, that would be great. Otoh, if it tricks people into Liquor Store detours, wouldn’t that be a fun Congressional Inquiry?
Like seeing a young kid take up smoking cigarettes - how depressing
