this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2024

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VPN by Google One shuts down (9to5google.com)

submitted 4 months ago by Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] tootoughtoremember@lemmy.world 277 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Add it to the pile.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 197 points 4 months ago (12 children)

Tbh at least this one makes sense, who is going to use a VPN (an internet privacy tool) from Google?

[–] Socsa@sh.itjust.works 38 points 4 months ago (1 children)

My purpose for a VPN is more about connecting to WiFi APs I don't control. Google VPN worked just fine for that.

[–] mint_tamas@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

These days you don’t get much extra benefit on a VPN over TLS which you get on 99% of websites.

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[–] SpaceCadet@feddit.nl 30 points 4 months ago

who is going to use a VPN (an internet privacy tool) from Google?

Exactly. That would be like using a web browser made by Google so they have direct access to your internet browsing history. Ridiculous!

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 12 points 4 months ago

I did. Because it was free with another service I'm already paying for.

[–] nutsack@lemmy.world 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (9 children)

when traveling Communist countries in Asia with google fi it was really nice to have

but then they revoked my data service while charging me the same amount every month, because they said I'm traveling too much.

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[–] AWittyUsername@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago

My sister. No fucking idea why

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 7 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Yeah right? I have a VPN to prevent Google (amongst many others) from having too much of my data.

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[–] NESSI3@lemmy.sdf.org 35 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (4 children)

[–] qwioeue@lemmy.world 15 points 4 months ago

I had to help out a client this week because this migration broke their website. Turns out that Squarespace's omain forwarding feature drops query params. This brokes thousands of links. Fun times.

[–] undefined@links.hackliberty.org 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (8 children)

Oh yikes. I would’ve recommended Gandi but they were bought out too. Seems like no one wants to play the registrar game anymore.

[–] subtext@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago (5 children)

I’ve heard lots of recommendations for Porkbun. Personally, I have mine with Cloudflare because they’re cheap.

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[–] Archer@lemmy.world 27 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Whenever Google launches a product or service wait at least 5 years before even trying it to see if they’re serious, got it

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[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 113 points 4 months ago (10 children)

At this point, I’m surprised anybody (including myself) still buys/uses Google services, given how risky it is that you’ll become dependent on them and then they kill off the product(s). I really need to get off my ass and switch mail providers.

[–] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 80 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Google mail is extremely unlikely to get shut down.

But anyway, Proton Mail allows importing e-mails from Google.

[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 66 points 4 months ago (1 children)

grumbles about inbox by gmail

[–] jws_shadotak@sh.itjust.works 26 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Inbox was absolutely stellar and I can't believe they got rid of it.

[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 43 points 4 months ago

"don't worry the inbox by gmail features will be moved into gmail shortly"

[–] narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee 24 points 4 months ago (5 children)

Most people will use whatever the default on their device is. Most phones that aren't iPhones come with Google apps and services set as default.

The only Google services I still use are YouTube and in rare cases Google Maps. But if YouTube continues to enshittify I'll stop using that. I've been using Google Maps mainly to get information about places to eat/sleep in cities, not really for navigation.

[–] zippythezigzag@lemm.ee 12 points 4 months ago (2 children)

If there wernt better YouTube frontends id probably stop using it altogether too. The base site is horrible and idk how anyone could possibly enjoy using it.

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[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

I've found Grayjay helps me hate YouTube less

[–] eighty@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago (7 children)

There was a time when the Google apps just worked, the applications were optimised for UX. Maybe I've just only noticed it now but the directions (and assistant in general) aren't as useful, reliable, and filled with sponsored stuff.

what do you use for navigation and how does it compare?

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[–] Tywele@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 4 months ago (4 children)

I can recommend Proton.

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[–] Babalugats@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago (6 children)

I'm surprised anyone uses Google services considering how they infiltrate your privacy.

A Google VPN is as private to me as giving a six year old a cardboard box and asking them but to look inside.

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[–] ___@l.djw.li 7 points 4 months ago

I’m just now unravelling the last of the truly important bits of my life that are in their clutches, for that and other reasons.

Two phone numbers, a handful of documents I’ve shared over the years that probably don’t matter anyway, and a couple email addresses that I’ve been actively monitoring for months for anything important, and searches my password mgr for….

I should be free by 1 July at the outside, possibly a few days early if I don’t delay the actual deletion process. Feels fuckin great.

[–] asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

ProtonMail is pretty awesome and makes it very easy to switch.

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[–] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 91 points 4 months ago (5 children)

Google: people weren't using it.

The People: you cancel literally everything you create, so why should we bother?

[–] Tier1BuildABear@lemmy.world 32 points 4 months ago (5 children)

Remember when people were using allo and Google play music? Google doesn't.

[–] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 14 points 4 months ago

I loved Allo. I was really depressed to have to use Whatsapp after Google cancelled it. And one of my favorite things to do was use my Google rewards points to buy music.

And they wonder why no one invests time and interest in any of their new "experimental" products.

[–] Zanz@lemmy.ml 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Allo didn't ever make sense. What about Hangouts. Hangouts worked with imessage. And also works better than allo did And also works better than aloe did at any pointat any point.

[–] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Whats crazy is Hangouts is still going (in the form of Chat and Meet). I've had the same group chat going with a few buddies on it for years and years now. And it is still better than anything outside of Signal in my opinion for messaging.

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[–] RecluseRamble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 4 months ago

Google's business model also doesn't really fit to what VPN customers are looking for. They hardly would implement a zero log policy, for example.

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[–] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 61 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Google One was a pretty sweet deal on paper.

But unfortunately, Google's superpower of making really cool things and then killing it off continues to exist.

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 52 points 4 months ago (2 children)

half-arsing a product, people are hesitant to try it, due to other killed off products, google kills product. repeat

[–] Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

And the more they kill the more the reputation grows

Like when stadia was announced my friends and I took bets on how long it would last or if any stadia exclusive games would ever get to launch

[–] Matt@lemdro.id 8 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Ironically, if Google were upfront about how it would handle the shutdown, it likely would have increased consumer confidence enough that Stadia may not have needed to be shutdown.

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[–] GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 11 points 4 months ago

Product launches are the vehicle for attaining promotions at Google, allegedly. Maintenance does not get similarly rewarded, nor does launching projects and having them live on to actually be successful.

When the launcher got promoted and moved on, they have to figure out whether to keep the thing around, and the answer is generally going to be no since few things can really compete with the infinite money glitch that is search ads.

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[–] normalexit@lemmy.world 53 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I get on my VPN to provide less data to Google. Routing my traffic through an advertising company always felt like a bad idea to me.

[–] buttfarts@lemy.lol 11 points 4 months ago (3 children)

I've had like three primary email accounts since the dawn of the popular internet in the 90's

The first was Hotmail because that was a big deal at the time.

The second was google because the interface was slick and it came with (what was at the time) a lot of free storage.

The third is protonmail specifically because after decade+ on Google I realized they pretty much have the keys to the kingdom on my life's data. All my personal relationships and business being filtered through their inbox for a long-ass time. Just because they "know me" inside out for a significant part of my life doesn't mean I gotta just keep feeding them data indefinitely.

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[–] sunzu@kbin.run 32 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Who would use that shite?

Or are you hiring VPN and MITM combo here?

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 19 points 4 months ago

But how am I going to prevent someone from hacking my Google Glass if I click the wrong link in a Google Group now?!

[–] charade_you_are@lemmy.ca 17 points 4 months ago

So no one spoke up or no one listened to guy who said "this is a bad idea, no one really trusts us"

[–] narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee 16 points 4 months ago (1 children)

May as well call it "Google Drive Storage Plans" again then? Aside from some dysfunctional AI features that's pretty much the only thing you get, no?

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[–] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 11 points 4 months ago

RIP to the only VPN that reliably let you watch streaming services overseas.

Here's to enabling the OpenVPN / Wireguard feature on your router.

[–] TheImpressiveX@lemmy.ml 10 points 4 months ago

Queen - Another One Bites the Dust

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