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10 Useful Apps To Reduce Your Dependency On Google

dumblittleman.com — They are worth being familiar with so that you can avoid a crisis situation when you cannot access a Google product for some reason.

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  • sumeshpremraj, on 06/30/2008, -4/+28Many of those apps(feeddemon, Zoho, flickr, thunderbird etc) are excellent apps that can easily replace Google counterparts. Overall a nice collection, but I'd still stick to web apps because a)I love to live inside the browser (so that its the same environment when I'm on Windows, Ubuntu and Mac OS X) and b)I am a believer and practise cloud storage.
    • Wakuko, on 07/01/2008, -5/+2Who else besides M$ wants you to move away from Google?

      Hmm
      • ultrafez, on 07/01/2008, -5/+4Stop saying M$, it makes you look childish.
      • cJw314, on 07/01/2008, -2/+2Ignoring the "If you don't have anything good to say..." adage makes you childish as well.
    • planegray, on 07/01/2008, -0/+6Why use 10 apps when i could just use one google =)
  • theregoesdave, on 06/30/2008, -6/+5*****
  • upick, on 06/30/2008, -7/+67no.... but I only depend on Google, I feel like I'm betraying Google... It's been my best friend for the last 5 years! I find everything on it~
  • keithdsouza, on 06/30/2008, -6/+9Google dominance has been a overkill, some of the apps listed here are definitely worthwhile if you want to stay away from Google products
  • rj3sp, on 06/30/2008, -3/+8I love Zoho and Live Photo Gallery, they are the worthy replacements !
  • artsyave, on 06/30/2008, -6/+57..but but .. but I love google products! It works. Why would I change?
  • philadelphia, on 06/30/2008, -4/+10I'm afraid I might get the shakes if I give up my Google addiction.
  • MarianaPeyton, on 07/01/2008, -2/+22I would rather have all my services on Google, where they have good and reliable apps (except Flickr, which is better in my opinion than PicasaWeb).
    • Renton, on 07/01/2008, -1/+1I ultimately went to Picasa because Flickr had a 100mb upload limit per month and Picasa had 1000mb.
  • nighthawk419, on 07/01/2008, -6/+10Google is the future, just admit it!
  • upagaintwall, on 07/01/2008, -6/+65Why would you possible want to reduce dependency on Google? It never has failed me
    • str3ama, on 07/01/2008, -5/+16it's never good to have all of one's eggs in a single basket.
      • birdadderley, on 07/01/2008, -3/+20unless those eggs are from Cadbury!!!
      • Firehed, on 07/01/2008, -1/+3True, but Google's baskets beat the hell out of anyone else's baskets. And each of their smaller baskets sit inside one large basket, which works a lot better than trying to attach other people's baskets with string or tubes or dump trucks.
      • ivosilva, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2Or testicles.
    • dajuggernaut, on 07/01/2008, -2/+5smells like microsoft propaganda to me...
      • Grimdotdotdot, on 07/01/2008, -1/+2Yes, look at the massive TWO MS products listed.
      • MiNGLED, on 07/01/2008, -0/+5Microsoft Office - A great, expensive replacement for the free Google Docs
  • sparkmonkeyz, on 07/01/2008, -2/+22I guess if you really don't like google, then there are some good apps there. I have never personally met someone who doesn't like google, but I am sure there are like 5 or 6 out there.
  • str3ama, on 07/01/2008, -2/+8always good to have an alternative to a growing monopoly.
    • birdadderley, on 07/01/2008, -4/+5as long as that monopoly doesn't start producing $#!!%, then I'm ok with the monopoly
  • danielpataki, on 07/01/2008, -2/+9Why are people supporting google given thumbs down? I fully appreciate the use of alternate programs and this is a great article covering them. However, I too love Google and I won't change until I have a good reason to. All my data is backed up anyway, if Google shuts down in an hour, I'll switch then,
    • Gizzmo0411, on 07/01/2008, -1/+1Because this is how it starts...

      Google started out as the underdog...therefore they were "cool" and "trendy". Now however Google is becoming a powerhouse and "mainstream" and are therefore no longer "cool" or "trendy".

      Give it a few years and they'll be calling it BOOOgle or Gooflyakite (see reference: M$ and Crapple for further information regarding this topic).

  • skewl, on 07/01/2008, -2/+6i like google calendar, but it doesn't replace my iCal calendar though ..
    • Firehed, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2When iCal syncs correctly between all of my machines and is available from all of my portables, I'll start using it again. Accessibility is key, and having your calendar stored locally is idiotic unless you only have a single device you ever see it from.

      (Yes, I know this means in about ten days, provided that MobileMe works better than .Mac).
  • edstittle, on 07/01/2008, -3/+19I'll stick with Google.
  • ZephyrNinety, on 07/01/2008, -3/+9I like being able to depend on Google. =] Google makes me happy. Google is just what feels right. I think it's true love, what me and Google have together. We're thinking of getting married soon and having children and growing old together after we travel the world and see everything there is to see. I love you Google, my little Cuddlecake
  • batmanz, on 07/01/2008, -4/+1I have actually started using live search a bit more, I find that it is more accurate for general searching, and the image and video search is great. But Google is still the most refined with a greater variety of tools.
  • raublekick, on 07/01/2008, -1/+1None of those apps are bad at all, but none of them match the abilities I have with Google...
    I was never really that into the whole Google apps thing until I got a phone that can take advantage of them. Now I can check gmail on my phone, sync my phone's calendar with my Google calendar, access Google Notebook's and iGoogle's mobile version, and check Google Maps. The fact that all of this is easy to use on my phone, laptop, and work computer means I probably won't be switching any time soon...
    However I do use Flickr over Picassa... that's the ONLY Google app that I don't like.
  • eldridgea, on 07/01/2008, -1/+12"When you cannot access Google . . . "

    What? Help! I didn't understand that part!
  • ConanTL, on 07/01/2008, -6/+1I would suggest AltaVista as an alternative search engine.
  • chadell, on 07/01/2008, -2/+2I like Google because I can play around with the Apps APIs and build my own applications to suit my whims and for others who care to use them.
  • H3llr41s3r, on 07/01/2008, -1/+6Why would i need 10 apps when i can do all this with google?
    It just doesnt make any sense, and all i can tell the article was made by a google hater.
    I'll stick with google.
  • gbarger, on 07/01/2008, -1/+3Someone needs to learn more about using google. One of the articles talked about the wonderful feature of !{website} to search a specific site that google supposedly doesn't have, when I can use site:{website} in google to do the same thing.
  • coadyj, on 07/01/2008, -2/+1yeah, or we could just use google, Its not like we dont like using it. so why bother switching.
  • Nosferotu, on 07/01/2008, -3/+3Honestly, there is no good reason to hate Google unless you're just one of those paranoid technophobes. They are providing a massive suite of web-based services that work in unison together in a way that most programs designed by different companies will never be able to achieve, with absolutely no charge to the consumer. Their business model is incredible, and it affords them the ability to really do some amazingly progressive things in the technological field without having to worry about the profit margin. I think they're doing great things for the future of integrating technology into our daily lives.
    • ConanTL, on 07/01/2008, -3/+1You're right... they shouldn't be criticized for working together with totalitarian regimes to censor the net or taking down sites critical or Scientology or for grossly misregarding data privacy or ...
    • mdude85, on 07/01/2008, -1/+0"without having to worry about the profit margin"

      I LOLed at that -- yeah, the eventual gobbling up of Yahoo is strictly for the cause of integrating technology into our daily lives and has nothing to do with increasing profit margin.

  • IdanH14, on 07/01/2008, -1/+1I don't know if most what's there is something I would use. I kind of got used to Google's products, and their advertising is not intrusive, so even if they collect data on me, I don't have a problem with. Plus, the Google product I use the most is Google Reader, and frankly, I don't find Bloglines as comfortable and fast to load as Google Reader.
  • Pittance, on 07/01/2008, -5/+2Irrelevant. Google is never down or blocked.
  • goodbyegalaxy, on 07/01/2008, -5/+3The problem is just that. Why would I use 10 apps when I can get all of the same functionality from just one?
  • voleur, on 07/01/2008, -1/+4I would add netvibes for igoogle.
  • Abomonog, on 07/01/2008, -3/+1I use 2 Google products. Earth and the search engine. Neither has a decent replacement.
  • ashakeandfrys, on 07/01/2008, -0/+3So this is the new "alternatives to MS!"? I knew this was coming
  • kmattso, on 07/01/2008, -3/+2Don't upset the Google with this.
  • H3llr41s3r, on 07/01/2008, -1/+6We need an article that states all the things that you can do and google and that you will never be able to do with another apps.
    i.e. Searching for free mp3 files"
    "Type in your google bar -inurl:htm -inurl:html intitle:"index of" mp3 "pearl jam" you will get results for pearl jam's mp3 files, just change the name of the artist, or you can also enter the name of the song"
    Try that in another search engine, it just wont work!
    Gotta love Google!!!!!
    • KillsTheWeak, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1Whoa never knew that thanks :)
    • PabloMac, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1Dugg for the most useful info I have ever seen in a Digg comment. Thanx!
  • salmagundii, on 07/01/2008, -2/+3How about 1 website that can replace 10 useful apps?
  • GiJoeBob, on 07/01/2008, -2/+3When Google is down I just go outside.
  • IntellEJent, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1How about Wikipedia? It's always first on Google searches anyways...
  • omgsoemo, on 07/01/2008, -4/+1This is a completely pointless article. I dont depend on Google, I just use Google. You are treating it like a crack addiction, or a Windows software library. With the exception of Zoho, Google is exponentially better than anything posted here. People are never addicted to the company providing the service, they are addicted to the service itself. Using inferior programs will not lessen that addiction.

    When Google goes down, so does the entire internet.
  • PBMainiac3, on 07/01/2008, -2/+1But I like my dependency on Google.
  • csm888, on 07/01/2008, -0/+7We all need to watch Google closely, they had good apps and a great public image, but they wield enormous power, and experience shows that power like this is often misused. It is a little foolish to put such faith in a corporation, don't forget its primary objective is to make money for its shareholdres.
    I'm not really bashing google, just hoping to seed some healthy doubt with the google faithful.
  • zbeast, on 07/01/2008, -1/+1About the only feature that I use from one other search engine is yahoo finance.. it's a very good feature...
    for 100% of everything else.. google.
  • LewisBreaker, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2I think the point the blogger has missed is that none of these google apps need too be installed on your computer and can be accessed anywhere and any time! They can also be accessed from a number of different devices unlike most of these apps.

    Googles apps just work, no messing about. Why would you want to have email being downloaded to your harddrive when you have gmail?
  • doublejay1973, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1crappy blogs like Dumb Little Man partly created peoples dependency on Google. What a rag.
    • oscargamble, on 07/01/2008, -0/+0Dumb Little Man is a poor man's Lifehacker. I'm as sick of it as you are.
    • caramelheat, on 07/09/2008, -0/+0I agree - and I just took one look to notice that lol
  • MaxIsBored, on 07/01/2008, -1/+1NNot access google for some reason?
    Burried. I love my dependency to google. Google will never fail.
  • cJw314, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1Google for Change in 2008!
  • Masternajee, on 07/01/2008, -0/+0I still think Google is good yet they are getting some of the Microsoft syndrome-too big for their britches. Thanks for the wonderful alternatives. It is always good to have choices. Microsoft once had all the browsers-now Firefox is taking share away. Windows still runs the world but dont discount Ubuntu or other Linux apps in the near future.
  • nirav72, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1All of these alternatives are great. But I'm betting my money that Google will have better up-time than most of these other apps. Also, strong possibility that the market might shake off some of these other small sites over time. If they run out of money and do not have a viable business model to bring in the cash to support their infrastructure. Or they get bought out by some larger organizations like Microsoft, Yahoo or even Google. Even after buying them out, they might not do anything with it. Example: Dodgeball bought by Google.

    I'm not saying you should keep all of your stuff on Google. Just that the online market is getting saturated now with Online Calendars , Photo repositories and Document managers.
  • adriantr, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1Until something goes wrong with the google services I use I really see no reason whatsoever in switching to another provider.
  • BrandonJM, on 07/01/2008, -0/+0What's the proper way to breakup with Google? I'd sent it a txt personally...
  • aliguana, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1to use a common phrase - Google "just works". It's all about simplifying, getting stuff done, not installing a bunch of apps that you have to keep updating, with different shortcuts in each, that are data islands... with Google you have it all there, do your stuff, wash'n'go.
  • antitomato, on 07/01/2008, -0/+410 Useful Apps To Reduce Your Dependency On Google
    They are worth being familiar with so that you can avoid a crisis situation when you cannot access a Google product for some reason.

    This is a ridiculous title.It should read, "10 apps you don't need to use anymore. Thank you Google!"

    And if for "some reason" you can not access Google, it's because you don't have access the internet rendering those 10 apps useless too. Most diggers know this.

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