Why I'm Against Google

So, I make it no secret that I'm very much against Google as a company. While I appreciate many of the things they do, they come off as very controlling when it comes to the web, web standards, and how people use the web as a whole. From their stranglehold on web standards through Chrome and Chromium, to dragging their own stadards to the desktop with Electron, to implementing all of their own protocols for things like syncing data and chat instead of using existing open standards, it just feels like they want to control everything. And that's not counting all of the data mining they do with Gmail, their chat systems, and Google+.

I don't use Google products outside of YouTube, and I only use YouTube because there really isn't an alternative that people are willing to go to for video uploads. There aren't any alternatives worth looking at until the people I watch decide to move to something else, like Vimeo or Daily Motion.

But what really angers me isn't just Google itself. It's the developers who exclusively design their code to work with Google's products. I can understand Android-only--it's hard enough to make something for that platform--but when a website or web app is "Made for Chrome", we end up being right back to square one with the browser wars and "Site Best Viewed In" tags. It's infuriating to witness, given just how much people like myself had to deal with this during the days of "Internet Explorer vs. Netscape Navigator".

On top of it all, some developers are so petty and elitist that they will actively attack and bully others who don't focus on Chrome and use Google. I've sadly witnessed this myself, when a few devs for some web apps literally bullied a minor in an IRC chat for choosing to use Firefox and test in it. Said devs were kicked from the chatroom rather quickly by moderators that were on the ball, but the damage was pretty much done by then.

And Google practically encourages this behaviour. They not only say nothing against it, I've seen the same mentality from Google engineers, which validates what those toxic developers were doing in a sense. It's embarassing, but it's also something I've come to expect from Google as a whole. And that's sad to see.

I used to be a fan of their work. I used Gmail and Google Notebook and GoogleReader. Then they started to kill things off one at a time, and I started to see just what kind of company they really were.

Mozilla

What the hell happened to Mozilla?

Seriously, what happened? Mozilla used to be this huge community-oriented team that did a lot of cool stuff. Thunderbird, Sunbird, SeaMonkey, Firefox, documentation on web standards, and that was the tip of the iceberg. But now? It's like... Firefox, Firefox mobile, and some web advocacy... That's all I personally know of.

• Thunderbird is effectively in purely maintenance mode.
• Sunbird is now a plugin for Thunderbird (and not really maintained).
• SeaMonkey has been suffering from a lack of leadership and materials.
• Firefox OS was killed off when Brendan Eich was thrown out of Mozilla.
• XUL and XULRunner (and all of the applications that ran on the platform) were thrown under the bus when Mozilla decided to ditch the platform entirely.

Mozilla keeps saying they don't want to be known as the "Firefox Company", but outside of Mozilla Developer Network--sorry, "MDN Web Docs"--I can't think of a single thing they do other than Firefox with any seriousness. They became just like Google, killing off things on a whim while complaining that people know them for one thing.

Don't get me wrong. I'm still a supported of Mozilla. I support the free and open web. I use SeaMonkey as my main browser, email client, and IRC client (via ChatZilla). I've been with them since Mozilla Suite 1.0 . I bought into FirefoxOS when I first had the chance, getting a ZTE Open C, and later managing to get my claws on my lovely LG Fx0, which I still love, but can't really use because the platform is dead.

So... What happened? When did Mozilla start becoming like Google in how they act? I mean, I know the time around it: when Brendan Eich was kicked out as CEO by some butthurt members of the LGBTQ+ community (disclaimer: I'm trans*). The shitshow on Twitter really hurt a lot of members of the community, both Mozilla and more general LGBTQ+ community members, because a select few decided to drag up something from five years in the past to enact some form of vengence against Eich. Their toxic behavior really tore members of Mozilla's Community apart from one another, and that helped no one.

I just want to know why Mozilla got the wind taken out of its sails by a small group of social justice vigilantes. Was it the loss of Eich that really caused this, or was it the community being torn asunder for that period of time that did all of the damage? I really don't know.

 

Second Life

So, most people don't know this, but I'm actually a huge supported of things like SecondLife and OpenSimulator. They're a nice way for people like myself, someone who is semi-introverted and unable to be in large groups, to socialize in something that's more than just text. And it allows for creative people (like myself) to make homes and objects in a 3D environment rather easily. More so than Blender... That UI just makes the designer in me die a little each time I see it.

I haven't been on SecondLife in a while, thanks to some incidents that kinda still sting in the back of my mind. Apologies were given, forgiveness was earned, but it's still difficult for me to jump back in like before. I have plenty of reasons to do so, too. Live events with DJs that are awesome, socializing with friends and other creators, and even learning new skills from people who can teach through the platform, all available to me. And yet, I still can't get myself to log in, even when I know it might get my mind off of things.

Plus, SecondLife is one of the reasons I've been trying to learn Blender, so I can make my own personal avatar, and avatars for loved ones who use the platform as well. I've been wanting to make other things as well, but those are the *big goals* I have (outside of a full setup from my Omega Wars universe that I've been planning).

We'll see what the future holds, I guess.