Comment by lordfrito | Hacker News Reader

Comment by lordfrito | Hacker News Reader

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After being an enthusastic early advocate for Google (Gmail since invite in 2004), I've been slowly migrating away from Google for years.

The turning point for me was when they killed Google Music, which I had been using for a decade, forcing me to move my large catalog of songs elsewhere. I self host via Plex now. Strike 1.

Then they killed the "free domain email", which became freeish (grandfathered) "google workgroups", which became pay up or we kill it. I spent many hours back and forthing with their email support trying to get admin access to my account to no avail. They claimed I needed to reach out to my domain admin. Uhhh sorry I own it and I'm the only guy thats on it or ever used it. There's no one else but me (I never had an admin, as I was just somehow transitioned during the grandfathering). No luck. I (nervously) let Google auto-kill the account, after quickly migrating everything to Fastmail via IMAP (and hand moving my calendar!). Strike 2.

Then (long story short) my Google Fi and Google Pixel experience was fine, until it suddenly wasn't. No human to complain to. Top of the line Pixel phone died like 14 months from purchase, no recourse. Buy a new phone or else. Strike 3.

The pattern is clear, Google services are fine up until the moment they aren't. At that point you're up a creek, as there are (by design) no humans to complain to.

All that is left now is my domain on Google Domains (well that and a free gmail account which I forward), which I figured was safe-ish (as they can't possibly pull the rug out from underneath domain owners can they?). But secretly been monitoring for signs I need to drop that as well. Looks like the time is now.

So.... any thoughts on whether Squarespace will be an improvement? Or should I start looking for another domain name registrar?

Not to overshadow all your other excellent points, but re: Google Fi, the few times I've had an issue I was able to quickly contact a helpful (if seemingly disempowered - they had to escalate to their manager for any approvals) online agent.

Agree that their service was decent, never had any problems that their automated system couldn't troubleshoot and ultimately fix. Activation process was straightforward. Honestly I do like their services. As I said they're great, until they aren't.

Issue was that my phone was defective, likely a design problem. Battery life problems around 1 year, wouldn't charge. Google fixed first for free under warranty. Problem popped back up around 5 months later and they told me to pound dirt since it was out of warranty. I said it's the same problem, you didn't fix it the first time when it was in warranty. Apparently a lot of people had the problem, likely a design problem related to life of battery/power connector on PCB. End of the day Google refused to acknowledge their problem, and this is on their flagship phone. I had no choice but to buy a new phone... which is ridiculous considering what I paid and only got a year out of it.

I just got to the point where I got tired of being at Google's mercy when something went wrong. This is my digital life, my domain, my calendar, decades of emails. It's too stressful when a corner case occurs and there's no human being in the loop to make things right. I'm willing to pay for service, just not with Google any longer. I figure I'm paying to get a human on the phone, and some accountability.

Google keeps trying to ping my company and get us to switch to their cloud. I say no way in heck I'm going to put mission critical infrastructure and data in their hands.

Maybe start looking. Squarespace charges more for domains (there's a comment thread in here about .com being more expensive).

Good thing I paid for a 10 year registration! Got some time to plan.

If you have the full 10 years remaining, you might not be able to transfer right now according to:

https://kb.porkbun.com/article/224-transfer-domain-from-goog...

    Since domains can only ever have a max of ten years registration at any given time, sometimes the registry won't allow domain transfers that already have nine years of registration.

Google Music libraries were automatically migrated to YT Music, which honestly is a better product now. They didn't "kill" the functionality and didn't force you to migrate anywhere...

the functionality to host your own music?? is that on YT Music?

It was there, just buried. Equivalent of uploading all your songs to YT and listening to them there. Screw that, I wouldn't call it "hosting".

Personal uploads work just as well as before, IMO

Yeah I refused to be "migrated" (forced) to join YT music, where it was clear that my personal library of songs would be treated as a second class citizen next to the paid promotional content (suggested artists, songs etc) and ads (unless I pay for premium of course).

Felt like bait and switch to me. They forced me to make a decision. I took my ball and went home.

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