bigger is not necessarily better
(a post where I gripe and grouse because that's what I do at times)
As some of my faithful readers know, I wasn't too happy when I had to open a Google account for the new version of Blogger. And because I can sometimes be a grumpy old sourpuss, my password reflects that I did not do this willingly. Snort.
To date I'm still not impressed with the whole takeover and personally do not believe that the acquisition by Google has improved this site all that much. At least, not for this particular blogger. One of the annoying things for me now is that I have to sign in every single time I access my blog even if I was there a minute before. According to Google this has more to do with my own security settings, but all my tinkering in the Tools/Internet Options/Security categories has been to no avail. Cookies are enabled and I've given express permission to always allow them on both the old and new Blogger sites. My logon is also set on automatic but that doesn't make a difference either. Maybe Google is personally offended by my password? LOL
No, I don't like the new set-up. I miss being able to search all blogs by just going to the navigation bar and frankly, I don't think Google is especially user-friendly or customer-oriented. Going to their "help" pages hasn't personally been very helpful for me as I find that if your question doesn't fit their pre-set categories then you're SOL. And what happened to being able to email customer support? Nope. Not on Google. All you can do is join a group and hope that someone will answer your question there.
But I think the bigger issue behind my irritation is the increasing tendency for sites and businesses to be gobbled up by larger entities. It's merger this and merger that and pretty soon everything becomes homogenous. Take grocery stores and newspapers for example. Once upon a time many of them were independently owned and operated. Now big conglomerates own almost all of the smaller grocery stores and that limits our free choice. And how independent can our local newspapers really be when one or two corporations have bought most of them out? No, I don't like this trend of big monopolies at all. And that includes you, Mr. Google. But I better shut up now.... ;)
posted by KJ's muse at 10:28 p.m.
6 Comments:
The worst....the phone companies. Oh, and utilities. At least in the U.S..
June 12, 2007 5:05 a.m.
I agree. The gobbling up of small companies doesn't do us any good. The newspaper I work for was recently bought, and "Corporate" slashes costs here, and there, and then all of a sudden our product just downright stinks... and what do they care? (my own little rant.)
Mr. Google doesn't care about us.
June 13, 2007 1:17 p.m.
I'm having trouble with my independently owned newspaper... would you and Kazumi be upset if I were to sell to an investor with more capital?
-Bogdan, editor
June 13, 2007 1:18 p.m.
Traditionally Bell Canada was the biggest telephone company here, although I think that's changing.
Yeah, I can well imagine Jen, that it's even more discomfiting to see it happen up close.
Hey Bogdan, nah, I wouldn't be upset. Because I trust that you would find an investor with similar values who would let you continue the paper in the fine manner I've become accustomed to. ;)
June 13, 2007 3:35 p.m.
OMG, stop moaning and do something! :) Ranting about it isn’t going to help, although it makes fun reading :) But seriously, have you ever tried some of the other blog platforms? Maybe you should test them. Run a shadow blog for a while, on Wordpress.com for instance, and in the end stick with the one you like best.
June 15, 2007 7:39 a.m.
But Dakota, I LIKE moaning, and it's something I'm awfully good at! ;)
But yeah, I should investigate other sites.
June 16, 2007 8:01 p.m.
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