I think I made the argument here about a year or so ago that the world would move about its orbit just fine if there were no apple, microsoft, google, amazon or facebook.
I stand by that assertion.
Too bad I had to rank them, instead of putting Amazon, Apple, and Facebook in a three-way tie for first. I don't use any of them at all. Microsoft could easily go next, because I only use them for Windows and if they disappeared, I could learn to use Linux or whatever else pops up. Alphabet gives me my blog space (replaceable with any other service), and Search and Maps--and those would be the hard cuts, perhaps, because their algorithms are so good, but I could survive with another search engine and bring back MapQuest if I had to. I watch YouTube a lot, so if it got cut out there would be an adjustment period, but it would be healthier for me to cut out the mindless entertainment anyway. I'm in agreement with you, kleinbl00. The author of the article keeps trying to build up the companies like they're big losses, but it just makes me more smug as I read ("How can you do without Office?"... OpenOffice, chief). Kind of funny to me that I don't use much of these companies when I'm seemingly addicted to my computer. But all told, if they disappeared tomorrow, new companies would rise from the ashes, as they always do. Maybe they'd be better.
I dropped Facebook years ago and rarely wish I had it. It's annoying when there's a useful, niche group there, otherwise I don't care. I ranked Apple second despite typing this on a MacBook and not a computer running Windows. I'm really jaded about Apple currently. Ten years ago they made some of the most usable electronics I'd owned. They borrowed and stole from others and made it nice to use. My Samsung phone with Android is as nice to use as any iPhone. I have an iPad. It's five years old and won't be replaced. I use it to watch movies at night when I'm in a bed and breakfast that doesn't have a TV in my room. And that's about it. Apple Watch? Don't care. iPod? Why when I have a phone? The key to Apple's demise: iTunes is awful. Truly, truly awful. This happened to me last night. "Your texts were green!" "Yep!" And that was the end of it. Nobody cares. I put Microsoft after Apple because I use it for work. And it works. I'd have an easier time switching to Windows at home than I would anything else at work. When this computer dies I will likely replace it with one running Windows. I opted to drop Amazon before Google because I figure I could search for stores selling what I want if Amazon didn't exist. I've gone off the deep end of buying from Amazon. It's just so easy. Cat food, granola bars, my business casual clothes. I also remarked to someone who asked me if I still used the same email address (we hadn't spoken in a couple years). My answer was yes, I think it would be harder to change my email address than my phone number. I have Gmail.What will your friends say when you lose access to Apple’s messaging service and your texts start coming in green?
That's one syllable long of a haiku. It also contains a bigger truth. iTunes used to be about making an easy way for people to use their iPods. Then it became an easy way for people to buy music from Apple. Then it became an easy way for people to buy music and movies from Apple. Then it became the only way you could sync your iPhone. Then it became the only way you could manage your media. Then it became the hostage-taker of your media by a company that decided fuck you, you own a U2 album. Acrobat Reader is this awful thing because it's a giant application with a CAD engine, a media embedder, a full-featured mail server and god knows what else that makes it so that the people who use Creative Suite can rest assured that their customers can view content as intended. But iTunes serves no master but Apple. It's horrendous middleware that exists solely to lock Apple users into the ecosystem. Much like iChat or Facetime or whatever the fuck they're calling their ad-hoc five-protocols half-proprietary clusterfuck of messaging tech these days - Apple could have come up with an open protocol that did all that shit and catch Google and Facebook completely flat-footed. But they didn't, they haven't, and they won't because siloing is far more important to them. I think Apple let iTunes become such a heinous chunk of shit because they recognized the future of media wasn't ownership, it was RMR and if all you're doing with iTunes is streaming their shit, it's acceptably bad. No worse than Spotify, surely. This corrosion is hitting Google, too - Android used to be dope, but it's steadily turning to shit, too. Having experienced the clusterfuck that is Google hardware support, they don't give a fuck. Even when you are the customer, rather than whoever they're selling your eyeballs to, they give zero shits about your customer satisfaction. Microsoft, I believe, understand that they're in danger of being left behind because of their calcified, prehistoric approach to business and engineering... but they're still putting that calcified, prehistoric approach front and center. Amazon? Amazon hath become Walmart. They are the Walmart of the liberal elite, the guys who browse People of Walmart while shipping Sahale Snacks to themselves via Amazon Fresh. They are every bit as vulnerable to disruption as Walmart is. Their business model relies solely on monopoly pinch points. Alibaba is on the blockchain.The key to Apple's demise: iTunes is awful. Truly, truly awful.
Apart from Facebook, Apple and Microsoft being relatively easy appendages to lose (re: don't use, only pay them for iPhone and no other services, and have a Windows OS) the only two that really feel "vital" in a modern setting are Amazon and Alphabet. And while I could probably get away without using Amazon (I only buy a handful of things a year using their site, or else buy directly from the company's selling what I'm looking for), the ubiquity of Google is probably the single thing I'd struggle to do without. So much of my work, leisure, etc. has been compartmentalized by the ability to quickly index information that it would require a near-complete reorienting of my ability to gather information in almost all aspects, and that's before taking into account that making that data acquisition more difficult would require additional spending (through textbooks, papers, etc.) and make those pursuits much more expensive in general. Unless I jump in the way-back machine and go back to my torrenting prepubescent years... which would probably be the more likely solution to that "problem."
Starting with first to drop: 1. Facebook. Although I have an account, I am barely active there. I get the general impression that Facebook is a dying platform among my age group (18-24). Most people communicate through other mediums, and a number of people I know have deleted their accounts. 2. Microsoft. I stick with Windows for stability and gaming, but I have enough experience with Linux that a permanent switch would be reasonably smooth. Windows is the only Microsoft product I use. 3. Google. The only Google services I use are Google Drive's excellent $2/100GB deal, Google Play, and the search engine itself. Finding another cloud storage provider with good pricing and getting Google services off my phone would be an ordeal. DuckDuckGo is an okay replacement for Google Search though. 4. Amazon. I buy a huge amount of stuff on Amazon. Most of it would cost at least 50% more at a brick and mortar store, assuming I can even find it locally. Financially, I'm not sure I could afford a switch to local stores. I also use Prime's video collection as my primary streaming source, and Amazon is where I rent my textbooks. 5. Apple. At this time, I don't actually use any Apple products. But I don't find them as abhorrent as the other four, and it wouldn't be a big deal to me to use a Mac or an iPhone.
In the following order? Apple (I own zero Apple products) Microsoft. This one would hurt, but I could manage. Facebook. Need it for coordinating non-profit activities and contacts wit schools, but could go back to email. Google. Probably not. They do my DNS for all my project websites, I buy my domains through them, they host a dozen or so email accounts, I'm on Google Fi. Yea, fucked there. Amazon. They own me. I have stuff running in AWS, I have Amazon credit cards, and buy tons of crap weekly that I cannot get locally, and may not be able to get at all if there was no Amazon. And then you get into the books I run through.