The lesson that Google seems to be teaching us — probably-- Dylan Tweney
inadvertently — is that we can’t trust it to hang on to our data for
any length of time. Don’t get too attached to any Google product,
because there’s no telling when it might go away.
For that matter, don’t get too attached to any cloud-based service,
especially those you’re not paying for. None of Google’s services
belong to you, unless your name is Larry Page or Sergey Brin. Even
those that you might pay for, such as Google Apps for Business, don’t
belong to you; you’re just renting time on Google’s servers.
Ditto for Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Yelp. The same goes for
App.net — even if you pay $36 per year for the privilege of using an
otherwise Twitter-like service, you still have no lasting claim on it.
Anything you use online could disappear tomorrow, taking all of your
status updates, likes, and online relationships with it.
descensus Averno facilis est