Sergey Brin said involvement in Google+ was "a mistake"

OPINION: One month after creator and leader of Google+, Vic Gundotra, quietly quit, Google chief Sergey Brin told a conference audience last week that involvement in Google+ was "a mistake." He made the exact opposite statement in 2011.

Brin told the audience at boutique Bay Area tech conference Recode that he he was “kind of a weirdo” and "It was probably a mistake for me to be working on anything tangentially related to social to begin with."

It runs in stark contrast to when Brin told the world how he came to love Google Plus, and admitted to taking a direct hand in its design at the October 2011 Web 2.0 conference. Seated onstage next to Brin, Vic Gundotra told the audience that "its design owes a lot to Brin's vision."

Brin's statement comes only one month after the man he hired to create and run Plus -- Vic Gundotra -- quit Google quietly, and without explanation.

Google+ broke our trust

Thanks to one crystalline moment of Google+, it became clear that a company we trusted couldn't be trusted at all.

The Google+ so-called "real name" policy can best be described as a confusing, velvet-glove-cast-in-iron policy where users of Google+ are required use their birth or government ID names — and when flagged, must prove it, and submit official documentation as proof...

Read more at: Thanks for nothing, jerkface | ZDNet
 
I think there's a bunch of wacko's running that show over there at Google!
This whole 'unified/connected world' approach makes my stomach turn!
With banners like "Hooray, no spam in your mailbox, aren't we great"! or "Hey, this is important, we need your phone number to verify your account"!
Give me a break! So unprofessional!
 

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Took them some time to figure out what everybody else already knew...
 

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    PX2710MW
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    1x1TB Western Digital WDC WD1001FALS-00J7B1 ATA Device Caviar Black -

    4 x 2TB Seagate ST32000542A -
    1 x 4TB Seagate External
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    Antec
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    Noctua NH-D14
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    Logitech Illuminated Keyboard K740
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    60meg cable
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    Cyberfox
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    AVG Security Suite
I think G+ is great, lots of well thought out posts, not overly commercialized (yet)
 

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    Win 8.1
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    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy 700z
    CPU
    AMD 4.1 GHz quad-core
    Motherboard
    MSI
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Radeon HD 8670D
    Sound Card
    Integrated Sound, Envy Audio; Beats Audio
    Hard Drives
    1TB 7200 RPM SATA
    PSU
    460 watt
    Keyboard
    wired USB
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    IE11 / Chrome
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    Windows Defender aka MSE
The whole Google+ thing was a data mining scam from the very start.
 

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    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (64 bit), Linux Mint 18.3 MATE (64 bit)
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    CPU
    AMD Phenom II x6 1055T, 2.8 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASRock 880GMH-LE/USB3
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    8GB DDR3 1333 G-Skill Ares F3-1333C9D-8GAO (4GB x 2)
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    ATI Radeon HD6450
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    Realtek?
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    Samsung S23B350
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I could never come to grips with Google +. Always seemed terrible to me.
 

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    Windows 7
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    Self-Built in July 2009
    CPU
    Intel Q9550 2.83Ghz OC'd to 3.40Ghz
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    Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R rev. 1.1, F12 BIOS
    Memory
    8GB G.Skill PI DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12 timings
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    EVGA 1280MB Nvidia GeForce GTX570
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    Realtek ALC899A 8 channel onboard audio
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    23" Acer x233H
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
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    Intel X25-M 80GB Gen 2 SSD
    Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black, 32MB cache. WD1001FALS
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    Corsair 620HX modular
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    Antec P182
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    stock
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    ABS M1 Mechanical
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    Logitech G9 Laser Mouse
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    15/2 cable modem
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    Windows and Linux enthusiast. Logitech G35 Headset.
I just wish Google + would just die already! It's terrible and I refuse to use it no matter how much Google will try and make me.
 

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    windows 7
Google is as Google Does

Our very own Violet Blue is clearly angry. Very angry.

While I empathize with Violet over her experiences with Google+ and how the social network has been managed, I also wish to point out that Google co-founder Sergey Brin admitting to the audience of the Re/code conference, which is made up of the richest and most powerful people in the technology industry, that his personal involvement in Google+ "was probably a mistake for me to be doing anything tangential to social to begin with" is not at all uncharacteristic of the way Google has been conducting itself since, well, forever.

I don't wish to be in the position of having to defend Google for its business practices, as I work for one of its competitors and I don't agree with many of the things that they do.

I encourage people to look for alternatives to Google products and services for any number of reasons.

But in this situation the only thing I can offer Violet is, paraphrasing the immortal words of Forrest Gump,

"Google is as Google Does."

If you are going to use Google's services, then you also by definition have to accept that you are going to reside within that ecosystem and Google has the right to manage it and manipulate it as they see fit, in order to maximize revenue.

To understand why Google is as Google Does, you have to understand their revenue model, particularly as it compares to their industry competitors...

Read more at: Google is as Google Does | ZDNet
 

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    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
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    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
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    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
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    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
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    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
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    Corsair Hydro H115i
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    Logitech wireless K800
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    Logitech MX Master 3
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    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
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    Internet Explorer 11
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    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
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    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
You need a lawyer anymore to click on the 'I Accept' button with Google services! ;)
 

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    Windows 7 Home Premium
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    HP Pavillion
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    Tablet - Windows 10 Home
Some generic comment that google plus sucks. Unlike some companies, google decided it's in everyone's best interest to be on it. Microsoft has it's so.cl network that they've been running for a while now, but never advertise it.
 

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  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    Crosshair V Formula-Z
    Memory
    16 gig DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
    PSU
    OCZ 500 watt
    Case
    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
    Cooling
    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Touch Mouse
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014
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