Google’s story over the last two decades has been a tale as old as time: enshittification for growth. The once-beloved startup—with its unofficial “Don’t Be Evil” motto—has instead become a major Internet monopolist, as a federal judge ruled on Monday, dominating the market for online search. Google is also well-known for its data-harvesting practices, for constantly killing off products, and for facilitating the rise of brain-cell-destroying YouTubers who make me Fear for Today’s Youth. (Maybe that last one is just me?)
Google’s rapid rise from “scrappy search engine with doodles” to “dystopic mega-corporation” has been remarkable in many ways, especially when you consider just how much goodwill the company squandered so quickly. Along the way, though, Google has achieved one unexpected result: In a divided America, it offers just about everyone something to hate.
Here are just a few of the players hating Google today.
In terms of map data, as far as I know there’s pretty much only OSM, Google Maps and Apple Maps (which is getting a beta browser version)*.
OSM map data is usually excellent, search can be very hit or miss though. You might want to try some of the apps that use OSM data like Organic Maps to see if you get better search results using that. Personally I use both Apple Maps and Organic Maps.
* I also know of Mapquest but it’s lacking a lot of POIs and even ways from what I can see, at least in the two cities I’ve checked.
Maybe if you’re in a big city, or maybe Europe. I recently moved back to the US from Asia and found OSM data to be really bad in the small city that I come from.
Be the change you want to see :)