21 February 2013

I suspect the purpose of the last years gmail redesigns was to make the product less usable on purpose; I guess they are paying a lot for storage of old data and abandoned accounts - and all that did not quite pay off with more targeted advertising; guess the click-through rate on gmail adds is low so they want to minimize costs. fewer users would mean less storage costs.

And they have all sorts of transient user data from the chrome browser, the auto-completion thing phones back home; they are not obliged to keep this data, but it is good enough to create an online profile ….

Bruce Schneier says that we are sort of vassals of the big internet companies; I guess that comes with an implied condition - if we got out stuff for free, then people are ready to trade in stuff like 'privacy' … things change when people feel that they don't get their share of the deal….

http://www.wired.com/opinion/2012/11/feudal-security/

Google doesn't want to do evil; what if a new Pharaoh will lead this great house and what if he decides differently?  Suddenly one might see all sorts of companies exchanging user data, all in order to create a richer experience for the Customer and his friends …