Slashdot Mirror
Slashdot Asks: Which Tech Giant You Can't Live Without?
In this week's column of NYTimes, Farhad Manjoo writes about the five largest technology companies in the world: Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Alphabet, the parent company of Google. As he notes, these companies have become the most powerful firms of any kind, essentially inescapable for any consumer or business that wants to participate in the modern world. This brings us to two questions:
1. Of the five aforementioned companies, tell us one whose services you don't need for work and for personal use. (In short, the company that doesn't matter to you.) Here's a poll where you can cast your vote.
2. On the same note, which company's services and products you can't ditch (for work / personal use)?
1. Of the five aforementioned companies, tell us one whose services you don't need for work and for personal use. (In short, the company that doesn't matter to you.) Here's a poll where you can cast your vote.
2. On the same note, which company's services and products you can't ditch (for work / personal use)?
I can get my PC from intel, my monitor from Samsung, my OS via Linux and internet through some sort of fascist company.
I don't need those 5 at all.
IBM
I've never owned any Apple products, avoid buying from Amazon, think Facebook is a huge waste of time, and got rid of my last Windows (W2K) computer a few years back.
But my Android phone is indispensable and I find that duckduckgo's search results aren't as good as google's results.
None. Zero. They could all go bankrupt and it would be business as usual for me after some slight adjustment.
As soon as the tech giants learn that people couldn't live without them (despite whether it's true or not), that's when they always start creeping into nefarious territory with their policies to push their profits higher.
I'd also like to add that Facebook was caught performing psychological experiments on their users that included attempting to make users extremely sad.
Fuck Facebook. I left them YEARS ago and haven't looked back. Now when I talk to friends I meet up with, we have something to talk about because they have no idea what I've been up to AND I have no idea what they've been doing lately.
Other than Facebook I'm indifferent to every other large business. I'll buy products that have high quality longevity and are a value to me. The second they tamper with the quality, I lose trust in them and move on to some other product.
I've exited entire markets of products just because none of the offerings were valuable to me. My wallet thanked me for that.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Apple - Don't Need
not a fan boy, and though I work with CS I'm happy with the MS compatible product
Amazon - Don't Need, but Really Like
What can I say as a guy, and a parent (see bulk diapers, toilet paper, detergent), and clueless shopper, they have become an asset. e.g. I bought my son a nice watch for his 16th birthday. I first attempted to go to the down town Los Angeles jewelry district. I had my negotiating cash in hand but realized immediately I had no idea what qualified as a good watch. Amazon to the rescue every offer was counter offered by the Amazon cost on my phone. Ultimately I purchased the watch on Amazon for less $10.
Facebook - Hate It
Humanity would be better off without it. I've watched all my associates become attention whoring narcissistic children. between that and eye catching adds funneled through friend likes it's kinda sad.
Microsoft - Use It
Being in an engineering/architecture field it's required, the only alternate to Office has been Google Apps (see docs) I actually used this in a professional office until people could no longer deal with the accountants whining about there precious icons. (we went back to office). Yes I've tried the linux office apps think they work great but in my professional life this is a pipe dream
Alphabet - Need It (this could be google subliminal suggestions)
What can I say they whore my information but it works and it's cheap (see $100 android phone). I also just discovered the cool features in google photos. lossless uploads and automatic sorting. After 10+ years of Film, DSLR this is sooo convenient.
A world where the only viable phone was an android and the only viable system running the defacto standard desktop app (MS Office) would suck. Apple provides a unique and viable competition. I don't think it would be possible today to start a new "apple". Though one has to give MS credit for finally innovating a bit with it's surface series.
One can't quite say the same about microsoft. If microsoft went away the hegemony of the Office app series would fade, probably for the better of everyone. Though there would be a period where there was a tower of babble in the bussiness and govt document exchange world as people moved on to a new standard. On the whole it probably would be good to chuck off the embrace and extend legacy and get back to stable standards in interchange formats. So in the long run it would turn out better.
Facebook is a giant empty shell. Nothing it provides is innovative. It just has the virtue of working in a space where a monopoly has an advantage. It would be instantly replaced and after a bitter battle someone else would replace its role.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
I'm guessing that if you do have an Android or iOS based smartphone then either Alphabet or Apple will be your indispensable choice accordingly, but if you are an Android user then Apple is probably your most likely first pick for the one you could do without. That was certainly going to be my choice, until I thought about it a bit more. Then I realised that, as an Android user that doesn't care much about Apple, they're mostly harmless since you generally don't need to go near their ecosystem, whereas Facebook will try to track you even if you haven't opted to use their services and they are far more pervasive on third party sites. So, for me, no pain from going without Apple, but a definite upside if Facebook were to just go away.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
is full of indispensable people.
The same goes for companies. Life existed before them. Life will exist after them.
What is even funnier is that all the examples are companies that do things that are pretty bad for the customers. So it is liker asking what finger or toe you would miss the least.
Apple: Abuse of copyright and trademark
Amazon : Abuse of workers
Facebook : invasion of privacy
Alphabet : Invasion of privacy
Microsoft : They ain't GNU
I am sure you can come up with a few more things they do. Yes, what they do is legal. That does not make it moral and are bad for the customer. So why would I favor one above the other if I would love to see them all leave?
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I could do very well without any or all of the above companies.
None of them offer any services I'd particularly miss.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
the world runs on Windows and Office
That may have been true in the 90s but it hasn't been the case for a looong time. The web runs the world these days and it's easy to get by without Windows and Office. There are plenty of alternatives. People just stick to Windows out of laziness and because it's what most other people have.
If Office and Windows were to disappear tomorrow, people would just standardize on something else and they would get by just as well.
- Apple - don't use it at all
- Amazon - I use it, but don't depend on it
- Facebook - only check once in a while when I get a notification that one of my family members posted something. If Facebook disappeared, there are other services that work just as well.
- Microsoft - I use Windows a lot, but these days, there are alternatives that work about as well. Who really cares about the OS, when all you do is browse the Web and check your email!
- Google - Nobody can duplicate what Google does with Search. Not even close. I remember life before Google.com. It was a lot harder to find out things I wanted to know. Google is almost magic. Bing and Yahoo don't even come close. MapQuest and Garmin don't come close to Google Maps and Navigation. Without Google, I'd be lost, figuratively and sometimes literally! There is no adequate replacement for what Google does.