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What features at GV will still work ?

Started by mshumack, April 20, 2014, 08:53:29 AM

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SteveInWA

Quote from: Usetheforceobiwan on April 21, 2014, 06:24:16 PM
SteveInWa - I think you should add "Helping Blind Men Describe Camels" to your signature.  You have dispelled more myth, speculation and outright gossip in a very few posts and I think that moniker would be an honor that would be a good conversation starter.  Thank you for clarifying alot of information.

Ha ha ha!  You're welcome.  I will do that. This has become such an emotional subject over on the GV forum, with the "denial" camp, and the "we hate you Google because you took away our free candy, how dare you" camp, and the "I know better than Google how you should give us apps" camp.  I'm trying to compensate for the really poor corporate communications by Google, to dispel the misinformation.  What makes it so hard are the idiot bloggers on the nerd-boy sites like Gizmodo, Engadget, 9to5mac, and smaller sites, who will just throw out any ignorant out-of-context comment they can find, usually stolen from yet another blogger, and then people read it...and post it, and the next thing you know, it's as if it was an official plan.

Marty.ba.calif.usa

I know how you feel - most forums are so hard to take because of the people who have no clue, but think they know what's going on.

A lot of people seem to think Google discontinued XMPP because they didn't like people using it for free, but I wonder about that; it doesn't really fit the way I think of Google's business methods. I'm guessing Google doesn't even care about something like that, and they market products according to their long range goals, not in reaction to some usage pattern by one group.  But whatever their reasons, I can't see people getting so bent out of shape because they're losing something they never paid for, and probably were not willing to pay for.

SteveInWA

Quote from: Marty.ba.calif.usa on April 22, 2014, 05:45:43 PM
I know how you feel - most forums are so hard to take because of the people who have no clue, but think they know what's going on.

A lot of people seem to think Google discontinued XMPP because they didn't like people using it for free, but I wonder about that; it doesn't really fit the way I think of Google's business methods. I'm guessing Google doesn't even care about something like that, and they market products according to their long range goals, not in reaction to some usage pattern by one group.  But whatever their reasons, I can't see people getting so bent out of shape because they're losing something they never paid for, and probably were not willing to pay for.

+10 to you, good Sir.

carl

Quote from: SteveInWA on April 22, 2014, 06:29:12 PM
Quote from: Marty.ba.calif.usa on April 22, 2014, 05:45:43 PM
I know how you feel - most forums are so hard to take because of the people who have no clue, but think they know what's going on.

A lot of people seem to think Google discontinued XMPP because they didn't like people using it for free, but I wonder about that; it doesn't really fit the way I think of Google's business methods. I'm guessing Google doesn't even care about something like that, and they market products according to their long range goals, not in reaction to some usage pattern by one group.  But whatever their reasons, I can't see people getting so bent out of shape because they're losing something they never paid for, and probably were not willing to pay for.

While I am pretty relaxed about the use of GV as phone service there are some justifiable question marks behind the whole story. Google has a reputation to offer all kinds of gadgets and then suddenly withdraw them. They say that you cannot complain about something what you get for free but that's abit more complex. Like some people pointed out, even a free service can create a dependency. For example, by promoting my 2 GV DID's - even before I started using them for a phone service via Obi- made me to an extend dependent on them and now i had to port them out at the total cost of $ 56.-. Considered that I used outgoing GV for 75% to toll free it more than  ate up all the savings. Or imagine my frustration with all the unwelcome changes to to free Yahoo mail- unfortunately, I became dependent on it and changes are costly and very time consuming.
That's why you have in real estate the "prescriptive easement" doctrine.
But again, not a big deal. 2DIDs are out and the third one will be either trashed or kept as  a spare mail box for a while. With all the reliability issues lately, it was time to go anyway. :)
+10 to you, good Sir.

zorlac

"even a free service can create a dependency."

Sorta like welfare.  ;D

azrobert

Quote from: zorlac on April 23, 2014, 07:56:32 PM
"even a free service can create a dependency."

Sorta like welfare.  ;D

You say a lot with a few words.

carl

Quote from: azrobert on April 23, 2014, 09:22:41 PM
Quote from: zorlac on April 23, 2014, 07:56:32 PM
"even a free service can create a dependency."

Sorta like welfare.  ;D

You say a lot with a few words.
Apparently, tea bagging stuff finds the way into tech discussion. ::)
I mentioned that above- you give out free DID's, suddenly you cannot just abandon them. The same thing with e-mail. Same thing with online payment services, word processing programs, storage  and what else.  Changing those things later can be costly and work intense.
I am not a friend of " free" services ( and I am not talking here about welfare or, where the most money goes, corporate welfare) because they come with strings attached, distort the market and at the end cause more bad than good.

zorlac

"I am not a friend of " free" services"

Well, when I'm on the receiving end I certainly am.  ;D
I just don't complain when they go away, easy come, easy go.  ::)
In fact if Google would have said send us $15/mo & your obi100 keeps working just as it is I would have been more than satisfied.  ;)

SteveInWA

Quote from: zorlac on April 24, 2014, 09:24:31 AM
"I am not a friend of " free" services"

Well, when I'm on the receiving end I certainly am.  ;D
I just don't complain when they go away, easy come, easy go.  ::)
In fact if Google would have said send us $15/mo & your obi100 keeps working just as it is I would have been more than satisfied.  ;)

Way to go.  You've now turned a useful discussion, that answered the question in the title, into a useless talk radio BS session.

zorlac


MikePA

#30
Quote from: SteveInWA on April 24, 2014, 01:09:22 PM
Way to go.  You've now turned a useful discussion, that answered the question in the title, into a useless talk radio BS session.
...and your useless response to a useless post helped how?

Back on topic.

I've had an Obi 110 and GV for well over a year. I knew when I signed up with GV, the combination was going to come to an end.

- Vonage saved me long distance charges from my local phone company.
- Obi and GV saved me money by letting me get rid of Vonage.
- Obi and Anveo is still cheaper than Vonage was and a lot cheaper than local phone company LD.

Plus Obi and VOIP is interesting technology and fun to learn about.

The poor reviews on Amazon for the Obi devices are almost all about free GV going away. They are hilarious. I don't know what else Obi could have done to further warn people.