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I consider myself reasonably good with technology in general. Enough that I started a small business in atlanta doing in-home computer help - mostly cleaning small viruses off, but also adding hardware, setting up networks, and giving lessons on how to use the computer (mostly to seniors).
But I don't consider myself a "techie". I don't have a smart phone. I don't own a digital camera. My most advanced console is a Nintendo 64 (my 360 was struck by lightning a year and a half ago - different story). I'm using the same mouse I have for 4 years - a Logitech MX310 (I had to look on the bottom to see what it was). The one thing I've splurged on is a $65 2.1 sound system, and a $200 pair of headphones because I really like music. I built my dad's computer he uses for realtime heavy stock trading (takes a lot more power than I thought before I looked at the programs he was trying to run on a stock Dell), my laptop is a stock Toshiba Qosmio with an i5.
You see, while I grok technology, I don't really care about it that much. I just use what gets me by, and I'm ruled by inertia. The same goes for social networking - I've had the same email address for 12 years (until the last 6 months, getting to that later), I never had a myspace, I rarely used AIM, MSN, or ICQ, I didn't discover IRC until a year ago. I got a Facebook four years ago, and I've used that ever since. I use Skype as my primary means of contact. My search engine is Bing by default because one day I decided to use it over Google because they were the two best and I didn't give a shit.
A little while ago, I got one of the first invites to Google+ from dimfish. Predictably, I didn't really care, but dimfish is a really good friend of mine so I figured I'd take a look at it. It was nice, but inertia told me I'd be staying on Facebook for my limited social networking needs. So I sent 5 invites (each invitee gets 15 more invites to send out), and just kind of left without poking around too much for a couple weeks.
Fast forward to the last few days, my roommate just threw a party using G+ and 20 people spontaneously appeared at my house. I went back to G+ and now a lot of my friends are using it. Everything seemed so easy and simple, the layout made sense, the "+1 " feature works pretty well, and it ties in to my email (again easing simplicity). Still though, I have a Facebook, and it'd be a pain to move everything over.
And then I logged into Facebook the other day, and there is a strange bar on the right side. Some of you may have seen it. The one that has a list of 24 random friends, organized alphabetically, with markers next to who is online and who isn't.
Look, its not that I particularly use FB chat very often. But lets look at how FB Chat has evolved:
High Point: - Button in bottom left, clicking it brings up friends list who are logged on
- List is organized by status and then alphabetically
- You can scroll through the list
- Clicking the bottom button again minimizes the list
- You change your status at the top
- Clicking a friend's name opens a chat window with that friend
- In the chat window, clicking either their name at the top or their profile picture (once it appears after they've said something) takes you to their page
- Clicking the bottom of the chat window minimizes it
Pre-sidebar - Button in bottom left, clicking it brings up friends list who are logged on
- List is organized by status and then alphabetically
- You can scroll through the list
- Clicking the
bottom button again top button minimizes the list
- You change your status at the top
- Clicking a friend's name opens a chat window with that friend
- In the chat window, clicking
either their name at the top or their profile picture (once it appears after they've said something) takes you to their page
- Clicking the
bottom top of the chat window minimizes it
"Improvements": I now have to move my mouse a lot more to minimize things, and they have to say something before I can see their profile without searching for itPost-sidebar Button in bottom left, clicking it brings up friends list who are logged on A list of 24 random friends appears on the side of your screen
- List is organized
by status and then alphabetically
You can scroll through the list
- Clicking the bottom button
again minimizes the list [blue]lets you search for a specific friend. A tiny button in the corner allows you to minimize the list after 2 clicks instead of 1
You change your status at the top Clicking the tiny button mentioned above lets you set your status
- Clicking a friend's name opens a chat window with that friend
- In the chat window, clicking
either their name at the top or their profile picture (once it appears after they've said something) takes you to their page
- Clicking the
bottom top of the chat window minimizes it
"Improvements": I get to see random people's names, and can't see easily who is online, and have an ugly bar in the right side that is even more difficult to remove than before.
Ok, seriously, what the fuck. I don't get how someone could possibly find this to be "progress".
This is the event that triggered me to switch to Google for a lot of things. I'm now on G+ primarily, and check FB only to see what my non-G+ yet friends are up to. I still don't care which search engine I use, so I use Google search because my G+ bar is right up above it. Speaking of the G+ bar, most of you probably don't know about it. Basically, on any Google site (Google, gmail, g+, gdocs etc.) there is a small bar on the top, with links to all the other Google services. It also alerts you, while using any of these services, if you have a G+ notification, and lets you type status updates.
Google has put together one hell of a package of services. For the longest time, I thought their motto, "Don't be Evil", was just a joke, that they were the same corporation as all the others - just intent on maximizing profit. But I have to say, when they complete their takeover of the internet (and they will), I won't mind the monopoly.
 
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Yeah I totaly agree Fb went so downhill I have no idea what they're thinking with the new stuff. the chat is worse then the sc2 chat. I don't know about google+ but I fear I'll have to make the switch one day
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I remember when Google first came out... *hipster grin*
I was in middle school and this kid named Scott Coker told me to stop using my nub search engine and check out this slick new one called Google...
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This is exactly what im talking about.
I have been a long time Facebook hater and Google lover so im extremely biased.
It is really a better Facebook and Twitter.
People don't mention enough how easily and better it would replace twitter.
Perfect example +Randell Munroe: The author of that comic. <3 xkcd
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On July 19 2011 02:06 sermokala wrote:
Yeah I totaly agree Fb went so downhill I have no idea what they're thinking with the new stuff. the chat is worse then the sc2 chat. I don't know about google+ but I fear I'll have to make the switch one day
There's nothing to fear 
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On July 19 2011 02:06 MrBitter wrote:
I remember when Google first came out... *hipster grin*
I was in middle school and this kid named Scott Coker told me to stop using my nub search engine and check out this slick new one called Google...
I remember that too. At the time, I was using askjeeves.com (now just www.ask.com).
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I noticed the facebook sidebar thing yesterday, is it that new?
also, ive always used google search for simplicity. I also hate bing with a burning passion after MLG, and i would rather drink dr pepper drink nos, eat hotpockets, and go with every single other sponsor that mlg had before i would even type bing.com into my adress bar.
also, google+ is a lot cleaner than FB so far :D
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On July 19 2011 02:13 Torte de Lini wrote:Show nested quote +On July 19 2011 02:06 MrBitter wrote:
I remember when Google first came out... *hipster grin*
I was in middle school and this kid named Scott Coker told me to stop using my nub search engine and check out this slick new one called Google... I remember that too. At the time, I was using askjeeves.com (now just www.ask.com).
Lol i was using dogpile
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On July 19 2011 02:14 ComaDose wrote:Show nested quote +On July 19 2011 02:13 Torte de Lini wrote:On July 19 2011 02:06 MrBitter wrote:
I remember when Google first came out... *hipster grin*
I was in middle school and this kid named Scott Coker told me to stop using my nub search engine and check out this slick new one called Google... I remember that too. At the time, I was using askjeeves.com (now just www.ask.com). Lol i was using dogpile
lol fuck! I totally remember that.
Was it always Dogpile? THought it was something else.
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I was at altavista before google. There was something I used before altavista as well, but I can't recall the name... Google search has been around for ages though, I probably didn't switch until it was very popular.
I have tried switching search engines again but they all come up short towards google. Probably because google has so many people using it that their results get good due to user input.
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I would not change from facebook just because some faulty UI design that I think they are going to fix anyway. The reason is simple: On facebook I can see peoples pictures from several years back and there is so much more stuff on it.
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On July 19 2011 02:00 iGrok wrote:
For the longest time, I thought their motto, "Don't be Evil", was just a joke, that they were the same corporation as all the others - just intent on maximizing profit. But I have to say, when they complete their takeover of the internet (and they will), I won't mind the monopoly.
I'm pretty sure even them being evil would turn out to be awesome in the end.
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Looks like all the fanct people are going to be headed to G+ now. I never use fb but i might try G+ for the lulz because i actually like the company
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On July 19 2011 02:22 Stenstyren wrote:
I would not change from facebook just because some faulty UI design that I think they are going to fix anyway. The reason is simple: On facebook I can see peoples pictures from several years back and there is so much more stuff on it.
That may be at the moment, but G+ is going to have a LOT more activity, very quickly.
And its not that the design made me switch. The shitty UI triggered the switch, just one more thing that made me move.
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Yay, google+ for the win! :D
Yeah, I actually do remember when I first learned about google as a search engine. Loved it immediately :3
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I somewhat agree with this, what makes G+ so much better than FB isn't just the UI features, its the connection with other google products.
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Have to agree with the FB random bar crap. Not sure what the idea is behind it, but it is definitely annoying and in the way.
I also still don't get why they split up the news feeds on facebook between status and news. I usually miss out on half the stuff because I don't care enough to click between the two.
I'm not overly impressed by G+ yet either, as it just seems like a facebook clone thus far to me.
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I would sell donate my soul to google. :O
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lol from you comic google already has an sc2 team =)
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User was warned for this post
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I'm honestly not the person who flames around, but the only reason why people didn't switched of from FB was, because there was no real alternative. THANK YOU GOOGLE <3
I would sell donate my soul to google. :O
Ya same here ... Fanboy all the way  While seeing the evil behind it and how i'm getting exploited i still like their services more than what the others had to offer ... they are simple, do the job and make sense.
Even though g+ has still some pretty heavy ui flaws ( you can't edit album captions after you created them and the picture caption is not stored anywhere oO ) i purely love the gallery stuff. No more FB 600px fixed width crap!
But did anyone figured out what the equivalent of "groups" is?
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I loved the pre/post-sidebar analysis. I seriously try and "figure out" what they were thinking EVERY time I get on Facebook and notice it, and haven't come up with anything. At all. I do not see any single advantages of this over the old system in the slightest. I don't get why they would take steps like this with Google+ gaining popularity.
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Pro internet searchers all used Inference Find or RefDesk... /smug
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Yea...it was all about yahoo and askjeeves lol. I kinda gave up on social networks and only use it to keep in contact with old friends though :p.
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Honestly anything is better than facebook. Ever since that one layout change years ago everything is just clusterfuck and noise. Google+ is a vast improvement, especially since my friends are using it.
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On July 19 2011 02:36 iGrok wrote:Show nested quote +On July 19 2011 02:22 Stenstyren wrote:
I would not change from facebook just because some faulty UI design that I think they are going to fix anyway. The reason is simple: On facebook I can see peoples pictures from several years back and there is so much more stuff on it.
That may be at the moment, but G+ is going to have a LOT more activity, very quickly. And its not that the design made me switch. The shitty UI triggered the switch, just one more thing that made me move.
Google with a good UI? Who would have thought it was possible?
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/JUb2C.png)
