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If a tree falls in a forest and there's no one to hear it, does it make a sound?
Okay, now here's a tougher one - if Google do a bad thing, with their motto, is it a bad thing?
Google have admitted that they deliberately blocked WP8 users from using Google Maps. Source[^]
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I read a different article yesterday that said it redirect the users to google because the maps did not render correct on the WP8 and gave a poor user experience. I see no issue with that.
It is no different than Apple filtering and being selective of which videos to show users in the search results in Youtube on an iPad. I was at a pals last year and couldn't find half the videos that I seen via a normal browser on my PC or via my tablet. It was a very odd experience knowing they existed but not being able to get near them! Now that is evil.
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DaveAuld wrote: I read a different article yesterday that said it redirect the users to google
because the maps did not render correct on the WP8 and gave a poor user
experience.
What they originally said was that as IE didn't use WebKit, the experience was poor. Well, Firefox and Opera don't use WebKit either, but there's no block there.
They then changed their tack, but it was shown that a simple user agent spoof on Windows Phone allowed the user to use Google Maps with no problems.
However - an important point is that Google have previously said that their mapping works cross browser with no loss of functionality, regardless of which browser is used.
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Definitely sounds like some corporate shenanigans going on. Just sounds like a bit of "Your names not down your not getting in. Oh hello pretty lady, you can come in though."
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Funnily enough - the ban came into effect less than 3 hours after Google were let off by the FTC.
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DaveAuld wrote: I was at a pals last year and couldn't find half the videos that I seen via a normal browser on my PC or via my tablet.
I'd rather suppose that they are not displaying videos which are not accessible from mobile devices (as far as I remember is there a possibility to block a video for playing on mobile devices for the video uploader). Maybe your tablet appears as PC to Youtube (Would not be too bad either)?
I don't claim that I am right, I'm just suggesting around (again).
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They have also been accused by MS of inhibiting access to YouTube from WinPhone, particularly the metadata, preventing MS producing the equivalent experience.
(Reported in The Guardian today, can't link as it was print copy)
I begin to detect a theme here.
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Rob Grainger wrote: inhibiting access to YouTube from WinPhone
Until three weeks ago I was able to view videos on my WinPhone which were blocked for mobile devices by the content uploader (Now there is no way to tweak around anymore  ). I don't know if they have changed this for every kind of mobile devices or just WinPhones but you can simply test it out by adding
&nomobile=1 to the URL parameters list when viewing a youtube video which apperas as blocked for mobiles on a mobile phone browser.
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People really use W8 phones ?
Nihil obstat
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Maximilien wrote: People really use W8 phones ?
Yes of course. In germany they made commercials showing about 20 Windows 8 Phone users. Yes! They showed everyone in Germany using Windows 8 Phone. That is cool, isn't it? 
------------------------------
Author of Primary ROleplaying SysTem
How do I take my coffee? Black as midnight on a moonless night.
War doesn't determine who's right. War determines who's left.
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It's a biased rhetoric.
The bias is that they done a bad thing.
The rhetoric is that Google's policy conflicts with their directive.
Note that it's a bias and not a premise, because whether something is 'good' or 'evil' is highly dependent on ones personal interpretation of the concept.
The first one is a lot harder... ![Java | [Coffee]](https://www.codeproject.com/script/Forums/Images/coffee.gif)
.
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It seems MetroTube (for Win Phones) which is not official Youtube viewer got broken because Google has changed their back end Youtube code base. I think Google is really jealous of the upcoming Windows Market. I would say stop all these nonsense hatred things, Google should use their skills and people to make the community better.
Thanks,
Ranjan.D
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 !
Bob Dole The internet is a great way to get on the net.
 2.0.82.7292 SP6a
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There is an easy answer: Google is a company going after money. They're just another business out there and another business out there can do as much evil as any other business out there.
Personally, I've never believed in Google's "Do no evil" since they started hiring paid employees.
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The blocking could be a two-edged sword which hurts both Google and Microsoft.
TOMZ_KV
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Google has been evil for years now, I would say, ever since the guy that came up with the mantra quit.
The privacy issues are the worst. The terms for their services are pretty bad, even worse than facebook. The two matters that came out in the news was the buzz fiasco and the recent terms merger.
Google can also be quite annoying in how they connect their services to each other, not unlike what microsoft did and was punished for with IE-bundling in the 90s. Buzz was automatically connected to GMail, and now Google+ is connected to almost every Google service. You can do video chat i GMail, but if you want a conference, you must .. wait for it .. "upgrade" to Google+.
They also misuse they position as search monopoly (not really a monopoly, but windows wasn't either - wikipedia defined a monopoly as something different before the open source nerds came in and changed gradually. Apparently they weren't too happy when I linked to the old definition i discussions. I still like open source though). Google has favored their own services over others. It's weird that they can do this until EU comes in, and then change it slighty when the EU/FTC gives them a second chance. Never heard of Microsoft and Intel getting a second chance.
Google really hates Microsoft. I don't think most of the employees do, but the leadership does. It seems that Schmidt, Brin and Page has a personal vendetta against MS. That's why they silently deprecate support for services, protocols and formats made by Microsoft - even if they are standards. The stuff I remember is that they recently removed some support (export?) for Office 2003 formats in Docs/Apps, even though lots of people complained about it. They are also removing exchange (ActiveSync) support in GMail, so that Windows Phones can't connect to it anymore. MS got a month to solve the problem. Now, WP users get a lesser good alternative, IMAP :S
Another case is the youtube blocking. Youtube employees actually wants youtube to be on all platforms that has millions or more users. They were going to help MS solve the problem until Google execs put the foot down.
Just recently they blocked GMaps on Windows Phone aswell, saying; Maps is optimized for WebKit browsers. Now that's evil right there -> Programming their own services that are the most popular to use non-standard WebKit extensions.
You see, Google doesn't want Windows Phone to gain any market share, and that's fine, really, but their methods are a bit suspicious. Their arguments for dropping this and that are quite horrible in my opinion, but the arguments still seems plausible somehow to the Google fanbois. - "If it's in the name of being "open", then it's fine, because MS is the worst company in the world."
Microsoft specific: They are also not going to develop any native apps for WP, and the only for RT/8 is Modern Chrome and a search app. If I were a major shareholder, I'd want Google to get on both platforms, because they have millions of users. 1.7 billion devices were sold last year, and WP has 2.6-3% of this market (at least). If we go by 2.6%, that's equated to 44 million WP devices (if I got the US billion definition right). Win 8 has now sold 60 mill licenses.
To make Microsoft even more irrelevant, Schmidt has come up with the idea of a "gang of four" group in tech. When asked why MS wasn't on the list, he actually said it was deliberate. In case you wondered who's on the list and why, it's Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook because they have built platforms that are driving today’s consumer revolution in technology.
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Technically, Google can do lots of bad things and still "do no evil."
Corporations aren't evil, they're amoral. They are willing--even obligated--to do bad things at times, but only out of self-interest and normally not out of malice.
So, yeah, "do no evil" sounds nice, but it's meaningless. Corporations in general aren't evil, but that doesn't make them good.
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Well, Google is a bussines, and regardless of their motto, they can do whatever they want with their tools, you can complain, however they're not obligated to help you (nor to hear you), because, guess what?, you are not their customer, you're just a product for their advertisers, and products don't complain  .
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I detest the way Google handles PICASA links by routing them to Google Plus and totally screwing them up! I use PICASA for a reason; the great layout. Google Plus is not anywhere near the same and really causes confusion at the receivers' end.
This is definitely a BAD thing!
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