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We should stop even pretending Google is trying to do The Right Thing™
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:category: computer
:date: 2013-09-18T22:09:37
:tags: google, ourcloud, liberation, identity, privacy, xmpp
While reading `blogpost by Karl Dubost of Mozilla`_ I was again
irritated by the quotation Karl used which mentioned Google’s claim of
the universal access to the world knowledge. I have `replied in probably
not the best way on Twitter`_ and lead Karl into confusion on what
I wanted to say.
.. _`blogpost by Karl Dubost of Mozilla`:
http://www.otsukare.info/2013/09/04/ua-sniffing-and-custom-experience
.. _`replied in probably not the best way on Twitter`:
https://twitter.com/mcepl/status/380264385660215297
I am one of the co-maintainers of almost dead project jBrout_. In order
to make the communication around the project at least more lively,
I have created `GMane group`_ for it. In order to make the group
complete on Gmane, I have also tried to export all messages from `the
Google Group for jBrout`_ only to find that there is no way how to do
it. `Data Liberation Front`_ is completely mum on the Groups and I found
that new JavaScript-only design of the web pages preclude any script to
scrap those messages. So much for the universal access when even Lynx
cannot open these pages.
.. _jBrout:
https://code.google.com/p/jbrout/
.. _`GMane group`:
http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.comp.gnome.apps.jbrout
.. _`the Google Group for jBrout`:
https://groups.google.com/d/forum/jbrout
.. _`Data Liberation Front`:
https://www.dataliberation.org/google/
When `I was writing last year`_ about the problems I have with Google,
`one Google engineer`_ seemed offended by my despect towards Google’s
lack of openness. However, if I am not mistaken, there is still no
offline Gmail support for non-Chrome and I haven’t heard anywhere else
about plans of creating one. And offenses towards the open Web still
continue: not only my petty problem with Google Groups (although, didn’t
Google named itself a steward of all Usenet content?), but also
ActiveX^H^H^H^H\ NaCl_ proprietary technology which seems to sneak
silently into their platform, `weird state of Google Hangout`_ (yes,
XMPP S2S communication as of today still works, but for how long?
I don’t see any Google’s commitment to the open standards anymore),
`breaking OpenID delegation`_ (actually, `I may be wrong on this one`_),
and some_ others_.
.. _`I was writing last year`:
{filename}do-whatever.rst
.. _`one Google engineer`:
http://disq.us/p/1q35kis
.. _NaCl:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/12/google_native_client_from_all_sides/
.. _`weird state of Google Hangout`:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130828102919/http://code-bear.com/bearlog/2013/05/24/google-hangout-chat-and-the-missing-xmpp/
.. _`breaking OpenID delegation`:
http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/01/using-your-own-url-as-your-openid/
.. _`I may be wrong on this one`:
http://stackoverflow.com/a/16261110/164233
.. _some:
https://hacks.mozilla.org/2012/03/video-mobile-and-the-open-web/
.. _others:
http://mozillamemes.tumblr.com/post/19415247873/surely-chrome-will-drop-h264-lets-just-wait#_=_
Concerning Google Groups I have also found `this post`_ which seems to
follow the same logic as I am poorly trying to express.
.. _`this post`:
http://www.somebits.com/weblog/culture/preparing-for-google-groups-shutdown.html
**Update:** After comments on this post, I have actually managed to
create `a script for semi-automatical scraping of Google Groups`_
.. _`a script for semi-automatical scraping of Google Groups`:
{filename}scrapping-of-Google-groups.rst
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