In the clutches of a giant

I did think about using 'Kologarn' in the title of this blog but very few people would understand the metaphor.

Again, I digress..

I'm about to rant about the one thing I've evangelised and advocated about for so long.. Google. Yes, Google. I love Google, I really do.. it's given me the ability to not worry about CRC Errors or having multiple devices 'Sync'd'. All I have to do is log-in to Google, where ever I may be to access all of my work/personal stuff. My Chromebook, no matter how visually appealing and wondrous it is (CBHP11 of course), is simply redundant. If it breaks, I get a replacement, log-in and it's back to normal, no panic, no fret.

For instance, 'the' aim for my work now is to advocate Google Apps for Education (GAFE) enough that it gets rolled out and I get to teach everyone how to use it, I'll end that sentence there before I start to daydream.

Which is why it pains me to raise a few faults with Google's update rollout methodologies.

Well, they're non-existent. I know something has changed, not because I have been forewarned for a period of time, or been invited to test out new features or become a beta tester who can feed back with the rest of the communities voice. Nope, I know something has changed because the button I used to use day in, day out, has disappeared. Vanished.

Take for instance the new activity stream, I found out from a Google post on a G+ community about the new activity stream, not before hand, simply that it had been done. I check in my Google Drive and low and behold the view I used before has gone, replaced with a new stream of activity, but only when I enter a folder.

I mean this has interfered with my daily routine and fundamentally how I use Google Drive. I used to be able to see from the 'Activity View' the last 40 documents (Screen res dependent) that had been modified, everything, mine, my colleagues etc. The new 'Activity Stream' with all it's padded bubbles and profile pics can only muster up a max of 6 recent events without having to scroll to see the rest.

I used to be able to remove items from the activity view if I know I didn't need to be notified of any changes, notified being they appear at the top of my view and bold, y'know it could be 20 images I've uploaded that I'd like to remove from my main view. Not anymore as I've had to resort to using the 'All Items' view. Simply because the old option isn't there anymore.

No choice, no say, no option.

THE BUTTON HAS GONE GOOGLE, GONE!

Ehem.. So no matter how the above rant translates, the fundamental underpinning of this post is simply that there is nothing I can do about it, Google won't change. I'm stuck, suckered in by all the awesome features that being a Google user offers.

This raises a massive question for me that I want to explore as far as education is concerned, after trying to build up 'buy-in' from students and lecturers a like to use Cloud services such as Google or GAFE - they jump on, they have the training, they use it effectively how they want. Then one day they come in the office and BAM, something's changed. Most non-techies look at you like a deer in headlights if you utter the words cloud or backup etc so what will happen when their confident, proud new techie routine changes randomly without warning?

I'm guessing a lot of disillusioned people who will simply turn their heads. 

With that said, this has been the first time a change has had a negative impact on my working routines, the majority of changes have been positive.

The above isn't enough for me to drop Google on it's head and back to *cough* normal office software, because then it won't be activity streams I have to worry about, it will be the constant crashing, slow loading times, uploading and downloading, memory sticks self wiping for jokes, filling up email inboxes with bloated attachments, silly immature pawn shop adverts that make no sense, more.. more.. more.. you get the idea.

I'm still a gigantic Google fan, just a small feeling slightly annoyed one.