OF, I'm not going to get into a pissing match over internet privacy. But to answer your question, no, I currently have an Android phone. A windows phone is my next purchase in June though.

So, because stuff happens, I should continue giving my privacy away? Do you ever wonder where your spam email comes from? A large part may be from the devs on Android. It won't happen with MS.

And I agree Google is good at what it does; collecting information and making money. As far as searching goes, I do it for a living. I flat out disagree that it is better than Bing. As a matter of fact, I think Google is worse than Bing. Google uses your past to predict which results you want. I don't know about you, but I don't search for the same stuff over and over. That's what bookmarks are for. Google also makes me use the asinine real language query to yield relevant results. Bing makes much better use of keyword searches. I don't ever look at the ads on top or side unless I am at work since that is part of my job. I have never been steered wrong with Bing. The only thing that Google does better is allow me to use the site: advanced search operator. I wish they all did that.

I also don't buy based on the lowest price. There is so much more to a purchase than that. I guess the greedy me generation and those that have converted need to save a dollar or two and give up service. I will buy local and American if possible before resorting to the internet.

And for those of you who shop on Amazon, I can tell you horror stories about how they are killing the small business with their predatory practices. Again, it is part of my job and I deal with it daily.

I think I forgot a part. Google is not very transparent about what they collect. You really need to dig in the agreement to find out. Why can't they just be up front? Why did they change their original "do no harm" business style to amassing the the largest database of people on the planet?

I would be happy to share my experiences. My next paycheck (2 weeks) is when I plan on doing the phone thing.

And I think you misunderstood me OF. I don't particularly like or trust MS. I don't like or trust Google. I don't like or trust Amazon. And I hate and don't trust Apple. Basically, I don't like many companies and trust none. I do believe in using the best tool for the job and if all tools are equal, choosing the lesser priced one. If it weren't for one particular piece of software, I would use Ubuntu for my personal PC. I am not going to dual boot or run Wubi. I just don't have the space on the laptop. So I stick with Win7.

As far as MS goes, Win 8.x is a turd. Office 2013 is a turd. I am hoping my W8 experience isn't bad on the phone. Since the OS was built for mobile and adapted to desktop, I believe it will perform better there. I will say that W7/Office 2010 is very solid, stable, and reliable. There is no equivalent to Exchange/Outlook either. Part of my duties include managing our Server 2008/Exchange 2010 environment. However, we just added a second collocated Linux server at Rackspace. So, I do swing both ways. I just choose what works best in any given situation. I use both Excel and Calc at work. Depending on the task, one typically works better than the other. I installed Ubuntu on my buddy's netbook and desktop. It works better for him. He is experiencing an issue with one application, but it isn't used often so he lives with it. I also believe Ubuntu/LibreOffice is a solid and dependable combination. And the software repository that I thought I would hate I have actually come to love. Ubuntu isn't as strong as W7 on older laptops when it comes to having the correct driver for the wireless adapter. I can live with that since a cable solves the problem finding it.

As far as Google services, I do use YouTube on my personal stuff. I would never use Gmail or any of the "office" applications from them. Of course I have the Play store for my tablet and phone. Aside from that, I don't believe I use anything else so there is nothing to miss. I will continue with YouTube since Vevo is a distant second place. Again, best tool.

I can't cut the Android cord and I know it. My ROKU uses a modified version. My DVD player does as well. Heck, most of the set top boxes do. But they don't report back to Google who yes, I think started out awesome and turned evil. Bing has its limitations and I will use Google when needed. I don't typically use the advanced operators on my personal stuff unless I am trying to find something on SuzukiSavage. com.

And my belief in Exchange even has me using a cloud version for my personal email. There is nothing like it. And the control I have is almost that of my work Exchange environment. I have contacted their support when I began with them and it was the best support I have ever received from any big company. And by a mile.

As far as paying for apps on the phone, I try to do that with what I have now. I dislike ads and will always opt for the paid ad-free version. Unfortunately, the only game I play on my phone does not offer an ad free version but coincidentally, a paid version is available for the MS phone. And it's still only a buck.

So I guess I am saying that I am not an Apple fanboi, or MS fanboi, or Android fanboi. I use what I need to use to get the task done in an efficient manner. However, I do dislike giving up my data. When companies like Google know more about me that I know about me, I begin to worry. And I also hate when they think they know what I want, especially in a search query.

I am sorry for my disjointed rambling. It was a difficult day at the office and the stuff in my head is jumbled. And I meant no offense. I understand there are people who happily trade privacy for stuff. And that's cool. I am just not one of them.

I'm not a fan of Google knowing my business either...(I hate that they forced me to link my Youtube to my Google)(painful, that was)... ...

Lately, I've been switching over to all kinds of new things... Linux, Opera,... and Bing is next...
I just tried it,.. and so far, it's giving me good results...
Thanks Greg... ...

everything that I have read shows that Android is by far the leading product in sales.and although the OS will overcome, if it hasn't already, the iOS; the big difference is Android isn't one company where Apple owns the other one, so company wise, Apple still huge and probably unbeatable for a very long time. My thoughts pretty much reflect that of the table that Android is going to be the dominant operating system by a huge margin. Windows will probably drop out in the next year or 3 and Apple will play catch up making cheaper phones and end up where Microsoft is now. That's my prediction. I have no idea if it's accurate. As far as a desktop operating system, if Microsoft doesn't change windows 8 to something I think people really want, they're going to drop substantially. I think some the Linux flavors have a real good chance of becoming the de facto operating system. Such as the Ubuntu because of operating very much like Windows has prior to Windows 8. And that's what the people want. In the Internet industry Linux will still by far, I believe, keep the lead. As far as a small business servers go, until there is an exchange replacement I think Microsoft will dominate there and out of the office products, it is hard to beat the capabilities of Microsoft Office. It's easy to beat the price though.

 
Windows didn't even HAVE voice recognition until 8 months ago when Nokia did an independent deal with a voice company called TellMe to incorporate TellMe's voice product into Nokia's then current generation of Win phones (because MS had none at all and had no plans for any).

MS has since bought TellMe the company outright and MS'd it.



Here is Apple's Siri compared to MS TellMe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxVxPyldvsY


And here is an article on voice services in general, which covers all of them.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/cell-phones/siri-understands-intent-beats-google-vo...


"As you can see, as amazing as Windows Phone 7's TellMe technology is for communications and search, it doesn't go much further than that. There is no text to speech functionality, except within text messaging. There is a lot of work to do by Microsoft to compete with the others in voice, but they do have a solid foundation and a powerful technology with Tellme. As the folks at Pocketnow posted Windows Phone will eventually get functionality like Siri."

So, all of them have it, and all of them go about it slightly differently.   By keeping a continuously tuned custom voice file on each customer and constantly upgrading their main server software (where all translation takes place on all of them) Google is moving faster than the rest to put good working voice into all new features and to back flush it into full systems integration.  This is a very powerful approach.

Google + will actually put voice recognition and "GPS style" recommended paths & directions and combine that with current location mapping and verbal search instructions into an iPad 2 which does not even have GPS or the other hardware to do these tricks.  

Apple isn't happy since they were telling Appleonians they needed to go buy an iPad Air to get a dose of Siri and here comes Google backporting voice recognition into a iPad 2 product that doesn't even have the hardware to support it.

  -- so you can see how some heavy main server support is important for good cell phone functionality going forward into an ever more complex future.

   "Hey Google, find me the closest Tai restaurant that is still open."

But they all copy each others best tricks, and the gaps between them are getting smaller.   Some are just moving faster than the others.

I guess I have to figure out how well the voice stuff works. I do plan on demo in the phone pretty hard before making the purchase it is a huge shift for me. But all I really use it for is dictating her stuff like this because I can't type on such a small device. My thumbs just don't move that way.

Now, I got a question for everybody.

I know well what MS did to get its evil empire moniker (suing everybody, extorting millions by threatening to sue people, stealing intellectual property from Palto Alto labs, Apple, IBM & Netscape, MS Explorer being gut deep into XP's OS, stealing FOSS software, acting in restraint of trade, US Government anti-trust suits, being "government use banned" in Germany, China, France,  etc. etc. etc.)

What exactly did Google do to get its current evil empire horns?

Seriously, list some stuff please.