Is Google Cloud becoming less consumer friendly?

Got an email from Google recently that said they were changing their policies for inactive or over quota accounts. It sort of seems like they’re forcing consumers to choose a platform, using fear of data loss as the driver.

I don’t use a Google account for much of anything, but this brings me pause. I definitely wouldn’t be a super active user. I suspect I would have interaction yearly, so am probably safe. I just don’t like this policy, particularly with regard to using something like Google Photos or Google Drive for archiving of photos. If something were to happen to me, I want my loved ones to know that the photos we have stored there are safe. I suppose folks will need to remember to leave a note to loved ones that the photos need to be downloaded before the two year period expires.

Is this standard industry practice as Google claims? I don’t recall reading this in Microsoft’s or Amazon’s policy.

Conversation 4 comments

  • bkkcanuck

    16 December, 2020 - 8:37 am

    <p>So, changing the terms… potentially losing data on a Google service… is consumer unfriendly? If that is the case Google has been that way for a long time… they have cancelled lots of services that they once had at the loss of data – throughout almost it's entire life.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      16 December, 2020 - 8:56 am

      Sorry, is there an instance of Google canceling an important service with user-stored data and not allowing them to access and export that data?

      Google is a lot of things, for sure. But they do provide a dashboard that lets you access, download/export, and delete the data that Google stores for you.

      • bkkcanuck

        16 December, 2020 - 9:22 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#600331">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>I don't remember Google creating export options for Google Plus…. yes some third parties would scrape the information output for input into other wordpress or something, but still, Google enticed people to use it — some actually did… then cancelled it. Each time people take time, get invested in new Google services – google seems to cancel it. Al the time organizing stuff you added – gets lost. I stopped trying new Google offerings because I have an expectation that it will not have enough critical mass fast enough and google will turn around and cancel it.</p>

  • minke

    16 December, 2020 - 9:36 am

    <p>The biggest danger with Google's consumer products is that you can get locked out of your account and lose it with no recourse other than an automated online recovery system that doesn't always work like it's supposed to. You really need to backup everything you keep in cloud accounts either locally or via another brand of cloud account. I nearly lost access to my Google account last year when they would only send recovery codes to an old phone number I no longer had, despite my having all the required backup information: alternate email address, one-time codes, alternate 2FA methods. Google wouldn't offer any of those options, and would only automatically send codes to the old phone number that was gone. Scary!</p>

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