Can we work without Google services in Windows 10 S ?

[sd4f]

If google was smart, they'd put the chrome browser in the store, so people could use that and therefor use their google search as default. Perhaps this is why MS has done this. Default browser is a lot less important than default search.

I reckon it's the windows phone youtube app all over again.

Basically Alphabet sees chrome as an app that people want. Alphabet probably doesn't want the MS app store to take off so they won't support it with their products people actually want, all in order to corral consumers into the choice of deciding to grab this 'inferior' OS without their stuff, or stick to where alphabet wants them.

So far, I'm quite surprised how quite a few apps are making the change to the store. However, I hope that they don't exclude people, and still offer that choice of getting the programs and 'side-loading'.

Another company to keep an eye out for in how they react to this, will be valve. They aren't keen on MS entering their turf, and will also do things to try to keep the store becoming successful, if they can.

 

[Drael646464]

I reckon it's the windows phone youtube app all over again.

Basically Alphabet sees chrome as an app that people want. Alphabet probably doesn't want the MS app store to take off so they won't support it with their products people actually want, all in order to corral consumers into the choice of deciding to grab this 'inferior' OS without their stuff, or stick to where alphabet wants them.

So far, I'm quite surprised how quite a few apps are making the change to the store. However, I hope that they don't exclude people, and still offer that choice of getting the programs and 'side-loading'.

Another company to keep an eye out for in how they react to this, will be valve. They aren't keen on MS entering their turf, and will also do things to try to keep the store becoming successful, if they can.

Thing is windows could easily more or less fail and slip into obscurity without uwp. It's not like apple and google are just resting. It's in valves best interest to cut a deal. UWP is it, fight it and fight the platform more or less.

As for google, I don't think they have the strongest desktop potential. I suspect apple is working on an ai search too. Apple is the one who would benefit from MSFT failure. They (google) could lose ad targets with their holdout, even if they do damage their competition. No doubt others will build browsers too (theres already ucbrowser). Google is a search company, they should be ensuring THAT business. People use uwp on desktop, console, tablet and soon mixed reality and window sbooks. Opting out isn't a vote against its standing on the sidelines of a future MSFT is 100% committed to. Theres no playing chicken with that.

 

[Yaswin Prakash S]

I think it won't be a problem, since except chrome all other google services can be accessed via web.
even Edge has come out a long way, and its almost to a level of chrome

 

[JohnnyRedLight]

Google+ is a bit more civil than most social media. It has a strong representation for things like tech, science, academia. It's a good service to use for info that's a little more high brow, and in depth, than most social media goes (facebook is more mainstream full of memes and viral vids, twitter is basically like a celebrity rag).

If you like reading about advances in science, or more detailed stuff about tech, it can function as a pretty good "social news stream". The layout is also boss next to most social media (multiple colomns like a mag)

Of course there is some of the typical stuff in there, arguments, and memes, but because each collection is curated, and each group is moderated, its a more controlled environment than FB, twitter, youtube. Trolls get caught. Spammers usually get blocked.

Also I feel okay using that because its a niche product, still small, google hasn't monetized it yet (ie, unlike search, gmail, or maps, no ads)

For people in the tech business, programmers, scientists etc, kinda valuable.

Although I do use youtube too (there's no substaintive alternatives really), I just use an adblocker with it (adguard adblocker in edge does this, as does adblocker for youtube in chrome if you use chrome).

Mainly I don't like googles treatment of consumers much these days, so I refuse to make them money

I will miss google+ though if it ever gets monetized without an adblocker. I tire of the endless arguments and pettiness, as well as the low brow media on other social media platforms.

Wow! That's quite the sales pitch I might have to give it a closer look.

 

[Ezhik]

Well, it all works just fine in Edge. I'm quite annoyed by the search engine thing. Hope MS backtracks on that.

 

[Chris Knopff]

Considering iTunes is coming to Windows, Apple is embracing the possibility that Microsoft isn't going to let it go. Plus, jumping in sooner (this time) gets potentially more of a user base and keeps current Windows users of their products.

Expect Google to introduce content later. It is still taking traction and many are not completely ready for it. If Microsoft is adamant though.

 

[Drael646464]

Considering iTunes is coming to Windows, Apple is embracing the possibility that Microsoft isn't going to let it go. Plus, jumping in sooner (this time) gets potentially more of a user base and keeps current Windows users of their products.

Expect Google to introduce content later. It is still taking traction and many are not completely ready for it. If Microsoft is adamant though.

UWP is here to stay. MSFT is rightly 100 percent bullish on that.

Plus MSFT has VR. An emergent entertainment area that will boost desktop/console vs mobile. At this point it'd be smart to get in early, rather than pretend that google can really compete in the static computing market.

In fact with google assistant coming to ios, I think google might be starting to think seriously about the cross platform flag MS has been waving.

 

[Chris Knopff]

VR is not important. Until the cost of the additional hardware goes down, using a phone for VR is going to be easier on the pocket.

 

[Drael646464]

VR is not important. Until the cost of the additional hardware goes down, using a phone for VR is going to be easier on the pocket.

IMO its extremely important to MSFT.

Atm that's where 60 percent of the spend is, sure, smartphones (which is understandable given most people haven't tried it, and the market is tiny, and the pc version is over a thousand bucks for all the hardware and requires complex set up).

When considering spend, people might say "go cheaper". But is the iPhone cheap? What's a better deal, _another_ phone, or room scale VR? The only difference is, people have more experience, and more software on one that the other. But the other is unquestionable cooler, is just 'early'. It's still a tech pioneer situation.

If anything VR on an all in one, or phone will not grow the market, but make people unimpressed. They will need to actually try both to get the scale of difference.

VR has the early growth trend of smartphones - its tiny but quickly getting bigger. When VR hits the mainstream people will not want to low polygon count version, any more than they want 360p now.

They'll want it lifelike. And that's something PC and console can deliver, but phones cannot. It's a scale difference that is huge.

Hence why its important.

Static PCs always have a power lead over mobile devices. But that only matters, in the home, where latency is concerned, otherwise its served easy enough (cloud).

AI can be cloud based, at least until the power demands of neural networking overrun the cpu structure we currently use.

VR can't. Until VR overruns culture, the only drive for average consumers to have power, is games. When media generally becomes 3d and VR based, that paradigm changes. Films will be shot in 3d/360 eventually. Porn will be made 3d VR and fully interactive. Social environments like facebook can be supplemented with actual meeting places (which I suspect FB is working on).

And AR glasses can replace smartphones, tablets, TVs and monitors entirely, making the "small form" dominant app platforms much less potent, and 'large form" UI like on windows more important.

AR/VR is for Microsoft, what AI is for google - its a way to move their platform into the future, to expand. It's an area where all the conditions favour them.

 

[DenDeMello]

I really don't think so.

 

[Babstobi]

I really think it is time for Microsoft to work without google and be Independent.

 

[Drael646464]

I actually realized the question might actually be "can you function without google services". The answer is yes, with the one exception of youtube. Everything else has a substitute, whether it be maps, mail, docs, or search (there's a couple of other decent searches), that is perfectly fine.

If you watch video content, there are some other contenders, but nothing comes close. It's a shame because there are two others that have some popularity, and if they were merged, and made a default app in windows, it might be a contender. But yeah, youtube is the one service that is hard to replace.

However, you can adblock youtube, and avoid them getting any revenue, so its almost as good (support content creators with likes and patreon instead)

Google photos has a bit of lead, but I think story remix will settle that.

 

[Drael646464]

Basically nothing except youtube, from google, is really irreplaceable. There are competitive products from others for everything else. If your not really a youtube kinda person, of course Netflix, amazon etc is waaay more entertaining, youtube is really only useful for tutorials/tech reviews, news and the like.

 

[Althie]

What's the problem?
you can use MSFT solutions, if it doesn't work for you don't choose S.
Some people got used to google services some got hooked on them,
you got a choice.
Instead of gmail you can use outlook.com, instead of docs use office, use bing and bing maps,
maybe it's not the best for you now but eventually it will get better,
even Google started from somewhere.
Microsoft maps can be lacking, i can't use it in my language but there are other options,
not only google.

I guess, for me being in a system where i can use one machine for work another to personal life and to know they are totally separated, this is comfort.

Why do i need to rely on google all the time?
if i want to rebrand myself as MSFT user i can and will choose S.
I can also brand myself as Google user and use chrome OS and their set of devices.
Can you install edge on Chrome OS....? Or Android...?

Well the big disappointment is from cortana that most of the time is a way to make web search instead of having a dialog with an assistant. need to wait for her to evolve.

 

[SpaciousZebra]

The answer here depends on whether or not Microsoft can beef up their offerings in comparison to what Google already provides. Google is everywhere: the majority of college students utilize google docs regularly and appreciate Chrome's setup. Excluding the option to use it on a $1000 device without giving students some way to continue working with those Chromies could kill 10 S. Seriously, it could become one of those pieces of tech that's a laughing stock in the future.

I'm more than willing to give it a shot without judging it before I get it, but if I ever have to utter a phrase like "I can't do that because I have Windows 10 S" without being equipped with a simple and easy option to get around the problem, then man, I don't know how it holds up.

 

[Drael646464]

What's the problem?
you can use MSFT solutions, if it doesn't work for you don't choose S.
Some people got used to google services some got hooked on them,
you got a choice.
Instead of gmail you can use outlook.com, instead of docs use office, use bing and bing maps,
maybe it's not the best for you now but eventually it will get better,
even Google started from somewhere.
Microsoft maps can be lacking, i can't use it in my language but there are other options,
not only google.

I guess, for me being in a system where i can use one machine for work another to personal life and to know they are totally separated, this is comfort.

Why do i need to rely on google all the time?
if i want to rebrand myself as MSFT user i can and will choose S.
I can also brand myself as Google user and use chrome OS and their set of devices.
Can you install edge on Chrome OS....? Or Android...?

Well the big disappointment is from cortana that most of the time is a way to make web search instead of having a dialog with an assistant. need to wait for her to evolve.

She's getting "skills" in FCU, and she's supposed to offer them proactively (unlike alexa, which is passive and needs key phrases). Or that's what they said. So she should get a lot better.

MS purchased a language AI recently too. Last six months.

 

[Drael646464]

The answer here depends on whether or not Microsoft can beef up their offerings in comparison to what Google already provides. Google is everywhere: the majority of college students utilize google docs regularly and appreciate Chrome's setup. Excluding the option to use it on a $1000 device without giving students some way to continue working with those Chromies could kill 10 S. Seriously, it could become one of those pieces of tech that's a laughing stock in the future.

I'm more than willing to give it a shot without judging it before I get it, but if I ever have to utter a phrase like "I can't do that because I have Windows 10 S" without being equipped with a simple and easy option to get around the problem, then man, I don't know how it holds up.

Nothing actually stopping google bring their apps. Not that you can' use them in a browser. Literally every google service is in the browser. And if google don't make apps someone like kiwi for gmail will probably fill the gap.

This goes more for chrome IMO, lots you can do already with store apps, you can't do on chrome, let alone when windows FCU new features come in, or the MS teams education software is released.

It seems more likely, especially in time, that chrome users would be the ones saying that (say working as a team on a single document, whilst using teams to discuss it on windows s, or continuing to edit your documents when off line, or using more powerful win32 software or playing a decent game).

Windows s is windows after all, even if the UWP platform is still young. It's more powerful even when its still learning to walk.

Chrome OS is just a browser with some android apps slapped ontop. It's pretty limiting really.

 

[Keeptechcoolandsimple]

Can you work without Google services in Windows 10s (or any other windows) ? Yes.
Can you work seamlessly and fluidly without Google services? I would say, it's becoming increasingly harder to do. The reason I say that is because we're living in a world where the primary form of computing device (ie., the one people always have near them) is the smart phone. And Google - via Android - holds roughly 80% of the market share I believe, with that number continuing to increase still. We also want all of our devices - from our phones to our desktops to our laptops to even smart appliances - to "talk to each other". With Google services so integrated into the Android OS itself, I'm wondering how seamlessly that "connected smart world" can be achieved without being forced into at least using some Google services.
No arguments about which OS is better as I completely agree that windows machines, as a standalone, offer far more capable machines. Just stating the reality of a connected world as I see it currently.
BTW, that's also the reason I'm glad that even if MS gave up on the windows phone, they seem intent on delivering QUALITY MS apps to both Android and iOS. The less reliant I have to be on services from one company, the more control I have over how I want my devices to "talk to each other".

 

[ajcletus500]

Well, it all works just fine in Edge. I'm quite annoyed by the search engine thing. Hope MS backtracks on that.

you could make your new tab page a google search page and work around it if you like.

 

[Althie]

Can you work without Google services in Windows 10s (or any other windows) ? Yes.
Can you work seamlessly and fluidly without Google services? I would say, it's becoming increasingly harder to do. The reason I say that is because we're living in a world where the primary form of computing device (ie., the one people always have near them) is the smart phone. And Google - via Android - holds roughly 80% of the market share I believe, with that number continuing to increase still. We also want all of our devices - from our phones to our desktops to our laptops to even smart appliances - to "talk to each other". With Google services so integrated into the Android OS itself, I'm wondering how seamlessly that "connected smart world" can be achieved without being forced into at least using some Google services.
No arguments about which OS is better as I completely agree that windows machines, as a standalone, offer far more capable machines. Just stating the reality of a connected world as I see it currently.
BTW, that's also the reason I'm glad that even if MS gave up on the windows phone, they seem intent on delivering QUALITY MS apps to both Android and iOS. The less reliant I have to be on services from one company, the more control I have over how I want my devices to "talk to each other".

Am

Amazon showed with Alexa how to connect different Smart appliances to the smart environment you are talking about, maybe they are using parts of Google's software but it is not a Google product, so things can be done with different approach.
The smart devices are "talking" by protocols, app can be written in many language across many platforms in order to achieve this. It can be on MSFT or Apple or Google it doesn't matter, there were also meago, symbian and now LG is trying it's own OS for it's smart appliances.

The debate now focuses not on how the connectivity may be but whose giving the best experience, MSFT got its own OS for embedded devices, known as smart appliances, usually POS (Point of Sell) smart cashiers and screens. The change for MSFT to the home user with smart TV, fridge, oven, lighting etc, is all about contacting the right companies. Don't forget MSFT is used a lot in the business world and can bring solutions used there to the home user.

Google success is based on $$$, they are using OS that is a port of linux OS, what will happen when they will move to their own propriety OS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fuchsia,
For sure Google gives you a lot with their services, students get free to use software like Office, CAD and more, for their time in the college.

I wish there was an easy way to migrate my data from phone to phone, you are talking about something way bigger. Can you move your data from one android phone to another without glitches...?
I'm not talking about cross platforms, I'm talking about messages and contacts, now days it seems easy, if you use certain apps, you just reconfigure your profile, user name (don't forget your password), make sure you enter the store, need to download your apps again, hope the data is configured for the system (you never know what got broken when they updated the OS)

And finishing words - look at the XBMC project, Linux for the XBox that became the UWP app Kodi. If there is a need and there is a will, there a way.