The problem is they've really provided a compelling reason to use their services.  There are lots of features in gmail that no other webmail provider,(even paid) has.  Similarly, the size of the youtube community makes it way more useful than other functionally equivalent sites.  It's integrated into my browser.  I probably use google services hundreds of times a day, and no doubt they've got a pretty accurate profile of exactly what type of person I am.

It will be hard indeed to wean ourselves off Ma Google.  First step:  try Scroogle, the "google scraper".  They do a google search for you and return the results so google has no idea what you're searching for.  Plus it uses https to encrypt your searches.  A little paranoid, maybe, but why not?

I'd love to stay here and watch the discussion, but I've got to go watch WALL-E.  Thanks for reading my diary.