This looks like a good reminder that Google isn't just a loose bunch of tools, they have developed a full integrated ecosystem.
If it's not what you want then it is overly intrusive and exceptionally hard to manage so you control just the functionality and personal security you want.
Most end users, I think, just want something to work and are happy for all the magic to just happen. When you embrace it a lot of what it does is very clever and very useful. Most people I know who have embraced it just find the integration fantastically useful and don't have most of the concerns the more technically aware people do.
But people that has embraced it but later finds themselves in a different situation in life, needing to hide from a previous spouse realises a bit late how much information is out there now. Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean someone isn't out to get you.
I find I can replace just about everything Google makes except for Google Docs & Google Sheets. I wish I could find self-hosted, open-source versions of those, which I would install on my own server. I can just use desktop apps and sync the files through my server with git or rsync when I'm the only user (but using multiple clients), but as you're saying about the general public, for sharing with friends and family, Google's solution works so much better....
Sorry I'm late getting back to this, but thanks for the suggestion. I hadn't heard of an online version of LibreOffice, so I'll definitely check it out. I really hope there will be a way to have the benefits of server-based word processors and spreadsheets without handing our private data to people whose business is profiling us.
If it's not what you want then it is overly intrusive and exceptionally hard to manage so you control just the functionality and personal security you want.
Most end users, I think, just want something to work and are happy for all the magic to just happen. When you embrace it a lot of what it does is very clever and very useful. Most people I know who have embraced it just find the integration fantastically useful and don't have most of the concerns the more technically aware people do.