Google.

Why or why not. I know I've personally posted several things about Google snatching up everything about you, alphabetizing, collating, collecting, coordinating and sending ads your way. Perhaps even at times cooperating with government entities against you.

However, I think at this point in my life I don't give a rats ass any more, and if someone is coming after me they're gonna get me. But I'll go down fighting. But I digress.

Seriously, do any of you use these things?

I have set up a gmail account, google drive, using google contacts, looking at google docs now, and in general using "google" for about everything. I've been using drop box to move stuff so I can get it on my desktop (going away soon), laptop (new to me, linux OS, Lubuntu specifically with a MATE desktop) and my Galaxy tablet. And, as of Saturday, my new Galaxy Avant android phone. More on this momentarily.

As it turns out, I couldn't get all my crap off my blackberry. They stopped updating it a year ago. My wife's finally bit the dust on Friday and won't stay up for more than a few minutes before rebooting. I was able to copy (by HAND) all of her contacts, as well as mine (80+ or so, on paper, phone numbers, names, some email, some addresses etc).

To collate it all (see what I did there), I used google contacts. I logged into my new email account and I entered, individually, one at a time on the computer (because it's easier than typing on a touch screen) all 80+ contacts, almost all of whom my wife and I know together. Then I synced the phone with the contacts and viola - it worked. Then I exported the list, emailed it to the wife's new gmail account, logged into her netbook (my old one I gave her), and imported the list. It worked.

Then I synced her phone with the contacts. It worked.

Everything "just worked".

WTF?

I've been using Dropbox as I mentioned before, and have about 2 gigs of storage for free.

Drive has 15 gigs presently available. I have attempted and not be wholly successful, in moving the crap I have on Dropbox over the Drive. But, 15 gigs is a lot and I can't pass that up (I'll NEVER fill that up, right? LOL)

I did load a 3rd party, open source program on Linux (Drive isn't supporting Linux directly, as of yet) and was able to "create a Drive" connection on the linux machine last night, thus, NOW I can move stuff from my Dropbox folder to the Drive folder and like magic... it works. It uploaded the files and folders I copied over. Cool

The only down side of my new phone is I still can't bring it into work. Has a camera. That's verboten. (My BB had one as well). It doesn't of course work behind an RF shield, plus I'm in the basement at my office double-ungood I guess.)

I CAN from work get to Google Calendar and a couple other aps through a browser. I can not get to Drive, Gmail or any other storage or email on the outside (which begs the question how do other agencies and Secretaries of State get away with it if I CAN NOT?????)

If anyone else has experiences with messing with this stuff... let me know (I'm thinking Malsua perhaps?)