Google Offers An Easy Out With Data Liberation

November 24th, 2009 by Erin Posted in Software Development | No Comments »

Want to bail on Google?

If you’re sick of their products and services, the company is making it super easy for people to pack up their data and go.

Enter the Data Liberation Front.

This ingenious – and unconventional – software was designed by Google engineers whose sole mission is to make it easier for users to move their data in and out of Google products – essentially liberating them.

Is this an odd business strategy?

Yes, but it’s brilliant at the same time.

Given that most – if not all – of us move among the cloud, data portability has become a key issue – especially for small business owners who rely on Google’s cloud services.

Brian Fitzpatrick, a Google engineering manager, explains:

We want people to try our software, and if we’re going to encourage people to put data in the cloud and use more cloud-based apps, it’s important to show that it should be easy to get that data out as well. I want more people to think about this. It’s an important thing, and most people don’t think “I want to get my data out,” until it’s too late.

There’s even been a hint of a new feature that will give users the ability to export all of their Google Docs files in a single, downloadable zip archive.

I’m sorry, why do we need MS Office again?

Thank you Google for giving me an “out” should my relationship with you end in divorce.

And most of all, thank you for having my back.

My back up data that is.

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