But...it could. And while the rest of what you said is a good debate to have, I was just addressing this one issue. And considering he was complaining about Google installing software on his computer without his permission when that is not at all what was happening, I felt I should answer his question honestly. Yes, he was over-reacting. That doesn't mean, though, that he doesn't have something to complain a bit about.

However, I haven't seen a huge change that Google has made to GMail so far that can't be disabled or ignored without any ill effect to the user. Same goes for Google Reader. In the past year they've added a whole bunch of social stuff to Google Reader, but I have it all turned off or tucked away, so it doesn't impact me in the least.

Believe me, I use Google services more than anything else on the web. If they changed major functionality on one of their web apps, I'd probably be pretty pissed off. But so far, all major changes are either positive ones that I don't want to get rid of (like hiding labels and menu items in GMail - love that!), or ones that I can simply ignore or remove.

As for the rest of your post, Tom, I have two things to address:

1) If you don't like a change that Google makes, unlike many/most other companies on the web, at least Google goes to great effort to let you take your data with you. You could easily get every piece of mail in GMail, and put it onto your computer. Granted, you'd lose the email address, but not your data.

2) True, he could keep things consistent by using Thunderbird. But I've noticed fairly drastic changes and additions to that software over the years, and I don't even use it personally. It's true, at least you get to decide when to upgrade, but most people will upgrade their software when it tells them they need it, particularly when bugs and security holes are found. Plus, I kinda hate the UI of Thunderbird.