Google already had it — Google Notebook but brutally killed it
I must start by saying that I’ve been and are a huge fan of Google products. On average i use about 5 Google products a day and that includes, Search, Gmail, Docs, Picasa, G+ among others. As such I’ve been a victim of Google’s brutal closure of it’s products, the most recent one being Google Reader(still getting over it). Now before i came to know of any note taking App on the internet, i learnt and used Google Notebook. Google Notebook worked: it was simple, effective, web-friendly, and perfectly suited to a Getting Things Done system. However, as of July 2012, Google Notebook was shut down and all Notebook data was automatically exported to Google Docs — as usual without prior due consultation from us the users despite our petition to save it. While i still had my notes, some of its content was lost such as tags as these were or couldn’t be displayed in an Google Docs. More so, it was a complete mess in Docs as much of the format was completely lost.
Future of Google Keep uncertain
It’s against these experiences of Google suddenly closing down its products without prior notice and letting its users fend for themselves that it becomes increasingly difficult to trust any product that the search giant launches. For instance, what makes you think that Google won’t wake up another morning and announce that it will be shutting down Google Keep? What if Keep is just another experiment that Google is playing around with to test its Google Drive API for instance? Unless i’ve absolute certainty that Google Keep is here to stay, am not keeping it.
I already use or switched to Evernote
Evernote is certainly one of the best Note taking Apps out there. The popular note-taking service Evernote has 5 million members, but did you know that it has 160,000 paying users helping it generate around $800,000 per month! I use it on a regular basis to clip pieces of information on the web as I do my research and also immediately jot down my ideas. I have over 300 notes in my Evernote account. When I told my girlfriend about it, she immediately liked it and ever since, she’s been using it. However, other than Evernote, I also use another light-weight Android App called ColorNote (highly recommend for low-end smartphones) where I have over 200 notes. So does Google expect me to migrate about 400 notes to its [resuscitate] App (again) whose future am not certain about? Google’s announcement of Google Keep according to Phil Libin, Evernote CEO as quoted by Gigaom is both good and bad for his company. Bad, because he now has more competition in the market and good because now more people are going to be aware of the overall category, which means more attention for Evernote. But as for me, my mind is already made up.
