Exasperated by online bullying!

No, I am not being bullied online, by people at least. I am being bullied by two companies which have off late become an inherent part of the daily routine of millions of people around the world - Google and Facebook. What's with these authoritarian attitude towards these new, so called modern interface updates? In spite of near universal backlash and negative feedback, these two giants are sticking with their new interfaces like a stubborn three year old. Whatever happened to "the customer is the king"? When the primary users of these services are completely against the new looks, then why are these service providers hell bent on imposing them on us? I had been "reverting back to the old look temporarily" on Gmail for many months now, but now Google has preyed upon my account with the new look. I was horrified, utterly dismayed to see that the only savior, the option of "reverting back to the old look temporarily" had been taken away from me today when I logged in. I can't even bring myself to stay on Gmail for more than 2 minutes since the switch. I instantly expressed my indignation on facebook, but that wasn't enough of an outlet. And as soon as I came here to unleash my tirade, I was greeted with a bar "Blogger is getting a new interface in April. Update now". Yeah! What way to kick me when I am down, Google! But a new interface on Blogger or google+ or any other surface doesn't affect me as much as that of Gmail. I start my working days with opening my gmail account, a ritual I believe most people who spend their day working on a computer follow religiously. Especially Grad students like myself, and that too a Bioinformatician. Now I dread the prospect of staring at this hideous new interface, where I can see only one of the two - my chat list or my carefully managed labels - at a time, one has to strain to differentiate between read and unread mails, and what not! I am seriously considering switching to my now defunct Yahoo mail account, cause that is what these companies thrive on - the belief that people eventually get used to whatever you impose on them. Facebook has made a habit out of it, introducing horrible changes again and again over the past couple of years, and people do get used to it. Hundreds of complaints about the new look on Google's feedback group all elicit a cautious, unapologetic, polite response from a Google representative, offering videos and links to aid people in getting adjusted to the new look, and totally ignoring the actual feedback - that the new look SUCKS and we want out of it!

I am just dreading the day the much dreaded and detested Timeline catches up with my Facebook profile. maybe that's the day I'll start getting more productive, and drastically reduce the hours spent on staring at my Gmail inbox, chatting or facebooking.