Google Docs was another service that I missed, but only because I had already uploaded so much data into that service for wedding planning and real-estate documentation. Several alternatives exist (most notably Microsoft Office Live Workspace) if I was planning to make this a long experiment, but I was able to get around it by forwarding crucial documents to my Yahoo Mail before the self-imposed ban went into place.

But one look at Google's product list shows just how many services I never use, such as Blogger, Picasa, Google Product Search, Knol, and countless others. I have registered accounts with some of those services just to see what they are all about, but don't actively use them.

Competition really is a click away
There are really no excuses for lamenting Google's reach across the Internet: if you don't want to use their services, you are rarely required to do so and you won't miss all that much by going with alternatives.

Google has actually made this one of its calling cards. It reminds regulators and foes alike that "competition is a click away" when forced to defend its amazing growth over the past several years. And through projects like the Data Liberation Front, Google has made it a priority to give its users ways to walk away from its products with their data intact.

That is, if you're a regular person. Advertisers who wish to be online have little choice but to dance with Google and its immense reach. And that's what may one day trip up the company, assuming its hold on online advertising continues to strengthen.

But otherwise, a Google-free life is quite attainable. Still, if your objection to using Google's services is that the company stores too much data on your online habits, don't be fooled into thinking that other Internet companies aren't doing the same thing.

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