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I'm sorry, but he's upset enough with Google removing its Reader service that he has opted to take his eggs from one basket to another? Why doesn't he just use Bing for what it is good for, Google for whatever it is good for, and then use other third party services? This isn't much of a boycott since it appears he doesn't pay for any services.
Makes sense. That's what I intend to do, go on Google-free diet. You can at least try. There are certainly some products which are nearly impossible to switch in short term range.

The whole point of switching is that people show Google that they can take their Ads-attracting eyeballs to their competitors if and when they want. Sure Google is providing data liberating service but it should be people who would make the decision.

The people who go all-in on one service provider's ecosystem are the ones to be burned the most as the walled gardens get higher and higher.
This is a non-news item. The author's not upset with any of Google's products, he's just going to try living in the Microsoft ecosystem for a month to see how he likes it.

TL;DR:

".... by committing myself to Microsoft’s services, .... I might -- just might -- end up preferring at least one if not more of them. Or I might end up realizing just how much better Google is at everything. We’ll see."

Why does this kind of article feel like it was written by an astroturfer?

I'm not saying the author is an astroturfer, but his article certainly has that pay-per-comment feel to it.

Very good call. This is becoming a serious problem on hn/reddit.
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I agree. Also, I'm happy to see people using the term AstroTurf correctly!
Switching from one giant to another. Why do I think the author will be in the same predicament in several years.
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Jeez that first paragraph is cheesy.
Why is this article so black and white about choices in software? There's a lot of great third party software out there like firefox, thunderbird, dropbox and so on.
Article sponsored by Microsoft