On 2016-05-31 13:32, Anton Aylward wrote:
On 05/30/2016 01:36 PM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
On 2016-05-30 17:46, Anton Aylward wrote:
I recall an off-hand mention on the list but can't find it now, to the effect that you can sign up for various Google services but avoid the need for a gmail address.
Do you recall this?
I don't think so.
However, you can use those services without using that gmail address. They will tell you things via gmail, but that's all. You do not need to give that address to people.
I think you have this almost exactly backward from my intent.
Of course, if you share things on drive, for instance, or photos, people will see your address as well. It is the name of the service, of the account.
I don't care about my address; I have a gmail address and I throw away everything that comes in from it, which is mostly advertising or for stuff from a place called "fora" or something like that.Stupid questions and TL;DR answers.
OK, run with this scenario.
I use Hangouts to 'chat' in all 3 modes with friends and acquaintances all over the world, for example one who is doing a 'grand tour" as his requirement , travelling throughout Europe and Asia and photographing everything in sight as if the world was coming to an end and this was a record that was to be sent to an off-world archive. In some ways I envy him. I have another retire friend in a boat touring round the east coast and threatening to cross the Atlantic; his main impediment right now is figuring out how he can stay connected to the internet in mid Atlantic.
All on Hangouts. They don't care about having a gmail address. The only use I have for the gmail address is to simplify signing up for Hangouts.
But I have another friend who is returning to the UK (foolish I think, and at an inopportune time, too) who really doesn't want to pay the punitive LD phone charges to keep in touch. I've suggested she sign up for Hangouts and use it on her iPad. She's not tech-savvy so don't even talk about VoIP and stuff.
Note also that Hangouts has a plugin for browsers and its also available at the iPad play store, so that's not the problem.
The problem is that she does not want to use or even HAVE a gmail address.
While I don't care about having a gmail address myself, it may be useful to be able to use hangouts with a non-gmail address sometime in the future.
Like Felix, I have no use for other google features such as photosharing, games and so forth. Searching is good, mind you.
Well, I don't think it is possible. It is a bunch or kit, you buy it all and only use what you wish. It is funny that some people owning an Android phone think that they don't have gmail. They do, of course, it comes with the phone. They just are not aware of it because it was set by the shop clerk. The nuisance for me comes when I ask them what is that address, because I made some photos at an event with them, and they want to see those photos. The easiest is just to share them with the "Photo" app in Android, associated with the gmail account of the phone or tablet. They give me their yahoo address instead which of course does not work. However, I have the feeling of seeing somewhere some google app used with a non google account. But I can't remember which or if it is accurate. Maybe it is incorrect, just gmail reading yahoo mail or similar. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 13.1 x86_64 "Bottle" at Telcontar)