About Google not locking users

I've written about this a few times but haven't bumped into a solid reference. Well, here's one: Eric Schmidt, Google’s chairman, when asked in a New York Times interview (on Google's aquisition of YouTube) about the difference between Microsoft and Google ...

... insisted that the company would not follow a similar strategy, in part because it had established a principle of not trying to control or lock up user-owned information — like calendar or spreadsheet data — that could be moved to an alternative service.

“We at Google will never trap user data,” he said.

Ok. It's "just" a promise. But such a clear promise from a company's chairman is not "just a promise". And it's well in line with Google's actions, too. Let's hope it's in line with Google's actions in the future, too.