Google to Retire Blogger & Picasa Brands in Google+ Push

Original Story

I can't say I'm horribly shocked that they're re-branding everything under their name.  This is both a good and bad move.  Some people may be reluctant to use some of these services for lack of a known name behind them.  On the other hand this is becoming tighter integration with other Google products which means there is less separation of services.  Although my blog costs me nothing (and generates zero revenue so far) I like the idea of it being separate from its parent company.  Realistically I know it's not but i like the appearance of it.

Is this a wise decision right now?  Yes there's the launch of Google+ and this will make that smoother but at what cost?  There is a growing sentiment that Facebook has gotten too big and is perceived as evil.  I for one am nervous about how much influence Facebook now has over its users, customers, and other technologies  that it appears to be expanding into.

I'm drawn to Google+ right now not only because it's new but because Google has advertised that it will not have the perceived down sides that Facebook has.  I've entrusted my email to Google.  They've been my search engine for years since I was on dial up and they only had one ad on their site.  I've entrusted them to advance technology with phones and their green initiatives.  They owned Blogger/Blogspot before I even dreamed of starting this.  I should be OK with this and yet I'm not sure this expansion of the brand name sits well with me.

Is Google spreading their name too far too quickly?  Is this a step in the right direction for their growth?  Should we start listening to those wearing the tin foil hats about this giant entity that is trying to be our friend so that it can exploit us?  Is it possible to trust one company more than another knowing that no successful business can ever truly have my best interests in mind?

This will be fun to reread in a couple of years.  :)