what on earth does that sentence mean?

What do you mean what on earth does that sentence mean what on earth does that sentence mean - the haves?

Number of times google has fucked ME over so far... zero

Millions of Youtube account holders who were forced to get a G+ account and divulge their true identity or give up the ability to comment beg to differ.

Number of times google has demanded payment for services or my credit card info. zero

Try using Google Play to get a for-pay Android app.

Number of annoyances google shoves in my face. zero

Try using an Android app - ads.
Try searching something on google.com - more ads.
Try *not* giving in to the constant G+ nagging.

Saying there is no conspiracy involved generally leads people to believe there is one.

Aaw man, I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't aren't I? :)

Okay look, Google is a company that scares the bejesus out of me, and I believe the things they develop and invest in lead the world to a dangerously slippery slope. I also think they don't publicize all the things they do because they believe people aren't ready to hear what they have in store for them. But I *emphatically* don't believe there is ANY conspiracy involved.

Well, it's just that I can't remember the name of that plastic. It's been a few years. No conspiracy involved :)

Cookies are disabled on all my browsers, except on certain whitelisted sites I trust, and Google sites aren't on it.

Also, I got a spam mail, not an ad on a webpage.

Google lets you close your account and delete it, leaving no traces

How do you know that? Did Google offer you to audit their systems to verify what you believe?

More likely, Google, being an enormous information gathering company that live off that information, keep all your data and add a new tidbit of information to your file mentioning that on date D, you closed your account and deleted it.

If you truly believe Google's data retention policy is any different from Facebook's, you're delusional. And even if they say they do delete your data, they're so big and loaded with cash that nobody can ever check they really do.

Facebook is nasty, but at least they're clean nasty. Google cloaks in a good-corporate-citizen "do no evil" bullshit but is in the same business space - massive information gathering and monetizing.

So the best way to be sure Google has no information on you (or rather, as little as possible) is to not give them any whenever possible.

Realistically, Google wasn't founded by a guy who stole passwords to read other people's email.

Google may have been founded by people with the best of intentions, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Google believes in a panopticon world in which anonymity and the right to privacy has disappeared. They may believe it's for my own good, but their dream world is my nightmare.

Google doesn't (as far as I know) sell user information to advertisers

If you really believe this, I'll tell you a little story:

A few years ago, I was working for a manufacturer in R+D, developing an accessory for one of our products. One of the parts of that accessory required a plastic part with very specific features (it was a living hinge, but with certain requirements that made polypropylene unsuitable).

I used Google to find out what other types of plastics might be suitable, and quickly finally found a material that would work. A rather obscure, rather expensive plastic with a barbaric name. I Googled some more about that plastic, then called it a day and went home.

The VERY NEXT DAY, I got a spam in my work mailbox from a Chinese manufacturer of that very plastic, offering me prices by the ton.

I had never heard of that plastic before Googling it.

Coincidence?

How quaint...

who runs Linux these days?

Linux is 25 years old now. You don't run it, you walk it slowly with a leash and let it have a pee on the front lawn.

Anyone can fork the kernel and work on his own version of it

Yes, only hardly anyone ever does it with projects as massive as the Linux Kernel. Just look at how many years it took for X.org to split from X11 - or heck, even the many half-assed and failed attempts at forking off Slashdot over the Beta issue.

It takes a lot of fustration building up for many years in many talented and dedicated people to pull off a big fork successfully.

Not quite. From TFE:

Greg - just for your information, I will *not* be merging any code from Kay into the kernel until this constant pattern is fixed.

More like "Correct your previous assignments until you can turn in more assignments."

Linus just talks like a sailor.

Arrh, I dun think so me shiverin' matey!

With the same right you reserve for you the right to pollute people's memory long-term with your opinion.

There's a major difference: if you don't want to read my opinion, you're free not to. Advertisement is ubiquitous and inescapable. You can't opt out. Therefore it's brainwashing.

Also, if you read what I write, it won't stay with you for the next 40 years. Ads on the other hand are carefully crafted to act as memes that grab onto your mind and won't let go.

a way to make targeted ads acceptable to users

That's like trying to come up with a way to make waterboarding more enjoyable...

Advertising, be it on television, newspapers, the internet or roadsign billboards, feels like mind rape to me.

I'm middle-aged and I remember more ads from my youth than stuff I learned at school. Ads for products that don't even exist anymore, but I can't get rid of the stupid ads in my head. Why do advertisers give themselves the right to pollute people's memory long-term with their shit?