No. Should you use it while it is still in Beta? It depends. I'm a software developer myself. I love technology. I love seeing companies try new things to push possibilities. I hate spam. I think we are at an early stage in the learning curve relative to both search and social software. I'm glad Google is pushing the envelope.
Google has raised the bar in the search space. I love their use of unobtrusive *Adsense* text ads compared to the intrusive advertising used on most websites. I'm glad that they've shown leadership here and others are following in their footsteps playing catch up.
On the other hand, I am an adamant advocate for the individual - the so called user or worse, consumer. I see the computer and Net as tools that help level the playing field between huge corporations and individuals or small groups that want to make a difference, innovate, adapt and prosper.
I don't regard most corporations as benign or helpful overall to society. They are entities beholden to Wall Street and the global market to maximize shareholder wealth first and foremost. Other important stakeholders like their employees, communities, environment, industries and customers are given short shrift and manipulated or exploited.
The current arrangement and competition in the business world pressures the small number of well-intentioned publicly held corporations to capitulate to a narrow-minded focus on revenue and profit.
Google is not yet a public corporation in the sense of having gone public, but their IPO is rumored widely. Their meteoric success in the last 6 years is unprecedented. At the apex of their success, they can afford to be generous. They can afford to innovate in ways that profoundly alter the status quo.
We don't live in paradise. We do live in a very competitive business environment. Every company has to have a business model that will make and keep them profitable so that they can stay in business, grow, innovate, and, hopefully, be good business citizens in their communities and on this planet.
The Net has struggled to find business models that work. Google has found many. Amazon has done well. EBay has had phenomenal success. Ads and placement of those ads have been major components of many Net business models.
Gathering information about site visitors has become the status quo. Cookies are everywhere. Privacy is lost with the justifications that (1) we can serve our customers better if we *know* them and (2) the information is useful to us and is a payback for the *free* services and content we make available - part of our business model.
I love software that helps me negotiate the Net with impunity, that helps me *manage* my privacy or see what privacy I've lost so that I can take measures to mitigate that loss. I equally love software that provides value like Amazon A9's ability to search within a book. I like it that we've got a lively discussion around Gmail ads and privacy issues.
Google won't draw the line where it *should* be without feedback. Neither will the rest of the industry. Each of us must make decisions every day as we sign on to the latest new service or choose to abstain.