Well, Alan Levine said much of what I would have, only more intelligently.

I've been thinking about this issue a lot recently, especially since my old-style PDA no longer syncs with the data on my PC. I'm about ready for a smartphone and considering an Android model, but I am far from crazy about the idea of Google having access to my contacts and my calendar.

Ditto for gmail: why should I allow a bunch of rich geeks to scan the content of my mail? I haven't heard a good answer yet; the value proposition is often more a proposition than a value.

Having your own domain (so you control where it's hosted) and your own web presence is essential, I think, even if a bit technical for someone who's never done it. The tech barriers are lower but not invisible. Still, it's kind of like learning to write and speak on an educated-adult level: something with far more benefits than drawbacks.

(I may need to consider OpenID again, though it felt really clunky and cumbersome to me.)