Some things are inappropriate to say, and I even feel that my thoughts are selfish, but I can't help but want to say: I really don't like the "technical identification" of foreign products and services for mainland users.
Take a simple example: new bing, which is the search engine now combined with chatGPT. Most people may only know recently that the bing on their own edge browser is a special version for the mainland, and even a domestic version and an international version are created to confuse users. Microsoft does business in the Chinese market, so when it detects that the IP is in the mainland, it will redirect the user to cn.bing.com instead of bing.com.
But looking at Google, which has long exited the mainland market, as long as you use Google search, there is no distinction between mainland version and international version. They no longer provide search services in mainland China, and you must bypass the firewall blockade to use Google services, so naturally they do not perform any technical identification on mainland users in terms of search services.
Another localized example is the Firefox browser. To avoid confusion, the mainland version of Firefox is called "Zhimo Firefox," while Mozilla Firefox is called "Mozilla Firefox." The differences between the two can be seen in this article.
In general, mainland users are identified through various means such as accessing IP and browser user language. Mozilla will redirect users determined to be in mainland China to the official website of Zhimo Firefox. The most fatal thing is that the account data of Mozilla Firefox and Zhimo Firefox are not interchangeable.
Contrasting with Mozilla and Microsoft, I actually feel that companies like Google, which do not provide services to mainland users at all, are more friendly to me. I no longer need to make great efforts to escape their technical identification, and I don't need to fear being disgusted by localized services. I can choose to use the international version of the service because I truly feel that the service quality of the international version is better and makes me more comfortable. Similarly, I believe that localizing international services can achieve better service quality and a better user experience. However, the domestic internet ecosystem is increasingly influenced by a mentality of reckless growth, and there are more and more disgusting phenomena, such as the constant deletion of content on search engines, which gives me the feeling that the Chinese internet experience is getting worse.
Someone previously asked when Notion would enter China and establish local servers. At that time, I was thinking, if Notion really does that, then I will have another internet company to deal with, and I pray in my heart: please don't come, please don't come.