Is Google Good For Us?
One single company, through technology and a voracious appetite for acquisitions controls over a quarter of the most popular sites on the Internet. Is this a good thing?
The choice now is not “The Google way or the (information super) highway”. The choice is simply this: “The Google way or nothingness.” Which wold you pick: Google technologies, or stagnation? After all, Google is the only major innovator. And if anyone else innovates, Google will just buy them. Google can make you an offer you can’t refuse.
Acquisition is not innovation… Frankly, for a company that is as “academically elite”, and who makes 99% of their income from internet ads, I have yet to see real innovation.
July 4th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
I would argue that most of Google’s most innovative products were developed internally. Gmail, for example, was one of the first Ajax applications that helped popularize it.
July 5th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
I agree that Gmail is cool… But for one, it started as an internal messaging system way back when Google wasn’t even public and hiring Phd’s. So with that said, if Gmail is what hiring the smartest people in the world delivers, then I stand with my original statement; that I have yet to see innovation on the scale I would expect.
July 5th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
This is inane. Google is like any other public company. They have a vested interested in maintaining their valuation. The problem here is that most companies don’t come up with an idiotic statement like “do no evil.” A “non-evil” company will behave responsibly without having to proclaim it. The company (and people) to not trust are the ones who have to proclaim it.
July 5th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
What is insane? I agree with you in terms of their interests. But, they did make the “Do know evil” comment. And while many public companies hire lobbying firms to promote their existence within public policy, most people simply have a problem with Google doing it. What interest do they have with public policy anyway? I guess global domination requires a few politicians on the take. Google is internet search and advertising, correct? Seems out of place.
July 5th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/07/03/google-privacy-antitrust-tech-cx_0704oxford.html