I first discovered Google at the tail end of the last millenium and I must admit, I really was taken by the user interface. I liked looking at an uncluttered page and seeing one simple text box and a button (actually two). It was unequivocal: this is a search engine. Period!
Well not too much has changed in that regard, though Google now allows you to customize the page, which is okay too.
A lot else has changed over the years with Google. Google is no longer a search engine. They are an advertisting company that happens to use search technology for advertising. In my book, they are no longer a technology company. Yes, they use technology and they have a great engine. Google, which started as a technology company first and foremost, is now, first and foremost, an advertisting company. Not that there's anything wrong with that!
However, there is something very wrong with Google. It tries to put an image out there that says "we aren't like those other companies." They did a very odd, unconventional IPO. They have their company motto of "Don't be evil." Or is it "don't do evil" - I'm never quite sure which and I always have to Google it to be sure (it's "don't be evil" in case you're wondering). I think that's a very odd motto. It says don't be bad. It says nothing about being good, which is what most company mission statements are about. So the "don't be evil" has really become quite the joke because it leaves Google a lot of wiggle room.
Flaw No. 1
I consider Google's business model to be fundamentally flawed. Why? They are a company of many software developers that develop products, but ones from which they do not derive income or even try to derive income. It is never okay in my book to give away products and services. Why? Because it can be an evil action and does harm to those that are already making a living producing products. It devaluates these products by tacitly saying they have no value. Yet the only way Google can afford to do this is because they make a lot of money from advertising. So they are using the ad money to fund pet projects that harm people that are trying to make a living. I'm not against open source projects, particularly. But the harm they can cause is obvious. Eclipse has hurt Borland with their J-Builder product. I'm not a Java geek so I can't really expound too much on this, but many Java developers areally like J-Builder, but how can you compete against free!
Air Pollution
One thing I am really getting tired of is the proliferation of ads on the web. We've seen this in many different forms. We used to see lots of banner ads, then pop-ups (which have thankfully died a dismal death). Then Google (and Overture, etc.) put unobtrusive ads on their website with their adwords program. Great idea! It's been a hugely successful program. Except how do you grow your business when you have the market share challenge pretty much wrapped up. Well you look to put your ads on other websites. And that is what we see again and again and again.
You've seen the "Ads by google" that pollute so many web pages. Frankly, I'm sick and tired of seeing this huge proliferation of ads. And I'm sure you've seen the pages that are nothing but google ads. I've clicked on google ads from within google. What do you find? a page of more google ads on another website.
I've also experienced, as an AdWords client, my own google bill double and even triple with no increase in revenue. I discovered my ads on AdSense sites were killing me. I no longer have my own ads on AdSense sites. My google bill has come way down and surprise: my income is up. That practice of Google getting rich without providing a return is evil. It's only a matter of time before the jig is up in this regard. AdSense will be a decreasing revenue stream for google. I don't know when this will happen, but trust me, it will. You can't provide a service that gives so little in return for long. It always results in less business.
It's also become apparent that Google execs have been dumping their own stock, so this is perhaps an indicator that they see the same future that I do.
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