Google Gazing
Why is it that Google is held to such high standards? Blake Ross (a Firefox co-founder and Google employee) wrote a lengthy and critical post a few days ago suggesting Google was being evil by trying to cross-promote some of its other products from its search results page. This prompted TechCrunch to pile on that Google has become arrogant, and that Google needs to do a better job of meeting its “Don’t Be Evil” corporate motto (editor’s note: Can someone please put “Don’t Be Evil” out of its misery?) and it has to “stop treating the outside world with disdain”. Michael Arrington even suggested Google facing a tipping point where public opinion of it could change.
I realize it’s a quiet time of the year when inspiration for blog posts is difficult to generate but, come on, suggesting Google’s could fall from grace because it’s arrogant is a huge stretch. Google’s a business; it’s not a public service to provide the world with superior search. It’s has a dominant position, it has a $140-billion market cap and a few billion dollars of cash collecting dust in the bank. And, more important, it has a search engine far better than anything else out there…at least for now.
So what does a company with market dominance, financial clout and serious strategic ambitions do now? It pushes forward and leverages its position as aggressively as possible to capitalize on the window of opportunity. Sure, it will piss people off along the way who don’t agree with its strategy, modus operandi, new services of the way its two co-founders behave publicly. But that’s how a business operates - not every company can be as altruistic and non-evil as Craigslist.
The fact Google has a growing number of critics, who are more than happen to jump on any mistakes or mis-steps, is a fact of life when you rule the roost. Unless another search engine starts to rival Google, or Google starts to make egregious blunders (or the stock plummets amid disappointing financial results), there’s no tipping point on the horizon.
For more thoughts, check out Ars Technica and Allen Stern, who longs to be a “Googler” one day.
Technorati Tags: Google
December 30th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
You are absolutely right. When you are on top, everyone is willing to slam the smallest mistakes. The fact that you are on top even pisses people off… especially your competitors! I find that if you trace a lot of the really negative criticism back, it almost always leans towards a Google competitor.
I have dealt with Google on several levels from a person who programs using their APIs which are generously free to dealing with sales of a Google Mini, to using online services for search and other widgets.
My overall experiences have always been positive and I am glad to see a company of that size holding so close to its motto. But being a big guy in a small pond will always ripple the waters, especially when the giant decides to roll over and get comfy in another position. Eventually someone will get squashed.
December 30th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
[...] Mike’s post expanded on this point, arguing that Google’s recent behaviour in that and other areas is a sign of Microsoft-like arrogance from the company, a criticism that my friend Mark Evans and others think is a little over the top. What is clear is that Google has grown to such a size that things people would previously have seen seen as innocuous — like small text links promoting the company’s products — all of a sudden seem like a huge deal. [...]