I started using Google Chrome recently. Although it’s an extension-free version, it’s very good – fast and with a cool search feature that also doubles as the place where URL addresses appear. It’s yet another Google tool with my digital toolbox, along with search (regular, blog and image), GMail, Google Reader, Google Maps and YouTube.
As much as you may want to resist, it’s difficult to not be part of the ever-expanding Google empire. Most of their services work really well, and they’re free. Before you know it, your digital world is dominated by Google.
One of the questions it raises is whether there’s a limit to the size of Google’s empire, and whether are any markets that it is not prepared to enter. This week, for example, Google’s strategic “diary” included:
- The launch of Google Buzz, an attempt to establish a foothold in the fast-growing social media universe
- The purchase Aardvark, an online Q&A service, for $50-million.
- An ambitious plan to build a high-speed fiber network.
Whether it’s new services, acquisitions and major projects, Google is the Roman Empire of the 21st Century. Its reach, dominance and portfolio of services is amazing and, at the same time, somewhat troubling. At the end of the day, the question is whether is Google is good for the Internet? Does its dominance and strategic ambitious allow for a vibrant and innovative Internet that features a healthy ecosystem with a variety of players in each marketplace?
Maybe it’s not a question that can be answered right now but it’s a subject worth spending more time on. As much as Google’s products and services are great, there’s a price to be paid even though they’re free.
