Comment by Daniel14 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Daniel14 | Hacker News Reader

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> They [Google] have ten times more potential for evil than Microsoft ever dreamed of having in the nineties.

I disagree - Can you clarify why you think so? You see, Google is probably the most vulnerable of the tech giants: If users stop visiting their sites for <i>whatever</i> reason, they'll die. It's really easy to switch to an alternative if you don't like what Google does, and Google even promotes this ease because they think people will be more willing to try out their services (think about the DLF team).

Microsoft, Apple or Facebook on the other hand, have already sold their product, and now the consumer depends on <i>them</i>. MS, Apple and fb sell products that tie people into their services once they buy into them. After that, they don't have to care what Joe thinks about their business practices anymore, and can therefore act almost any way they want.

I get the impression that the folks at Google actually take their unofficial motto "Don't be evil" seriously, but even if I'm mistaken I don't have to be scared - Google would quickly be out of business if they piss consumers off. And they know it.

"It's really easy to switch to an alternative if you don't like what Google does, and Google even promotes this ease because they think people will be more willing to try out their services".

From a search standpoint, there aren't many viable search players that can deliver good quality results. That's the fault of the competition 10 years ago not paying enough attention, but the moat is so great that it's going to be a gargantuan task for anyone to truly "take on" Google at any meaningful level for a long time to come.

From a "I browse the web" standpoint, the average person will be encountering googleness all over the place in the form of ads and analytics. It's not easy for the average person to opt out of being tracked by the Google machine (yes, possible, but not easy for most people). So, most people are part of the Google universe in one sense or another. Even if many people stopped going to Google's search properties, their grip on display advertising is enormous, and that area of business alone could keep them going for years to come without any serious competitor in sight.

"Google would quickly be out of business if they piss consumers off."

MS fanboys said the same thing about MS 10-15 years ago. It hasn't happened. MS seriously pissed off a lot of people (antitrust suit, etc) but they're still in business. Just like MS, Google could make serious strategic blunders multiple times for years, and they won't suffer any serious long term damage. They're too entrenched with no viable competitor, and who's going to try to 'take on' google? Where would you start? Mail? Search? Maps? Documents? News? Blogger?

"If they piss consumers off"

How would we know if they did something we disagreed with? Considering for most people, Google is their internet front door, finding info on Google's bad behaviour could quickly become a very difficult task (delete a few key records from the search index, and who will know?) How do we know they're so "honest" with our personal data? "Better than facebook" is a pretty lame answer, and I'm not sure one could set the bar much lower with a straight face.

TLDR: Even if you're not using Google, Google's using you.

"They're too entrenched with no viable competitor, and who's going to try to 'take on' google? Where would you start?"

I disagree. All their products have serious competitors people can switch to anytime: Search - Bing; Mail - Yahoo; Docs - Office; Blogger - Wordpress; Android - WP7; Chrome - FF; the list goes on and on. Google is facing heavy competition on all fronts, and only time will tell if they can step up to their game. (See http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/03/google-six-front-war/ for further information). But I like Google's attitude of creating lots and lots of new products, without being concerned about who they compete with, as they really seem to shake up the industry for the better wherever they enter.

Lastly, your last paragraph about "How would we know if they did something we disagreed with?" sounds pretty paranoid to me. If Google screws up we're going to find out very quickly). Google doesn't control the internet. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, traditional news etc. will make sure we'll find out about it, even if Google starts censoring their search results (which, admirably, they've completely refused to do in the past).

Oh, I agree with you. Google will pose no problems to other big players or end users. But the bigger they are, the worse it is for everyone.

Mr. Timr, the poster above me, put it much better than I ever could, so I'll just quote him:

"When giants fight, I can't summon up any other feeling than fear that the rest of us are going to get squashed."

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