economist.com— In a few short years, Google has turned from a simple and popular company into a complicated and controversial one. In depth article by the Economist.
May 13, 2006View in Crawl 4
Saying that "Google doesn't strongarm people, so they're nothing like Microsoft" is a simplistic and shortsighted argument because if Microsoft were doing it all again today, they'd do it in pretty much the same way as google - that's what the Economist article is telling us.The mantra "DON'T BE EVIL" is being bandied about like it's some sort of scripture. I'm quite sure that Idi Amin, Usama Bin Laden and even George Bush Jnr get up in the morning and say exectly the same thing. If the current administration decides that in the interests of combatting terrorist evil, google has to hand over their Gmail account holders messages, then IS GOOGLE BEING EVIL? When google deletes search terms for Chinese Interent users just to compete with Baidu.com, IS GOOGLE BEING EVIL?The answer is that it depends who's asking. If you're a Chinese or US citizen then the answer is YES. Google is being evil. If you're a government seeking to control dissent amongst the population, then yes, you are still "Doing no evil". So please stop stupidly quoting that mantra - instead start thinking about what it means, and who is defining "evil".
These posts are so juvenile. Don't you realise Yahoo has follow pretty much the exact same model- ad funded search- since... 1995? Yes, it was free like Google at first, and offers a few money-making ploys here and there with Geocities hosting and bigger mailboxes, but really, do they play the game any different than Google? The last time I checked, MSN had ads, too. And just about every other free internet service.
pocoMay 14, 2006
Just because we want him to be able to say it doesn't mean we have to like it.
therernospoonsMay 14, 2006
Whatever happened to "Don't be evil?"
paulowenMay 14, 2006
Saying that "Google doesn't strongarm people, so they're nothing like Microsoft" is a simplistic and shortsighted argument because if Microsoft were doing it all again today, they'd do it in pretty much the same way as google - that's what the Economist article is telling us.The mantra "DON'T BE EVIL" is being bandied about like it's some sort of scripture. I'm quite sure that Idi Amin, Usama Bin Laden and even George Bush Jnr get up in the morning and say exectly the same thing. If the current administration decides that in the interests of combatting terrorist evil, google has to hand over their Gmail account holders messages, then IS GOOGLE BEING EVIL? When google deletes search terms for Chinese Interent users just to compete with Baidu.com, IS GOOGLE BEING EVIL?The answer is that it depends who's asking. If you're a Chinese or US citizen then the answer is YES. Google is being evil. If you're a government seeking to control dissent amongst the population, then yes, you are still "Doing no evil". So please stop stupidly quoting that mantra - instead start thinking about what it means, and who is defining "evil".
tybrisMay 14, 2006
Errr...wasn't that what Microsoft is planning to do?
jdonnerMay 14, 2006
Google is beta and will always be beta.
naytenMay 14, 2006
These posts are so juvenile. Don't you realise Yahoo has follow pretty much the exact same model- ad funded search- since... 1995? Yes, it was free like Google at first, and offers a few money-making ploys here and there with Geocities hosting and bigger mailboxes, but really, do they play the game any different than Google? The last time I checked, MSN had ads, too. And just about every other free internet service.
Closed AccountMay 17, 2006
Google, unlike Microsoft, is free