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December 31, 2006
Google is a business too
A series of post (starting with this one from Glenn) point to an article concerning a new "feature" within google that promotes some of their products as a tip at the top of their search engine.
Google is predicated on the idea that the democratic structure of the Web will push the cream to the top. Search for “photo sharing” and you should already get the highest quality services. According to Google, Picasa is not one of them. These “tips,” then, can only be a tacit admission of failure: either the company does not believe in its own search technology, or it does not believe its products are good enough to rise to the top organically. I’d guess the latter. And if I were on the Calendar, Blogger or Picasa teams, I wouldn’t be celebrating the news that my employer has lost faith in me.
Michael Arrington elaborates:
They (google) need to stop treating the outside world with disdain, and replace it with transparency and honesty. Users must always come first. Always. And they need to do it soon. Once the shift in public opinion becomes obvious, it will be way too late. And while Matt Cutts, the unofficial Google blogger, deals with the Ross post in a straightforward and honest way, I think he should be far more critical of his company. Even to the point of risking his job. Because that is exactly what Google needs right now.
What people tend to forget is Google is a business. If people are still holding them to their "do no evil" motto then they are just not paying attention or define evil differently (I define it here). They are not Wikipedia that's for sure.
None of the results changes can credibly be defined as evil but as Glenn says: "all you need to do to take your business elsewhere is type a different URL." And with IE 7 you can change your default search box in seconds.
Posted by Peter at December 31, 2006 09:42 AM