In the last ten years Google has moved from humble search engine to dominant web superpower and with no sign of easing up, but are they running the risk of becoming the new Microsoft which for the early part of this decade were hated. Surely Google can’t move to the dark side and become the new un-stoppable machine?
So let me begin by saying that ‘I love Google’ and all it has brought with it, with its free open-source attitude and none corporate mentality it has helped revolutionise the web and how it is used by business and personal users alike; I would go as far to say that no other web company has even come close to offer all that Google has, Youtube and Facebook have done some great things for user interaction but Google not only led the way in user interaction but molded it in the shape it saw fit, not giving in to the money making model of less successful businesses.
There you go, I love Google – but for all that makes Google amazing is at the same time making me wonder just how long it will be before those that love it will start to hate it? A few weeks back I wrote an article looking at the competition that google has and the potential for its crown to slip, but as time roles on and Google starts to move into other areas such as operating systems and mobile devices I can’t help feeling that it won’t be the competition that brings Google down, but Google itself! - Google is starting to become way too much like the Microsoft of old, you may disagree completely with this theory but don’t forget it wasn’t that long ago Bill Gates was the blue eyed boy of Microsoft who was making the world a better and easier place for us all to live, Bill Gates and Microsoft is a prime example of how people have very short memories and when things go bad they can go really bad!
Microsoft problems started when they corned the PC operating system market, rumours of bully-boy tactics and the Monopolies ruling in the late nineties saw Microsoft’s trusted persona disappear in an instant. Google has started to mirror some of the same actions that Microsoft took, for example Google now owns Youtube, feedburner and Double Click a large online advert delivery service, these acquisitions are turning Google into that un-stoppable machine that Microsoft once was.
Like I said earlier I love Google and the thought of them going the same way as Microsoft brings me a feeling of sadness, but if the company keeps heading in this direction then I fear for its future as our friend in the world of the web. Other great companies such as Apple have managed to diversify releasing mobile phones and becoming major deliverers of music, but they have stayed within their comfort zone of home user/entertainment products which have fitted into our lives beautifully. If Google stray too far they may just find themselves out in the technological wilderness with the trust of users lost for ever.
Please Google just stick with what you are good at and don’t get greedy!