Google: A Legal Victory and a Local Push Back
July 29, 2011
The frenzy over Google+ seems to be ebbing. Google+ is important, but until the business version becomes widely available and I can search for content, I am keeping my enthusiasm in check. There is some interesting Google news, and it is of the sort of good and maybe bad branch of the digital information tree.
On the good news side, I learned in “One Small Antitrust Victory for Google” that Google successfully worked though a legal matter involving TradeComet. The issue concerned antitrust. Google faces a number of other legal challenges, but the longest journey begins with a single step.
On the maybe bad news side I read “Google May Be Outgrowing Their [sic] Home in Mountain View.” Pronoun agreement aside, I found the news item provocative. California cities are strapped for revenue. One would assume that Mountain View would be thrilled to have the Google pump more tax into the city. Not so. According to the the write up:
City council member Laura Macias told the Wall Street Journal “we may not develop as much as Google wants.” Mountain View is a region that has lots of greener, wildlife and is not city-like. Google is interested in building bridges, recreation facilities, corporate housing and more offices. This will result in high density populations and lead to a different culture and life-style in the region, Several city council members in Mountain View are not happy about it.
Well, there is Belmont, a wonderful city not far from Mountain View. Perhaps Google’s approach will woo the legal eagles who are involved in Scott’s Valley?
What is quite clear is that what may be small issues for some companies can balloon into supersized challenges for what is one of the success stories of Silicon Valley.
Google’s hotel search service comes not a minute to soon. Perhaps the shift of innovation into product groups will pay dividends for the search and advertising giant which, for now, calls Mountain View home?
Stephen E Arnold, July 29, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
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2 Responses to “Google: A Legal Victory and a Local Push Back”
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I’m sure that Cupertino, right down the street from Google in Moutnain View, would find room for Google expansion. Apple is the big company in town now, but if Cupertino is smart, they’d be encouraging another big gun in town. We know what happened last time Steve left Apple, and we all know that ‘one company towns;’ are at risk.
Miles Kehoe,
If I were on the city council in Mountain View and looking at a creek rising with red ink, I would probably vote to let the Google put an office wherever it wanted. Mountain View is an architecturally delightful place, and the zoning has worked so wonderfully well in the last decade. A wonky Google high rise would fit right in next to the mattress shops, the sushi bars, and the vacant low rise buildings. I regret leaving Silicon Valley so much. The architecture of Harrod’s Creek is no match for the sophistication of Mountain View’s aesthetic. That tax bill looks darned good to some accountants I would wager.
Stephen E Arnold, July 30, 2011