Is Google Making a Wrong Turn?
April 11, 2012
We came across a poignant view from a person who does not embrace Google‘s pursuit of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft. Andrew Badr reminisces in his post, “The Google We Lost.” Was the past really that good? We’re not so sure.
Larry Page’s new focus on what Badr calls “human problems” (social, design, and product) bothers the blogger because he feels it does not play to the company’s strengths. Google has spent the last ten years, he says, almost exclusively hiring engineering talent. The best engineering talent, to be sure, but engineers just the same.
Badr posits that the reason for the focus on more touchy-feely issues springs from a “fear of Facebook” as well as the influence of Apple. He charges:
“Google trying to become more like Apple smacks of a nerd who decides to try to be popular. Even if you succeed, you lose something valuable about yourself. Making a decision based on principles like ‘be true to yourself’ is heuristic and long-term; it would be hard to justify to shareholders. But it sure would feel better. ‘Beat Facebook’ is not an inspiring vision, and Google needs to keep inspiring developers if it wants to keep hiring the best ones. And the world loses something — the company that could have been.”
Grousing employees are common today. Grousing that evokes pity is a different type of complaint.
Cynthia Murrell, April 11, 2012, 2012
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