Critic Says Google is Poised to Destroy Itself
January 6, 2014
Oh, dear. Folks over at TechNewsWorld suspect we are seeing the beginning of the end for Google, as Rob Enderle reveals in “Google’s Death Wish.” Essentially, it looks like the company may be getting too full of itself for its own good. He opens with this:
“One of the recurring themes in the technology industry is that very successful companies become arrogant and start taking unnecessary risks or abusing customers — the two aren’t mutually exclusive. That behavior can accomplish what competitors have failed to do: It can kill them.”
The article places certain Googley actions in historical context, reviewing overreaches by companies from the 19th century’s Standard Oil to Microsoft. Enderle then turns to the hubris of Google, which he traces back to Eric Schmidt’s blacklisting of CNET in 2005 for demonstrating holes in Google’s privacy measures by publishing the personal information on Schmidt that they got through, yes, a Google search. The piece also cites the Street View program, including its WiFi snooping component; the company’s operation of self-driving cars on public roads without permission; and the seriously ungrateful alleged theft of the iPhone and iPad designs from Apple.
The latest affront, according to the write-up, involves Google’s foray into job-stealing robots. Enderle wonders:
“Why would a company that largely makes its money from selling information about workers who spend money want to destroy the income source for a huge number of them? …Having seen what can happen if you are responsible for putting a lot of folks out of work, I truly wonder if Google’s top brass should be institutionalized before someone blows up the company. I get that robots are likely the next big thing, but you could focus initially on robots to help disabled people or function as home servants or reinforce security — all viable markets where the risks of massive labor revolts are far less likely.”
He has a point—I for one would like to see robotic tech applied to enabling the disabled before we ramp it up in factories. However, the truth in today’s world is that innovation follows the money. Will Google’s choice really drive enough workers to Bing or Yandex to impact its bottom line? Somehow, I doubt it.
Cynthia Murrell, January 06, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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