Goggle Points Out that Canada Is Lost Amidst the Maple Leaves
September 26, 2009
I liked the power play that turned the piggy Internet Explorer into sleek Chrome. Microsoft can deal with marginalization. But I was not too happy to read the story “Google Exec Says Canada Missing Web’s Potential.” Assume the story is accurate. I don’t perceive Canada as missing much in technology. I was on the Board of the Sports Information Research Center, which was Webby and one of the first government supported entities to generate a profit and then sell a chunk of its business to a big American publishing company. Tim Bray figured out how to do a nifty SGML database and find time to help with Web standards. I pay attention to Web developments from PEI to Vancouver. I even did a job for the Canadian government to use the Internet to get Métis children educational materials where distance and weather disrupt routine educational access. What interests me is why Google executives, who are obviously bright, find it necessary to make political statements that are interpreted by me as stupid. I recall the Googler Cyrus from Google’s LA office, who told me a diagram from a Google patent application was photoshopped by me. Stupid, stupid AND uninformed. May I suggest that Google focus its brilliance on issues that add some spice to my technical life like challenging Oracle in the data management sector or keeping mum when lists of Google acquisitions conveniently omit one of Google’s most important acquisitions in its history. I want to wrap up with this statement from the article cited above. The Googler is talking about online advertising, but I won’t cut this gleaming, wizard any slack:
“It’s not as competitive a business market, which basically suggests that there’s not as many businesses online because they’re not competing for more share amongst each other or there are not enough businesses competing in certain areas,” said Nikesh Arora, Google’s president of global sales operations and business development…”
Yikes. I can see Mr. Arora’s Googley grin as he displays data that shows Canadian businesses’ scores that qualify them for the short bus. In my opinion, this type of comment qualifies him to swim with me in the pond filled with mine drainage.
Stephen Arnold, September 26, 2009
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