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Google to save the world?

EricNau

EricNau

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Apr 27, 2005
10,736
294
San Francisco, CA
It may just be me...but I think people are acting like google is the "solve all" for problems. To me, Google is a search engine, and should stay that way. I can understand e-mail, maps/directions, messenging because they need to keep up with yahoo, which has all that stuff. However, now I hear reports about a Google OS, and just an hour ago on the news I heard Google might put Wi-Fi in all of San Francisco (the details were a little sketchy, don't quote me on that).
I just wanted to know how everyone else felt about Google, do you like it the way it is, or will you enjoy a Google OS (and maybe someday Google Computers, Google Department Stores, and even Google Gas Stations)! :eek:
 
Google plans to become a world network computer, called Googleplex. Targeting users with ads, ala like in Minority Report, but not as advanced. Scary thing is, they might just succeed.
 
Originally posted by Lacero
Google plans to become a world network computer, called Googleplex. Targeting users with ads, ala like in Minority Report, but not as advanced. Scary thing is, they might just succeed.
Click to expand...
Googleplex is also the name for their headquarters (located in SF, CA). What would this computer do/what would it be used for?
 
I've never been a big fan of Google and now they are starting to worry me. It's scary how much everyone supports this company, and what sneaky moves it seems to be trying to make!
 
Chaszmyr said:
I've never been a big fan of Google and now they are starting to worry me. It's scary how much everyone supports this company, and what sneaky moves it seems to be trying to make!
Click to expand...

Scary indeed - it is a company with street cred. But it is a company, so they are driven by making money. Let's just hope they do it in a classy way. Unfortunately ... classy big business is the exception.
 
While I'm not sure about this Google OS, I think everything else is fine with me. WiFi all around the city; as long as it's free of charge, why not? They seem to like making a common thing, then remaking it better and/or more convenient....or something like that. Wasn't it before Gmail almost all email services (at least the free ones) were only around 4MB. Then Google come into the picture with 2GB then all of the sudden the "norm" for email storage is like above 1GB. And with Google maps you can see a satellite view of almost anywhere in America along with map and hybrid view of satellite and map.

It's interesting to see where Google plans to go next.

btw, I thought Google headquarters was located in Mountain View, CA (or somewhere in Silicon Valley)......?
 
Originally posted by tech4all
btw, I thought Google headquarters was located in Mountain View, CA (or somewhere in Silicon Valley)......?
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Sorry, you are right, I double checked and what I was reading said "Near SF."
 
It's true that big classy businesses are the exception. I think google could go either way at this point. They seem to be making the effort. I haven't heard about anything all that nasty that they've done.

For example, it's not really fair to compare google's adwords to minority report. Adwords is very unobtrusive, and clearly separated from actual search results. No big deal, I can ignore it. If I were accosted by a moving advertisement that was pointed at my eyes and repeating my name over and over again, that would be quite a different story.

And they are a bit secretive, but wouldn't you be secretive if the media was painting your company as the next microsoft and Steve Ballmer was vowing to take you out? Microsoft scares me a lot more than google. They are an ongoing disaster with unlimited funding and no discernable principles.

Personally, I hope google succeeds at whatever they are up to.


tech4all said:
btw, I thought Google headquarters was located in Mountain View, CA (or somewhere in Silicon Valley)......?
Click to expand...

They are. I drive by them on the way to work (when I'm working in the MV office). It's right next to Moffet field.

-kev
 
I think Google is just supplying some good quality products and more people are looking to them for answers to modern problems. So far they haven't become a big evil company in my view.
 
mcarnes said:
All I know is Google pisses off Balmer, so they are ok in my book. :p
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Yes, but for a reason that may fall short of being the best one. Google's expanding reach may be excessive in some areas, but Ballmer's central gripe seems to be directed against anything that is not under his control and Microsoft's overall direction.
 
pknz said:
I think Google is just supplying some good quality products and more people are looking to them for answers to modern problems. So far they haven't become a big evil company in my view.
Click to expand...

Small companies usually start with big, wonderful intentions (although a part of it is just to make money), but once they go big, money becomes an even bigger factor in everything they do, and the principles that the original creators had becomes lost as more people want in on the action.

I'm afraid Apple will become that way as well. They are already going in that direction. They're doing things they would have never done in the past, like make a cheap computer (Mac Mini) to gain marketshare. I know this is the point of starting a business, but they always seemed more concerned about making something unique than about marketshare. I never thought they'd make a cheap ANYTHING.
 
Abstract said:
Small companies usually start with big, wonderful intentions (although a part of it is just to make money), but once they go big, money becomes an even bigger factor in everything they do, and the principles that the original creators had becomes lost as more people want in on the action.

I'm afraid Apple will become that way as well. They are already going in that direction. They're doing things they would have never done in the past, like make a cheap computer (Mac Mini) to gain marketshare. I know this is the point of starting a business, but they always seemed more concerned about making something unique than about marketshare. I never thought they'd make a cheap ANYTHING.
Click to expand...
Why should the poor be deprived of OSX?:)
The point of business is to make money and grow market share. The key is to not grow so fast as to lose your core values.
 
Google does many things better than Microsoft. (Then again, who doesn't?) What I mean is, Google comes a lot closer to Apple than to Microsoft in terms of providing services that are easy-to-use, reliable and elegant. (That last may be something of an overstatement, but then again, compare Google maps to Mapquest. See what I mean?)

I do worry a bit about Google getting too big for its own britches and becoming another MS-type monopoly.
 
Originally posted by Thomas Veil
I do worry a bit about Google getting too big for its own britches and becoming another MS-type monopoly.
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My thoughts exactly. But if all of those rumors I hear about Google are true (like "GooOS") then I think we might have a problem.
And the fact that everyone just LOVES google makes it a bit of a problem too.
 
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