Google has forgotten the key to its
success. It’s not search. It’s not the one big computer. It’s not
even search or ad serving.
It’s be the best.
When Google’s name goes on a piece of
crap, it’s not just throwing something bad against the wall and
hoping it sticks. It is cutting into Google’s own reputation.
-
I have written before of how poor
Google is with blogs. Both Blogger and Blogsearch
are laggards next to Typepad and Technorati. -
Google’s Video Search is
horrible. It doesn’t find most stuff. It’s no YouTube. Not even close. -
Google’s little software gadgets
are just that, gadgets, and most don’t work. -
Froogle
didn’t work and got dropped from the main page, quietly. - Google Talk isn’t making anyone forget Skype.
-
Have you heard anything about
Google Checkout since it was introduced?
The fact that Google is coming out with something doesn’t put the fear of God in anyone.
Are you beginning to sense a pattern? I
am. Google is at its best when it concentrates on something,
concentrates hard, concentrates intense energy on making that one
thing extremely useful, and most of all, different.
So far Google has done this twice, once
with its basic search service, and again with AdSense. It is long
past time for Google to pare its product line, decide what might
work, and make sure it does.
A gardener, after all, kills plants. If you’re not killing plants you’re not a gardener — you’re a conservationist. And conservation isn’t a business model.
The only thing you have in the
open source business world is your reputation, and Google is
currently pummeling its own pretty hard.
Time to prune the tree.
It’s pretty hard to do technology as a public company. To do technology right, you have to be willing to place bets on things that have never yet made a profit and may not even currently exist. Meanwhile, if you are a public company, you are ruled by Wall Streets insessent hunger for growth. It is hard to stick with unkowns long enough to see whether they are worthwhile when you are preocupied with growth. I think Google’s trying to keep so many balls in the air at once is the only rational response to the pressure from Wall Street. Since nothing is a sure bet, they are spreading the board to ensure the next winner comes faster. The downside is some wasted money, but not much by Wall Street terms, and wasted “good will” which doesn’t count for much on Wall Street anymore either.
It’s pretty hard to do technology as a public company. To do technology right, you have to be willing to place bets on things that have never yet made a profit and may not even currently exist. Meanwhile, if you are a public company, you are ruled by Wall Streets insessent hunger for growth. It is hard to stick with unkowns long enough to see whether they are worthwhile when you are preocupied with growth. I think Google’s trying to keep so many balls in the air at once is the only rational response to the pressure from Wall Street. Since nothing is a sure bet, they are spreading the board to ensure the next winner comes faster. The downside is some wasted money, but not much by Wall Street terms, and wasted “good will” which doesn’t count for much on Wall Street anymore either.
Lots of people tend to forget a very fundamental thing about google – its attitude of doing to depths to fix things to get the desired results. One such element within Google’s fabric is its ‘sustainable computing and storage capabilities’.
I wrote something on this here (http://pkblogs.com/pakistan/2005/11/googles-death-foretold.html) when commenting on a blog that tended to foretell the death of Google. (BTW, we all tend to equate a slight shake in Google as its *death* – such is the dominance of the search giant of our times).
Lots of people tend to forget a very fundamental thing about google – its attitude of doing to depths to fix things to get the desired results. One such element within Google’s fabric is its ‘sustainable computing and storage capabilities’.
I wrote something on this here (http://pkblogs.com/pakistan/2005/11/googles-death-foretold.html) when commenting on a blog that tended to foretell the death of Google. (BTW, we all tend to equate a slight shake in Google as its *death* – such is the dominance of the search giant of our times).
Google Earth is rather good.
Google Earth is rather good.
Derf: Except Google didn’t create Google Earth. They bought it from Keyhole.
Derf: Except Google didn’t create Google Earth. They bought it from Keyhole.