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It's Google. I feel like everybody has been brainwashed into thinking Google is awesome and I'm looking at it from a distance, thinking how did they do this...

It's Google. I feel like everybody has been brainwashed into thinking Google is awesome and I'm looking at it from a distance, thinking how did they do this.... Tech conferences? Yearly Google io PR? Somehow people is treating this ad company like they are good guys.

tdb7893 8y ago
I'm a little surprised at this sentiment because they are also very often vilified here. For pretty much everything they do you can find a few comments about how what they are doing is evil.
- smt88 8y ago
  They're vilified here, but "here" is an unusual place that doesn't represent the vast majority of Google users
vorpalhex 8y ago
At one point, Google was pretty not-evil. They had the capacity for great evil, but generally didn't use it. That has obviously changed over the past couple years, in a slow creeping way.
- pishpash 8y ago
  It changed after going public, for an obvious reason: ownership weights changed. That was also when Google Labs projected got demoted to a dustbin.
  - ljw1001 8y ago
    No thoughts on the Labs comment, but i think going public has a huge impact because every google employee's compensation is tied to the stock price (through stock grants). It's very hard to focus on non-monetary goals in that environment.
- justinclift 8y ago
  > At one point, Google was pretty not-evil. Not really sure that was ever the case? I remember when they originally launched - with the "Do No Evil" motto - thinking it was PR bullshit. If they were "pretty not-evil" at some point, from my PoV it'd have to be before that as I was clearly cynical of them already by then.
- ionised 8y ago
  I don't think that was ever really true, it's just the depth and scope of their activities over the years has made it pretty clear that they are no better than any other faceless corporation. In fact they are probably worse, given how much personal information they hold on people and how willing they are to ignore local laws and regulations.
greghendershott 8y ago
I remember the golden age -- when it seemed like every week there was a Lifehacker.com post about a cool way to use and customize Gmail, GReader, etc. I gladly guzzled the Kool Aid. It was magnitudes more effective than any marketing I've ever seen Google do. Ethics aside, you could argue that Lifehacker writers should have gotten Google CMO level stock grants.

tdb7893 8y ago

I'm a little surprised at this sentiment because they are also very often vilified here. For pretty much everything they do you can find a few comments about how what they are doing is evil.

smt88 8y ago
They're vilified here, but "here" is an unusual place that doesn't represent the vast majority of Google users

vorpalhex 8y ago

At one point, Google was pretty not-evil. They had the capacity for great evil, but generally didn't use it. That has obviously changed over the past couple years, in a slow creeping way.

pishpash 8y ago
It changed after going public, for an obvious reason: ownership weights changed. That was also when Google Labs projected got demoted to a dustbin.
- ljw1001 8y ago
  No thoughts on the Labs comment, but i think going public has a huge impact because every google employee's compensation is tied to the stock price (through stock grants). It's very hard to focus on non-monetary goals in that environment.
justinclift 8y ago
> At one point, Google was pretty not-evil. Not really sure that was ever the case? I remember when they originally launched - with the "Do No Evil" motto - thinking it was PR bullshit. If they were "pretty not-evil" at some point, from my PoV it'd have to be before that as I was clearly cynical of them already by then.
ionised 8y ago
I don't think that was ever really true, it's just the depth and scope of their activities over the years has made it pretty clear that they are no better than any other faceless corporation. In fact they are probably worse, given how much personal information they hold on people and how willing they are to ignore local laws and regulations.

greghendershott 8y ago

I remember the golden age -- when it seemed like every week there was a Lifehacker.com post about a cool way to use and customize Gmail, GReader, etc. I gladly guzzled the Kool Aid. It was magnitudes more effective than any marketing I've ever seen Google do. Ethics aside, you could argue that Lifehacker writers should have gotten Google CMO level stock grants.