3 ms·

You know what would be great? A new social network NOT created by Google. The company is the Wal-Mart of tech; the modern day Microsoft of the internet. Let's

You know what would be great? A new social network NOT created by Google. The company is the Wal-Mart of tech; the modern day Microsoft of the internet. Let's join something created by entrepreneurs, not conglomerates.

sukuriant 15y ago
Why? If someone produces a good product, and they have generally pleasant business practices (and don't have glaringly bad ones, too), why does it matter if it is a large company or a small one?
- mrschwabe 15y ago
  Exactly, Google doesn't have generally pleasant business practices. Maybe the Google of 1998, but the Google of today is a much different beast.
  - Hostile 15y ago
    To my knowledge, Google has never offensively used a patent. A large percentage of their products are open source. They develop a lot of open technologies in an attempt to make the web better/faster for everyone (which, in theory, will be good for their business in the long run). Their privacy practices are going to be audited by a third party for the next 20 or so years. Where exactly is the walmart/microsoft likeness?
    - mrschwabe 15y ago
      The parallel between Google and Wal-Mart is how they both appeal to the lowest common denominator. And how their customers are oblivious (or knowingly apathetic) to the negative impact these conglomerates are perpetuating. As for Microsoft, they were the dominant conglomerate of yesteryear. Today it's Google. Both companies wield different powers, and both have been abusing them in different ways.
      - moultano 15y ago
        What powers do you think Google is abusing?
r00fus 15y ago
Your hyperbole can be deflated with a single argument. Google embraces "free" while both Microsoft and Wal*Mart do not.
- ugh 15y ago
  I’m not disagreeing with your assessment of the grandparent’s comment but the argument you are making isn’t much of an argument. What does embracing “free” mean? Does it mean anything? It sounds like meaningless drivel.
  - esrauch 15y ago
    1) Free as in open source: they have had a couple high profile open source projects including Chrome (Chromium), Wave, I think Google Code is free for any open source project, they are the majority funding source of Mozilla and therefore Firefox. Practically every month there is some announcement like this about how they are supporting free software: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2060629/Google-Funds-Open-Source-Development-Initiative-at-Two-Oregon-Universities http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2060629/Google-Funds-Op... 2) Free as in liberated data; they make a big deal that it is trivial to import or export your data out of any of their services. If you are looking at your contacts in GMail it's as simple as More Actions > Export Contacts. Compare that with exporting contacts from Facebook. They have a whole "data liberation" API that they have been pushing for that is far more open than any other major player in the tech industry.

sukuriant 15y ago

Why? If someone produces a good product, and they have generally pleasant business practices (and don't have glaringly bad ones, too), why does it matter if it is a large company or a small one?

mrschwabe 15y ago
Exactly, Google doesn't have generally pleasant business practices. Maybe the Google of 1998, but the Google of today is a much different beast.
- Hostile 15y ago
  To my knowledge, Google has never offensively used a patent. A large percentage of their products are open source. They develop a lot of open technologies in an attempt to make the web better/faster for everyone (which, in theory, will be good for their business in the long run). Their privacy practices are going to be audited by a third party for the next 20 or so years. Where exactly is the walmart/microsoft likeness?
  - mrschwabe 15y ago
    The parallel between Google and Wal-Mart is how they both appeal to the lowest common denominator. And how their customers are oblivious (or knowingly apathetic) to the negative impact these conglomerates are perpetuating. As for Microsoft, they were the dominant conglomerate of yesteryear. Today it's Google. Both companies wield different powers, and both have been abusing them in different ways.
    - moultano 15y ago
      What powers do you think Google is abusing?

r00fus 15y ago

Your hyperbole can be deflated with a single argument. Google embraces "free" while both Microsoft and Wal*Mart do not.

ugh 15y ago
I’m not disagreeing with your assessment of the grandparent’s comment but the argument you are making isn’t much of an argument. What does embracing “free” mean? Does it mean anything? It sounds like meaningless drivel.
- esrauch 15y ago
  1) Free as in open source: they have had a couple high profile open source projects including Chrome (Chromium), Wave, I think Google Code is free for any open source project, they are the majority funding source of Mozilla and therefore Firefox. Practically every month there is some announcement like this about how they are supporting free software: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2060629/Google-Funds-Open-Source-Development-Initiative-at-Two-Oregon-Universities http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2060629/Google-Funds-Op... 2) Free as in liberated data; they make a big deal that it is trivial to import or export your data out of any of their services. If you are looking at your contacts in GMail it's as simple as More Actions > Export Contacts. Compare that with exporting contacts from Facebook. They have a whole "data liberation" API that they have been pushing for that is far more open than any other major player in the tech industry.