From a viability perspective they might not have had a choice —but they could at least have put up a fight. Overture, which they acquired, did paid ranking, wh

From a viability perspective they might not have had a choice —but they could at least have put up a fight. Overture, which they acquired, did paid ranking, which is reminiscent of AOLs keyword(s). If Google had stuck to their ideals, someone would have come around and commercialized the idea (as Google did). The tragedy is Google didn’t try to stall all out commercialization but rather doubled down on it. Initially they may have been afraid of becoming the AltaVista, the best, but usurped by someone better because they weren’t investing gigantic profits back into it to assure dominance. In the end they became the monster they feared, and not a docile one at that.