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Always find it strange how much HN hates Google. It's not as society-rending as FB, not as monopolistic as Amazon, or opposed to open-source standards as Apple.

Always find it strange how much HN hates Google. It's not as society-rending as FB, not as monopolistic as Amazon, or opposed to open-source standards as Apple. Yet it's always the anti-Google threads that do well.

d4mi3n 5y ago
I can't speak for others, but my personal distaste for Google (the company) is mainly around privacy issues. Other companies on this list have this issue as well (FB, Amazon), but Google is so dependent on advertising revenue that it's incentives trend towards privacy erosion.
- froh 5y ago
  To my understanding Facebook purely exists off advertisements, there is no cloud, no Business Suite nothing. And Facebook, not Google, was the company used for political microtargetting. I trust google orders of magnitude more than Facebook. And for Amazon I simply stopped reading the "reviews".
  - d4mi3n 5y ago
    We’re on the same page, though I’d argue Google holds a larger share and influence in the internet advertising industry, even if that’s not their only product. I frankly don’t trust FB, Google, or Amazon with my personal data. This becomes more frustrating when it’s difficult to avoid interacting with any of these companies given how widely used they are.
verdverm 5y ago
Don't forget about the silent majority and that the angry yell louder, particularly online. Happy Google fanboy here, much like a Apple user who has everything with one company. No one is perfect, but Google has done more good then most other companies on their way to success.
duxup 5y ago
I find there's plenty of discussion on all those points on HN to call it about even in my experience. Some topics do come up more often than others, but that depends on the article.
exyi 5y ago
I'd say Google has the best ballance of monopolistic, society rending and anti open. Also, it's globally inescapable - [in Europe] I don't care about Amazon, I don't use FB services, but I can't avoid using multiple Google services and I hate all of them. If this applies to make other HNers, it's understandable why anti Google posts do well
tempnow987 5y ago
There are usually loud (angry) folks. The actual surveys that come out often show some of these big companies are trusted MORE than govt. Ie, folks (even the yellers) might not actually trust govt with their email accounts, but would put a lot of personal email through google. But yeah, talk about a headline designed to wind folks up.
cronix 5y ago
> You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain Google has lived that long, and many here were around before their inception, know what they were about (and marketed themselves as) and have seen what they've become. It's more visceral with Google as they used to really embody the "hacker spirit." It's lived long enough to morph into a corporate spirit and forsaken many of the attitudes that surrounded it during its early growth. That attitude will likely wane with time as those born with Google know no other Google.
sharemywin 5y ago
It has kind of warped the web into it's making. It's impossible to remove its products. it's parental controls are horrible. it's into everything. It kills products that lots of people like and doesn't give it another thought. It tracks you everywhere. It's got a basic advertising monopoly which drives up prices on everything through it's auction mechanism. Is it the worst probably not, but it certainly leaves a lot to be desired.
- endisneigh 5y ago
  Which products are hard to remove? With Adblock and simply not using search, maps, etc what Google things are you inherently exposed to?
saalweachter 5y ago
Eh, it's probably more about Google having its fingers in so many pies. Google tries its hands at everything from, well, autonomous vehicles to web browsers. That gives them both more opportunities to piss off diverse groups of people and more opportunities to be in the news.
philosopher1234 5y ago
That is why they are hated. They are hated because they are ambiguous + successful. Ambiguity makes people uncomfortable, and its not a socially acceptable reason to hate something, so they invent reasons.
fallingknife 5y ago
Google's monopoly in search is much stronger than any of the examples you cited.
- verdverm 5y ago
  There are alternative search engines, so by definition it is not a monopoly. DDG and Bing come to mind. It just happens to be that Google search is much better, and having tried the alternatives, I've stayed with Google.
  - fallingknife 5y ago
    Well, yes, and you could say that about any other tech company.
dylan604 5y ago
I reserve my right to not like all of them, and comment as I see fit. You seem to be implying that FB or Amazon gets a free pass here. That's just amazingly wrong.

d4mi3n 5y ago

I can't speak for others, but my personal distaste for Google (the company) is mainly around privacy issues. Other companies on this list have this issue as well (FB, Amazon), but Google is so dependent on advertising revenue that it's incentives trend towards privacy erosion.

froh 5y ago
To my understanding Facebook purely exists off advertisements, there is no cloud, no Business Suite nothing. And Facebook, not Google, was the company used for political microtargetting. I trust google orders of magnitude more than Facebook. And for Amazon I simply stopped reading the "reviews".
- d4mi3n 5y ago
  We’re on the same page, though I’d argue Google holds a larger share and influence in the internet advertising industry, even if that’s not their only product. I frankly don’t trust FB, Google, or Amazon with my personal data. This becomes more frustrating when it’s difficult to avoid interacting with any of these companies given how widely used they are.

verdverm 5y ago

Don't forget about the silent majority and that the angry yell louder, particularly online. Happy Google fanboy here, much like a Apple user who has everything with one company. No one is perfect, but Google has done more good then most other companies on their way to success.

duxup 5y ago

I find there's plenty of discussion on all those points on HN to call it about even in my experience. Some topics do come up more often than others, but that depends on the article.

exyi 5y ago

I'd say Google has the best ballance of monopolistic, society rending and anti open. Also, it's globally inescapable - [in Europe] I don't care about Amazon, I don't use FB services, but I can't avoid using multiple Google services and I hate all of them. If this applies to make other HNers, it's understandable why anti Google posts do well

tempnow987 5y ago

There are usually loud (angry) folks. The actual surveys that come out often show some of these big companies are trusted MORE than govt. Ie, folks (even the yellers) might not actually trust govt with their email accounts, but would put a lot of personal email through google. But yeah, talk about a headline designed to wind folks up.

cronix 5y ago

> You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain Google has lived that long, and many here were around before their inception, know what they were about (and marketed themselves as) and have seen what they've become. It's more visceral with Google as they used to really embody the "hacker spirit." It's lived long enough to morph into a corporate spirit and forsaken many of the attitudes that surrounded it during its early growth. That attitude will likely wane with time as those born with Google know no other Google.

sharemywin 5y ago

It has kind of warped the web into it's making. It's impossible to remove its products. it's parental controls are horrible. it's into everything. It kills products that lots of people like and doesn't give it another thought. It tracks you everywhere. It's got a basic advertising monopoly which drives up prices on everything through it's auction mechanism. Is it the worst probably not, but it certainly leaves a lot to be desired.

endisneigh 5y ago
Which products are hard to remove? With Adblock and simply not using search, maps, etc what Google things are you inherently exposed to?

saalweachter 5y ago

Eh, it's probably more about Google having its fingers in so many pies. Google tries its hands at everything from, well, autonomous vehicles to web browsers. That gives them both more opportunities to piss off diverse groups of people and more opportunities to be in the news.

philosopher1234 5y ago

That is why they are hated. They are hated because they are ambiguous + successful. Ambiguity makes people uncomfortable, and its not a socially acceptable reason to hate something, so they invent reasons.

fallingknife 5y ago

Google's monopoly in search is much stronger than any of the examples you cited.

verdverm 5y ago
There are alternative search engines, so by definition it is not a monopoly. DDG and Bing come to mind. It just happens to be that Google search is much better, and having tried the alternatives, I've stayed with Google.
- fallingknife 5y ago
  Well, yes, and you could say that about any other tech company.

dylan604 5y ago

I reserve my right to not like all of them, and comment as I see fit. You seem to be implying that FB or Amazon gets a free pass here. That's just amazingly wrong.