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> This suggests to me that Google is finally getting disrupted and are scrambling of desperation because of the release of ChatGPT. Even if Google is not getti

> This suggests to me that Google is finally getting disrupted and are scrambling of desperation because of the release of ChatGPT. Even if Google is not getting disrupted, this suggested that Google is finally at the stage where its culture is hindering its progress and causing subpar performance. I hope I'm wrong, though. Google is such an admirable company. Its search engine has forever changed the world. The launch of Gmail with its 1GB inbox was a game-changer that shocked competitors, and Yahoo! played catch-up for over two years. Google Maps revolutionized the world of electronic maps and started a movement frontend development, as Google showed the world its amazing application of AJAX. Chrome dethroned Internet Explorer and Firefox to become a dominant browser, and the company's three seminal systems papers (GFS, MapReduce, and BigTable) spawned a multi-billion-dollar industry. Additionally, Google's advances in machine learning just keeps pushing the industry forward. The list can go on...

fabrice_d 4y ago
All that to create a privacy destroying, massively fraudulent ad tech moat. Yeah, admirable...
- flangola7 4y ago
  Technologically impressive is maybe a better way of putting it. I.e. a Death Star would be very technologically impressive.
- hckrnrd 4y ago
  tell us how you __really__ feel
- pphysch 4y ago
  It could be worse (Oracle)
  - BasedInfra 4y ago
    What’s the worst thing Oracle has done aside egregious enterprise pricing?
    - pas 4y ago
      their API lawsuit?
  - minsc_and_boo 4y ago
    Or Apple, who shares more user data with the CCP than most American tech companies: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-censorship-data.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-ce... All FAANG are suspect these days
    - filoleg 4y ago
      > Apple, who shares more user data with the CCP than most American tech companies Whether intentionally or not, your comment is very misleading due to omitting the fact that it only applies to chinese customers of Apple in China (which the linked article mentions in the very beginning). Apple doesn't share user data of people outside of China with the CCP. Also, this is literally a legal requirement to be able to operate there, it isn't like Apple just decided to do it on their own. And Apple's actions regarding this weren't really a secret either. Disclaimer: not an Apple employee and have no connection to them outside of being a customer.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - steponlego 4y ago
        We have no idea what Apple and Google share unofficially. Remember the Apple China bribery scandal? No? Of course not, it was barely a blip in the news.
        filoleg 4y ago
        > We have no idea what Apple and Google share unofficially There is a phrase that describes "we have no evidence of them doing this, but they might be doing it, because there is no proof of them not doing it" pretty succinctly - baseless speculation. > Remember the Apple China bribery scandal? No? Of course not, it was barely a blip in the news. Are you referencing a Foxconn employee getting hit with allegations of bribing some of the Foxconn suppliers back in 2013[0]? If yes, then I remember it. However, I don't see how one can in full seriousness refer to it as "Apple bribery scandal", given that Apple wasn't aware of it happening, and none of the people involved were Apple employees. 0. https://qz.com/42409/why-apple-is-probably-in-the-clear-over-foxconns-bribery-scandal https://qz.com/42409/why-apple-is-probably-in-the-clear-over...
  - n4ture 4y ago
    It's not because it could be worse that we should accept things as they stand.
hintymad 4y ago
And with all the admiration to Google, I do hope Google could fix Google Docs. I miss Quip's amazing support of embedded spreadsheets and formulas, beautiful math equations, and rich-text in comments, and ability to link to any line or any spot on a diagram.
- random314 4y ago
  There is a latex-ish math plugin for Google docs
  - hintymad 4y ago
    Yeah, unfortunately not every company allows that plugin. And I wish Google Docs would adopt the editing style of Obsidian: when in focus, the formula is editing mode. Out of focus, the formula is rendered.
kossTKR 4y ago
After wrestling with Google Ads for a year my admiration went to zero. Google is a mainly running a scam these days with completely blackboxed systems that absolutely fleece the little guy when not doing outright criminal auction price manipulation. I don't know why this hasn't gotten more media attention. Probably because of stockholm syndrome in the publishing sphere. Yes they pioneered amazing things but where they earn their money now, is through a labyrinth of dark designs and obfuscated systems in the borderlands of legality.
- minsc_and_boo 4y ago
  Advertising is like finance; there are entire teams of people whose full time jobs it is to make money using complex markets. SMBs are not going to be able to casually compete. Also if it wasn't a black box, then scammers would be fleecing everyone.
  - kossTKR 4y ago
    Good points. The problem though is that the barrier to entry now is so high that only the wealthiest are allowed to compete, the ones with a huge trustfund or lots of VC money or institutional backing. Most smaller players are getting eaten or drowned, with the way Google Ads has implemented their changes. It was not like this 3 or or even 10 years ago, especially in the tech sphere. So yes the state of Google could be a black mirror to the rising Gini Coefficients, HFT, armies of lawyers and private wealth management that create systems so complex that no - even upper middleclass person - will be able to enter or stay in the market. AI is probably going to make this exponential. The ones with the money will be able to hire the tech and wealth expertise to grow while the barrier to entry just keeps rising. Or is there a less dark outlook for the smaller or just midsized entrepreneurial endeavours?
HeckFeck 4y ago
This is why the ends should never justify the means.
88913527 4y ago
This is what happens to all companies. It's a natural progression. Some new companies will wow us in the way Google did in the mid-aught's.
- hintymad 4y ago
  Definitely. Bell, DEC, Sun, Intel, IBM... Google feels refreshingly different probably because she was a later generation. It's actually good for the US to have such a lively natural progression. It's like a forest springs forth with life anew in front of a sick tree's fading frame.

fabrice_d 4y ago

All that to create a privacy destroying, massively fraudulent ad tech moat. Yeah, admirable...

flangola7 4y ago
Technologically impressive is maybe a better way of putting it. I.e. a Death Star would be very technologically impressive.
hckrnrd 4y ago
tell us how you __really__ feel
pphysch 4y ago
It could be worse (Oracle)
- BasedInfra 4y ago
  What’s the worst thing Oracle has done aside egregious enterprise pricing?
  - pas 4y ago
    their API lawsuit?
- minsc_and_boo 4y ago
  Or Apple, who shares more user data with the CCP than most American tech companies: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-censorship-data.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-ce... All FAANG are suspect these days
  - filoleg 4y ago
    > Apple, who shares more user data with the CCP than most American tech companies Whether intentionally or not, your comment is very misleading due to omitting the fact that it only applies to chinese customers of Apple in China (which the linked article mentions in the very beginning). Apple doesn't share user data of people outside of China with the CCP. Also, this is literally a legal requirement to be able to operate there, it isn't like Apple just decided to do it on their own. And Apple's actions regarding this weren't really a secret either. Disclaimer: not an Apple employee and have no connection to them outside of being a customer.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - steponlego 4y ago
      We have no idea what Apple and Google share unofficially. Remember the Apple China bribery scandal? No? Of course not, it was barely a blip in the news.
      - filoleg 4y ago
        > We have no idea what Apple and Google share unofficially There is a phrase that describes "we have no evidence of them doing this, but they might be doing it, because there is no proof of them not doing it" pretty succinctly - baseless speculation. > Remember the Apple China bribery scandal? No? Of course not, it was barely a blip in the news. Are you referencing a Foxconn employee getting hit with allegations of bribing some of the Foxconn suppliers back in 2013[0]? If yes, then I remember it. However, I don't see how one can in full seriousness refer to it as "Apple bribery scandal", given that Apple wasn't aware of it happening, and none of the people involved were Apple employees. 0. https://qz.com/42409/why-apple-is-probably-in-the-clear-over-foxconns-bribery-scandal https://qz.com/42409/why-apple-is-probably-in-the-clear-over...
- n4ture 4y ago
  It's not because it could be worse that we should accept things as they stand.

hintymad 4y ago

And with all the admiration to Google, I do hope Google could fix Google Docs. I miss Quip's amazing support of embedded spreadsheets and formulas, beautiful math equations, and rich-text in comments, and ability to link to any line or any spot on a diagram.

random314 4y ago
There is a latex-ish math plugin for Google docs
- hintymad 4y ago
  Yeah, unfortunately not every company allows that plugin. And I wish Google Docs would adopt the editing style of Obsidian: when in focus, the formula is editing mode. Out of focus, the formula is rendered.

kossTKR 4y ago

After wrestling with Google Ads for a year my admiration went to zero. Google is a mainly running a scam these days with completely blackboxed systems that absolutely fleece the little guy when not doing outright criminal auction price manipulation. I don't know why this hasn't gotten more media attention. Probably because of stockholm syndrome in the publishing sphere. Yes they pioneered amazing things but where they earn their money now, is through a labyrinth of dark designs and obfuscated systems in the borderlands of legality.

minsc_and_boo 4y ago
Advertising is like finance; there are entire teams of people whose full time jobs it is to make money using complex markets. SMBs are not going to be able to casually compete. Also if it wasn't a black box, then scammers would be fleecing everyone.
- kossTKR 4y ago
  Good points. The problem though is that the barrier to entry now is so high that only the wealthiest are allowed to compete, the ones with a huge trustfund or lots of VC money or institutional backing. Most smaller players are getting eaten or drowned, with the way Google Ads has implemented their changes. It was not like this 3 or or even 10 years ago, especially in the tech sphere. So yes the state of Google could be a black mirror to the rising Gini Coefficients, HFT, armies of lawyers and private wealth management that create systems so complex that no - even upper middleclass person - will be able to enter or stay in the market. AI is probably going to make this exponential. The ones with the money will be able to hire the tech and wealth expertise to grow while the barrier to entry just keeps rising. Or is there a less dark outlook for the smaller or just midsized entrepreneurial endeavours?

HeckFeck 4y ago

This is why the ends should never justify the means.

88913527 4y ago

This is what happens to all companies. It's a natural progression. Some new companies will wow us in the way Google did in the mid-aught's.

hintymad 4y ago
Definitely. Bell, DEC, Sun, Intel, IBM... Google feels refreshingly different probably because she was a later generation. It's actually good for the US to have such a lively natural progression. It's like a forest springs forth with life anew in front of a sick tree's fading frame.