3 ms·

Will google ever recover the culture, or did management kill it? Maybe that’s the purpose of our economic system? No inefficient fun?

DANmode 2y ago
Google is not simply a moneymaking tool. You're missing a(t least one) piece of the puzzle.
- musicale 2y ago
  I'd like to think so. If Google didn't provide some useful goods (Pixel phones) or services (Google Cloud) then it would be a purely financial company.
  - nine_k 2y ago
    For a ton of people, the ads Google sells are very useful. The ads make their products visible. It's weird (do you often click on ads?) but the effect exists, some customers do come this way. Businesses, big and small, readily buy ads. This is what powers their empire, not selling phones or even GCE. Search is but a delivery vehicle of ads, maybe one of the most powerful but not the only one. (Disclaimer: I don't buy or sell ads, and run an ad blocker in my browsers.)
    - WalterBright 2y ago
      I don't think I've ever clicked on a banner ad. I don't even see them, as my brain just treats them as a featureless background.
      - BrandoElFollito 2y ago
        This is what I noticed to when I had to disable the ad blocker on some sites. The ads are annoying because they break the reading flow (I think it is called parallax when the ad moves with your scrolling, but slower - I hate that). My brain just compensates to keep z smooth reading peace but I have no idea what the ad is about.
- DANmode 2y ago
  (I meant for their owners!)
musicale 2y ago
What seems to happen is that after there is an initial surplus of value or benefit in any business - perhaps some of it going to customers, some of it going to service users, some of it going to employees, etc. - eventually someone in charge identifies and implements a way to tap that benefit and turn it into money that is absorbed by the company. And with a monopoly, some of the surplus simply vanishes as deadweight loss. Google makes nearly $500K in profit (out of $1.6M in revenue) per employee. It seems possible that they could potentially bring back some of the old work environment, or maybe even reduce overall encrapification, but there is little incentive to do so.

DANmode 2y ago

Google is not simply a moneymaking tool. You're missing a(t least one) piece of the puzzle.

musicale 2y ago
I'd like to think so. If Google didn't provide some useful goods (Pixel phones) or services (Google Cloud) then it would be a purely financial company.
- nine_k 2y ago
  For a ton of people, the ads Google sells are very useful. The ads make their products visible. It's weird (do you often click on ads?) but the effect exists, some customers do come this way. Businesses, big and small, readily buy ads. This is what powers their empire, not selling phones or even GCE. Search is but a delivery vehicle of ads, maybe one of the most powerful but not the only one. (Disclaimer: I don't buy or sell ads, and run an ad blocker in my browsers.)
  - WalterBright 2y ago
    I don't think I've ever clicked on a banner ad. I don't even see them, as my brain just treats them as a featureless background.
    - BrandoElFollito 2y ago
      This is what I noticed to when I had to disable the ad blocker on some sites. The ads are annoying because they break the reading flow (I think it is called parallax when the ad moves with your scrolling, but slower - I hate that). My brain just compensates to keep z smooth reading peace but I have no idea what the ad is about.
DANmode 2y ago
(I meant for their owners!)

musicale 2y ago

What seems to happen is that after there is an initial surplus of value or benefit in any business - perhaps some of it going to customers, some of it going to service users, some of it going to employees, etc. - eventually someone in charge identifies and implements a way to tap that benefit and turn it into money that is absorbed by the company. And with a monopoly, some of the surplus simply vanishes as deadweight loss. Google makes nearly $500K in profit (out of $1.6M in revenue) per employee. It seems possible that they could potentially bring back some of the old work environment, or maybe even reduce overall encrapification, but there is little incentive to do so.