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In a way I'd argue that Google suffers from the same real underlying issue that started to cause Microsoft to fall: complacency. They see themselves as a king o

In a way I'd argue that Google suffers from the same real underlying issue that started to cause Microsoft to fall: complacency. They see themselves as a king of the world that can't be beaten. And in a way they aren't strictly wrong right now. So many people will still jump up and defend and support everything Google for no reason other then "because Google!". But that's also starting to change. In my opinion the best thing that could happen to Google right now would be for them to take a market share hit.

suvelx 12y ago
While Google might be complacent. I don't know of a single Google product that I use that has a reasonable alternative. And that's not to say I've tried. I had a blackberry, used Fastmail.fm, switched to Firefox. Just none of them really hold up against Google's products. They all work, just nowhere near as well as they should. If there were alternatives I could switch to, I would. Especially their cloud services, but I'm not the one controlling the purse strings on that.
- AngusMcQuarrie 12y ago
  This is the same thing people said about Microsoft products in the 90s. Some of them (Like office for example) still are in that position.
- k-mcgrady 12y ago
  >> "I don't know of a single Google product that I use that has a reasonable alternative." They might not cover all of your personal needs but for most people: - iOS is as good as or better than Android - Office is better than Google Docs - Gmail is still the best web mail but Google mobile/desktop clients are no where near as good as the alternatives - I find Safari 8 (on Mac) much faster, more efficient, and pleasant to use than Chrome. Firefox is close to Chrome but there are still a few (little) things with it that annoy me.
  - wil421 12y ago
    I've resently made the switch back to Safari from Chrome and I can say that it seems faster and more responsive (which is why I went to chrome in the first place). Memory usuage is also less and I don't get a bunch of non responding Chrome Worker processes.
    - k-mcgrady 12y ago
      I've switched between Chrome and Safari for years - always preferring Safari. However Safari was always too buggy to use consistently. The latest version is very stable in my experience which was it's biggest drawback previously.
- JTon 12y ago
  I tend to swing back and forth with you on this point. Like a lot of us here I don't like the idea to subscribing my entire digital footprint with Google. So I'm currently using a mix of Google products and non-Google products (sometimes redundantly). Some non-Google products work great and fit my needs entirely. That being said, I just can't seem to let go of Google entirely.
- CodeCube 12y ago
  > Just none of them really hold up against Google's products. They all work, just nowhere near as well as they should. At the risk of sounding like the old dude in the room (only 34 lol) ... I'd almost swear that I've read a variation of this exact sentence 15 years ago on places like slashdot. Just replace Google with Microsoft ... all their products "just worked", just, nowhere near as they could ;)
- _lce0 12y ago
  > I don't know of a single Google product that I use that has a reasonable alternative. I moved to duckduckgo for searches, and let me tell you I'm not going back soon. I think google's search engine is overrated. https://duckduckgo.com/ https://duckduckgo.com/
- xolve 12y ago
  Firefox, gives a tough competition to Chrome. And I have tried multiple times to switch. Unless ofcourse, there is a Chrome only website.
  - timrichard 12y ago
    One of the things that keeps me on Chrome is the sheer quality of the dev tools. And they iterate on them pretty regularly.
sheensleeves 12y ago
Google has a secret natural monopoly, like Peter Thiel says are the goal of new companies. The secret monopoly is that they use humans as adjuncts in rating websites, not just algos. I saw this on a Quora Q&A one time. Such human input would be most efficient as a non-duplicated effort: a monopoly. I would be interested to hear if I am wrong about this information.

suvelx 12y ago

While Google might be complacent. I don't know of a single Google product that I use that has a reasonable alternative. And that's not to say I've tried. I had a blackberry, used Fastmail.fm, switched to Firefox. Just none of them really hold up against Google's products. They all work, just nowhere near as well as they should. If there were alternatives I could switch to, I would. Especially their cloud services, but I'm not the one controlling the purse strings on that.

AngusMcQuarrie 12y ago
This is the same thing people said about Microsoft products in the 90s. Some of them (Like office for example) still are in that position.
k-mcgrady 12y ago
>> "I don't know of a single Google product that I use that has a reasonable alternative." They might not cover all of your personal needs but for most people: - iOS is as good as or better than Android - Office is better than Google Docs - Gmail is still the best web mail but Google mobile/desktop clients are no where near as good as the alternatives - I find Safari 8 (on Mac) much faster, more efficient, and pleasant to use than Chrome. Firefox is close to Chrome but there are still a few (little) things with it that annoy me.
- wil421 12y ago
  I've resently made the switch back to Safari from Chrome and I can say that it seems faster and more responsive (which is why I went to chrome in the first place). Memory usuage is also less and I don't get a bunch of non responding Chrome Worker processes.
  - k-mcgrady 12y ago
    I've switched between Chrome and Safari for years - always preferring Safari. However Safari was always too buggy to use consistently. The latest version is very stable in my experience which was it's biggest drawback previously.
JTon 12y ago
I tend to swing back and forth with you on this point. Like a lot of us here I don't like the idea to subscribing my entire digital footprint with Google. So I'm currently using a mix of Google products and non-Google products (sometimes redundantly). Some non-Google products work great and fit my needs entirely. That being said, I just can't seem to let go of Google entirely.
CodeCube 12y ago
> Just none of them really hold up against Google's products. They all work, just nowhere near as well as they should. At the risk of sounding like the old dude in the room (only 34 lol) ... I'd almost swear that I've read a variation of this exact sentence 15 years ago on places like slashdot. Just replace Google with Microsoft ... all their products "just worked", just, nowhere near as they could ;)
_lce0 12y ago
> I don't know of a single Google product that I use that has a reasonable alternative. I moved to duckduckgo for searches, and let me tell you I'm not going back soon. I think google's search engine is overrated. https://duckduckgo.com/ https://duckduckgo.com/
xolve 12y ago
Firefox, gives a tough competition to Chrome. And I have tried multiple times to switch. Unless ofcourse, there is a Chrome only website.
- timrichard 12y ago
  One of the things that keeps me on Chrome is the sheer quality of the dev tools. And they iterate on them pretty regularly.

sheensleeves 12y ago

Google has a secret natural monopoly, like Peter Thiel says are the goal of new companies. The secret monopoly is that they use humans as adjuncts in rating websites, not just algos. I saw this on a Quora Q&A one time. Such human input would be most efficient as a non-duplicated effort: a monopoly. I would be interested to hear if I am wrong about this information.