Google’s gone evil.
Some of you might remember how worried Google has been about the possibility of Vista and IE7 recommending Microsoft’s Live.com search engine over Google when they shipped.
I certainly know I remember meetings at Google where this very fear was front-and-center and how Googlers at those meetings were very passionate about the issue. They all agreed – it was horribly wrong of Microsoft to recommend an inferior search engine simply because they had upgraded their desktop software.
Have you tried searching for ‘blog‘, ‘calendar‘, or my personal favorite, ‘photo sharing‘ at Google today?
That’s right. Since Google’s own products aren’t good enough to make the top of the rankings themselves, they’re starting to promote them directly, outside of AdWords, with bright logos and top placement (which no-one else can use).
Don’t get me wrong – it’s Google’s search engine, so they can do whatever they like. But let’s not forget that Google’s Code of Conduct specifically talks about trust. That’s one of the big reasons you and I use Google instead of, say, Yahoo – because we trust that the best results will more likely surface to the top at Google, unhindered by self-promotion of inferior in-house products.
I don’t think there’s much mystery that WordPress, TypePad, and LiveJournal are better blogging platforms than Blogger. It’s a shame Google’s resorting to self promotion and damaging their credibility rather than improving their products.
Trust is easily lost, Google. Tread lightly.
Blake Ross, he of Firefox fame, has a great writeup on the same subject. I’m sure there will be others, so keep an eye on Techmeme and Tailrank.
