Gordon Farrer offered this opinion the other day on the merits of Google.
It has become fashionable for the traditional media to bash Google. In various scenarios Google will ruin everything under the sun including all publishing as we know it, the movie industry and TV. And as we all know Google probably was complicit in the death of the music industry…
However contrary to expectations this is not a defence of Google, rather it is about some of the facts tucked away in Gordon’s opinion. What actually got me started on this was a fortnight or so of intensive Internet Explorer 8 advertising courtesy of the Age. If you are a regular reader of the Age you probably noticed it, invasive onscreen displays everywhere, in the banner, on the sides and in the big box on the left.
You might also have heard of Microsoft’s latest idea, wait for it, its BING, a new search engine supposedly bigger, better and friendlier than that nasty Google thing. Now Gordon didn’t directly refer to BING, he probably has some principles, but the coincidence of an anti Google opinion piece running at the same time as big Microsoft advertising splash and a launch by the evil empire of its counter to Google is just a little suspicious.
And in the tradition of all good Microsoft PR their was lots of FUD. Gordon asked the rhetorical question or two alluding to the scary Google monster hoarding its precious data, data about you the average computer user, and the vague risk of some “future abuse” of this information. Then there’s the obligatory quote from Rupert about Google “stealing” his content and so on. It all adds up to a scare campaign from a so-called technology editor who relegates concerns about the power of Microsoft to the dust bin of history.
Google might be making $20 billion a year from advertsing but that is still $5 billion less than Microsoft made in 2007 and Microsoft is the convicted monopolist. Think about that the next time you use the free service from Google on your Windows equipped Office powered pc.
