It seems like bashing Google for everything it does right now is the in thing, since everybody seems to jump on the bandwagon, and put up a post either on their blog, or comment on someone else's bash post about how Google is deviating from the principle's it held on to in the past. About how its services are degrading and soon it'll be overtaken by companies like Yahoo! and Microsoft, who are improving with leaps and bounds.

Well, this is not one of those posts.

As someone who has followed Google's progress ever since they announced the bigger plans and moves to becoming a prescence in the market, I have a lot of faith in Google's steps and efforts. They are the ones who gave a new meaning to free but quality services. Which other company do you know of that gives all that Google gives, without any catch whatsoever? None! Being corporate sellouts, they have to first get their bling bling before they even think about making an innovation to help the people.

Sure, Google is not different, since they've been putting up their precious adsense ads almost everywhere you look. But if you notice, those ads are so unobtrusive, that ignoring them has become almost second nature to a lot of us. They don't get in our way in anyway, and the content is still available to us unaltered. If you pick the incident of Google holding information in China, then I'll disagree there too. It has to be understood that in a foreign country, one has to obey the higher authorities and law, since you are the intruder, not them. To gain an entry, you have to make compromises, and its better to have something rather than have nothing at all. Atleast, thanks to Google, China can experience a bit of the revolution that the entire globe is facing. Yes! Google is filtering information, and letting the government have its way, but what choice do they have? Its either that, or no chinese search at all. Any other company which wants to make a presence will have to bow. That's how the chinese are, and we'll have to accept it. They don't want to progress, who are we to argue?

Google has innovated beyond people's dreams and imaginations. Two years ago, who thought that getting 2GBs of mailspace was possible? But as soon as it was offered, people leeched on to the opportunity. Suddenly, having a GMail was a status symbol and showed that you kept with the times. The ones who bash Google right now, all have GMails themselves. Having shell extensions built around the space to be used as a file storage device, the possibilities are endless. All their products such as Google Earth and services such as Blogger, each one is so popular with people who use them, that Google never had to advertise on other sites. Awareness spread by word of mouth, and the ones who experienced it were impressed with what they saw. Then why do we badmouth something that promises to be one of the genuine 'good guys' of the internet and put customers before others? Adding features to popular services (Google Chat added to Gmail), they are creating the internet a much more integrated experience for people. Yes! I'll agree that they stand to gain a lot of money, and its not the betterment of society that drives their programmers. But its like the browser wars. Trying to outdo each other, they are constantly coming up with better browsers which, at the end of the day, only help the consumers and the ones who use them. Google, in its quest to pull in users away from the estabilished biggies, are rolling out products and services which are making it a breeze for the end-user to go about his daily internet experience. Small, specific service oriented companies are still there (like del.icio.us) and together, instead of rivalling each other, they all stand to improve the internet. Now! Get off Google, and let them do whatever they are trying to do! :P Filed Under: google