Contrary to popular belief, Google is not a software company. Google is not a search engine company. Google is a web-based adware company. Before you stop reading because you think I'm biased towards Microsoft, hear me out.
Google does a lot of things. The write a ton of software, and they have a bunch of cool little web-based utilities and such. But don't for a second delude yourself into thinking that they are a software company with the intention of competing against Microsoft. No, my friends, their software is only a means to an end, and that end is advertising. Look at their aquisitions as of late.
- YouTube: This was for no other reason other than to own the most captive audience on the Internet. Don't think ads are coming?
- Adscape: Captures the 18-34 male segment, which would otherwise only be captured through porn.
- Spot Runner: Rumors are flying about this TV ad-purchasing system, which is almost identical to the dMarc radio ad company they bought last year
Nearly 80% of acquisitions have been to gain an audience they're not currently exposed to. This has been said many times before: Google Search isn't about delivering the information you want, Google Search is about analyzing your search patterns to determine what matters to you, which enabled them to deliver relevant advertising. They need to be able to associate your search patterns with wealth of historical search data so they can make predictions on what you want in the future. And that's not just the universal "you", that's specifically you. The announcement they made about anonymizing your data? That was just a smokescreen, meant to make you feel good about something you didn't know was happening anyways. If what I said earlier wasn't true, they would be wiping personally identifiable after six months, not two years.
If you think Google is even focused on competing against Microsoft, you're dead wrong. I'm tired of hearing about how Google Spreadsheets is going to beat Excel, or whatever. It's not about that at all. If you want to know what a company is about, look at where their revenue comes from. Microsoft's revenue comes from business software. Almost all of Google's revenue comes from advertisements. And you may disagree with me, which is your perrogative. But if your revenue is based on advertising, then you're an advertising company in my book.
IMO, Google will not be satisfied until they can track what you do from the second you wake up in the morning until you go to bed, from what you look at on the Internet, to what you watch on TV, to what you listen to on the radio and in podcasts. And that's why I call them an adware company... because they want to bombard you with ads, no matter what you're doing. When Microsoft had those aspirations, they were lynched by the mob of public opinion. For some reason, ten years later, it's suddenly ok, because Microsoft is evil and Google isn't; it even says so in their motto.
Anyways, I've been thinking about that for a while, just had to get it off my chest.