Who Isn't Afraid of Google?

An anonymous reader writes "Google, despite 'doing no evil', has managed to make itself a number of enemies recently. That's the subject of an article from the San Francisco Chronicle, which looks into the Davids looking to slay Goliath. In this strange, strange tale the Davids are the size of companies like Microsoft and Yahoo, rumoured to be discussing an alliance to take on the search leader. The list of detractors is longer than other search providers, though; privacy experts, advertisers, startups, and Hollywood executives are all frustrated with the company for one reason or another. 'Despite Google's power, few say the company strikes as much fear in them as Microsoft did during the 1990s, when its near-monopoly on computer operating systems earned it the nickname "evil empire." Google's spotty track record with new products -- few outside of search have much of a following -- and intense competition with other Internet companies keeps it a step below. "With Google, there is still choice," said Chris Le Tocq, an analyst for Guernsey Research, "so I'm not sure if the 'evil empire' epithet can be equally applied." But he cautioned that the warning sign will come when Google becomes so dominant that customers cannot do without it. How well will Google deal with its customers' problems then?'"

Comments

Re:Hm, I've got a pretty good idea...

[aussie_a]

Monopoly can only be achieved through the means of the forcefull regulations and banning of competition by the state createing a monopoly. And yet Microsoft was and is a monopoly without that happening. Perhaps you might want to rethink that definition or use another word, because when communicating with other people its always best to use words with agreed upon meanings. While that definition of monopoly might be agreed upon in some circles, it isn't here at slashdot.

Re:Wake up you morons :

[ClaraBow]

I really don't understand the writer's motivation. He left Google for Yahoo over privacy concerns, but Google went to court and fought to have their customers' private data from being handed over to the U.S. government, while Yahoo happily handed over info to the government without a fight. I don't know what this guy is trying to accomplish.