Questions about Google:

1. Is Google turning into what Microsoft was in the 1990’s—a giant technology corporation that provides unparalleled services? Well yes of course that’s true and the comparisons below show why. (Yes, I know they are opinions—no one said this was scholarly.) What do you think?

Google vs Bing=Google

So far no one has done a better job of internet search than Google.


Googledocs vs MS Suite=Googledocs

Reasons: price, ease of sharing, multiparty simultaneous editing, and platform independency beat MS's more full single user only features.


Buzz vs Facebook=Facebook

Facebook may have poorly executed chat, messaging, and video features, but Buzz has nothing--and WAVE? What was that? Google+ looks like it may be promising challenger though.


Gchat/Google Voice vs Skype=toss up

Both have features the other one doesn't. Google still has free calls to phones, free call forwarding, free texting to cell phones, and a free local telephone number. Skype has free multiparty audio conferences. If Google+ works out with multiparty video conferencing as advertised it may turn this into a clear Google victory in the end.


Gmail vs anything= Google

No comments necessary here.


Google Reader vs Stumbleupon= ?

This is a slight mismatch, but of the two personally I prefer Google Reader when it is hitting on all cylinders. When it works it works. With Reader, stuff shows up that I’m probably interested in. I don’t feel like I’m engaging in a time wasting crap shoot like I often did back in the days when I used to click the Stumble button.

Most of the time Google Reader suggests articles that I really like about science, economics, psychology (yes I know econ and psyc are sciences), politics (okay it’s a science too…jeesh), literature, clothes folding robots, and just plain weird stuff as evidenced in the link above to articles from Reader that I enjoy. But then occasionally there are the strange short periods when Reader decides I’m into women’s fashion, wedding planning, Glen Beck and/or legalizing marijuana for a few days---Where did THAT come from??


This leads to question #2: What is being done with all this data, power, and dominate market share? Is Google starting to use all this goodness for nefarious purposes the way Microsoft used its stranglehold on operating systems to crush WordPerfect and to attempt to destroy Netscape?

The FTC thinks so. I haven’t seen evidence of Google using search placement and algorithms designed to kill competition and increase profits, but I haven’t been looking for it. What makes me wonder is the following:

Google Music Manager vs. Grooveshark=Grooveshark

Music Manager is Grooveshark minus content. Why would anyone switch to that? Oh, I know! Because just before launching Music Manager, Google disabled the ability to use Grooveshark on all Android mobile devices. What happened to 'Don't be evil.' ?

Of course net neutrality is NOT required by law for mobile networks, so it is legal and the FTC and FCC won’t look at this situation. It may be legal to dump Grooveshark from Android OS, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t evil. Read Grooveshark’s response here.


Question #3: Google vs. NASA and the Pentagon??? Is Google spacing out?

Okay seriously? Where are you going with this?

Let me 'splain... No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Buttercup... I mean JFK, set our sights on the moon in 1961 and the nation became enthralled. We replaced Gemini with Apollo, went to the moon and eventually started the Space Shuttle program. That brings us almost up to the present. In 2004 GW Bush said he wanted NASA to go back to the moon and then on to Mars. The nation promptly forgot about it. (Would that the rest of his tenure was so easy to forget.)

But NASA is still working on manned space flight. Now the pentagon is offering a $500,000 prize to whoever can come up with the best 100 year spaceship plan. In other words they want a plan that will allow multigenerational manned space flight! Additionally there is a recent proposal in the peer reviewed Journal of Cosmology outlining a reportedly viable plan for a manned mission to establish a permanent Mars human colony by 2030. Pete Worden of NASA says this kind of colonization is exactly where NASA and DOD are going with the 100 year starship program. Buzz Aldrich likes the idea and so does Larry Page (This is where Google comes in.). Worden explained a conversation he and Google founder Larry Page had about the starship program and Mars: “Larry Page asked me a couple weeks ago how much it would cost to send people one way to Mars and I told him $10 billion, and his response was, ‘Can you get it down to 1 or 2 billion?’ So now we’re starting to get a little argument over the price.” For more detail on the DOD and NASA Mars idea you could look at this story.

Okay, so now we have independent scientists, The Department of Defense, and NASA looking at a Mars Colonization mission with Google asking questions about finances. Google asking finance questions? Weird yes, but billionaires are allowed to be weird. I mean Google even bid Pi billion in a recent patent auction. This doesn’t mean they are going to try to take search engine dominance to Mars completely independent of government does it?

http://www.google.com/virgle/

Okay. Maybe it does…


Explore the site and enjoy. Maybe apply for a job while you’re at it. *Extensive travel required.

P.S. Don’t forget to check the FAQ thoroughly before you’re through.

Let the arguments below begin!