Google: The immaturity of huge masses

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: GIBBS & BRADNER
09/06/05

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Backspin columnist Mark Gibbs looks at Google's dislike of
  being Googled
* Links related to Gibbs & Bradner
* Featured reader resource
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advice from experts. Read about real-world tactics. Learn about
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GAMBLING FORCES THE QUESTION: WHO CONTROLS THE 'NET?

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Today's focus: Google: The immaturity of huge masses

By Scott Bradner

Over the past few months Google's power has become increasingly
apparent. From its humble roots as yet another search engine to
becoming the coolest search engine to selling advertising along
with searching to mapping Earth and to its spectrum of
innovative services, Google's evolution was a slow (by some
standards) but an extremely measured path.

During this evolutionary process Google attracted much
attention, and its stated corporate philosophy, "Do no evil,"
was taken seriously by employees and the market. The company
innovated and managed to stay more or less below the market's
moral radar.

So why is it that Google has become such a force to reckon with?
Some would say that beyond its smart marketing and cool
technologies, being up to its butt in cash has something to do
with it. But that misses the point.

What really happened was that as the company has grown, it has
gained mass from the weight of its corporate power. Its
corporate power is the sum of all the little bits of power the
company has accumulated through a combination of hard work,
great selling and an iron will to explore strange new
technologies, to seek out new markets and new sales
opportunities, to boldly go where no company had gone before
(and maybe to wildly split infinitives in the process).

Google's mass is actually the most important issue. Just like
stellar bodies, there comes a point at which the gravitational
force of a successful business's accumulated mass becomes so
enormous that it starts to collapse into a different realm of
business physics.

Depending on the initial conditions, businesses, like stars, can
collapse under their own weight, becoming black holes that
effectively (as far as we know) drop out of the "normal"
universe and sit there sucking in anything that comes within
reach. (I'm sure I could beat this stellar metaphor to a pulp,
but frankly I've had enough of it.)

The real question is this: Is Google really like Microsoft?
Sure. Google is almost as powerful, but what it isn't, so far at
least, is willing to bend the rules in the ways that Microsoft
has. And so far, it has kept its behavior clean and fair.

At least, it had until the CNet thing blew up. In case you
missed Buzz on Aug. 15 and 22, Google seemed to lose its
collective minds recently and got annoyed with CNet for (so it
is claimed) Googling Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt. In fact, Google
was so annoyed that it decided to not talk to CNet for a year.
So there CNet, take that.

If that were the complete story I would be appalled that Google
could be so childish, but unfortunately I don't have the
complete story. I've read everything I could find about the
fracas and it simply doesn't make any sense. What was it about
the information revealed that Google considered inappropriate?
Why won't Google explain its thinking? Anyway, if Google indexed
that information, how private could they have considered it to
be? Questions, questions, questions.

As neither side in the dispute has come clean on specifics, we,
the great unwashed, can have no opinion. It is simply a spat
between two companies, both of which should know better. In
CNet's case, its lack of a real explanation is bizarre. In
Google's case, its actions and lack of explanation are bizarre
and indefensible, but quite in keeping, returning to our stellar
metaphor, with having gone over the business event horizon.

So is Google becoming evil? I doubt it. Just like Microsoft once
was good and then became the company we know and love today,
success and immaturity evolved together. No matter how smart
some key employees might be, the fact is that it takes only a
few children in the business to turn a smart young company into
a stupid old company.

If we're lucky, Google, by virtue of its strong internal culture
and its traditional "Do no evil" philosophy, might be able to
reestablish its maturity. If it doesn't do that quickly,
however, it runs the risk of becoming like Microsoft; not truly
evil, just hugely immature, self-aborbed and willful.

So who's your daddy? Tell <mailto:backspin@gibbs.com> and check
Gearblog.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. VoIP rollouts generate heat, power concerns
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad6404>

2. Cell carriers tackle Katrina damage
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad6405>

3. 2005 salary survey <http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad6114>

4. Google dives deeper into networking
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad6113>

5. Katrina news <http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad6406>

Today's most-forwarded story:

Cell carriers tackle Katrina damage
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlgibrad6407>

_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Scott Bradner

Bradner is a consultant with Harvard University's University
Information Systems. He can be reached at <mailto:sob@sobco.com>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Ciena
Network World Executive Guide: Compliance can be an opportunity
for Network Improvements

Federal regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are driving
increased corporate spending on key IT areas such as security,
authentication, access control and document management. Get
advice from experts. Read about real-world tactics. Learn about
the dark side of compliance: what happens when thing wrong. And,
how mandates are affecting IT budgets.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=112816
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Gibbs archive:
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/gibbs.html

Bradner archive:
http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/bradner.html
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FEATURED READER RESOURCE
VoIP

For the latest in VoIP, check out NW's Research Center on this
very topic. Here you will find a collection of the latest news,
reviews, product testing results and more all related to keeping
VoIP networks performing at their best. Click here for more:
<http://www.networkworld.com/topics/voip.html>
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