I’ve recently been engaged in a very nice little conversation in the comments regarding my last post about Google. Now, the latest comment successfully pinged into my email inbox, but not on the site, so I’ve decided to publish it here, along with my responses to the points raised:
Even though it may seem that Google has copied bing with its design, I can tell you June 2009 was the month in which Bing was announced to the world wide web and the same month in which the world got a first peek at Google's new UI on their .com domain. So to me it provokes a thought that maybe there was some collaboration to obtain the perfect UI design for their users? To us it seems as if Google has copied Bing but thats because the new styles were available to us since November 2009 on the .co.uk domain which most UK IP's are forwarded to.
I actually think that the idea that both Bing and Google collaborated to create a good search UI is brilliant, but somehow doubt this happened. Bing has proved to be a fairly viable competitor to Google; their usage share growth from virtually-zero to 12% or so is nothing to be laughed at, surely?
Your blog post reminds me of the time Facebook implemented new features and a new design to be greeted by rebellion of the majority of users. When all that these changes did was to improve user experience, allow vaster integration with other popular web services (e.g. YouTube)and pushed it to become the ever increasingly powerful social tool it is today! This is similar to your dislike of Google for their new implementations. I believe these reactions are due to the human instinct to disagree with change.
For a heads up if you keep an eye out at http://www.googlelabs.com/ you will be able to see all of their new ideas before they "graduate" them to being available in the live community.
I do see the parallels between my post and the usual Facebook change-rants that pop up every so often. Yes, Facebook has evolved their site design, and once people get over themselves and their digital nostalgia, it soon becomes apparent that, for the most part, the new design does indeed help people out in what they want to do. But being compared to these nonsensical ravings is, to me, not what I want to do with my blog.I definitely agree with your notion that people are, instinctively nostalgic in this way. Maybe I am with Google. But remember, Google and Facebook are sites with totally different usages. I suppose when it comes to people's friends and family, which they hold dear, then Facebook is more susceptible to criticism for "getting in the way" of people communicating.
As for your comment on Google being an advertising company, Yes they have been built up to the massive corporation they are today because of their Adwords and Adsense Services, but this is only a minuscule part of the vast services they offer. I'll leave it up to you if you want to research into the many services they offer and here are a few links to start:
http://code.google.com/
http://www.google.org/
http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en_uk/
http://www.google.co.uk/options/
I indeed realise the vast number of pies that Google has fingers in, but let's face it: the only one to ever make them any money has been search and advertising, which Google has had down to a tee. It's the only thing they really know how to monetise properly (much like Microsoft's only really successful on a profit scale business model is the method in which they rake in billions for Windows licences). While the other services that Google provide are adequate, they don't pull their weight economically. Even YouTube now is just about profitable, and has had to rely on Google to stay in business.
I say that Google's products are adequate for a reason - have you seen Google Docs? Other then collaboration, what else does it have? It's a very basic word processor, essentially, which is why I think things like Office Web Apps are a good idea; they make Google remember that they have to keep innovating to stay relevant. You could again compare this to how Microsoft became ultra-complacent for years following IE6. Office Web Apps may be limited now, but it's certainly the future, don't you think? A fully-featured online Office suite that offers the same collaboration features that Google has? I'm sorry, but Office Web Apps trumps Google hands down presently.
The aim of this comment was not to try and prove you wrong with any of your views, but to try and empower you with knowledge of other views and opinions. Look forward to reading a reply!
I approve of your attempts to enlighten me, good show. It's nice to know that these sorts of conflicting-view conversations don't always have to become antagonistic and partisan.
I was answering comments from Jon Lee-White. Check out Jon’s excellent portfolio here. A link-tile in the sidebar will be added presently.
Next time, I’ll be back into the political mind as I take on the dastardly trade unions.
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