Google's overweening conceit (anti-Eric Schmidt rant)

[zridling]

Alan Mitchell on Google's Overweening Conceit. A must read for all those who believe in technology solutions. And let me just say: Eric Schmidt: who the hell does he think he is!
http://community.brandrepublic.com/blogs/reinventing_marketing/archive/2011/01/13/google-s-overweening-conceit.aspx

[attach]

[40hz]

I am so much more than any of the technologies I choose to employ.

Why can't  "I'm a Mac" and "I'm a PC" understand that? 

[Stoic Joker]

I am so much more than any of the technologies I choose to employ.

Why can't  "I'm a Mac" and "I'm a PC" understand that? 

I feel like a number,
I'm not a number,
I feel like a number,
Damnit I'm a man...

(you know the song)

[40hz]

^There you go man!
Keep as cool as you can.
Face piles of trials with smiles.
It riles them to believe
That you perceive
The web they weave.
And keep on thinking free.
------/-----

Bet you know this song too!  

[Deozaan]

I don't know either of those songs.

But yeah, Eric Schmidt is creepy. It's Orwellian. This kind of stuff is how we become enslaved. "You're too stupid to know what's best for yourself, but don't worry your pretty little head. We'll decide for you."

Anyone see the Disney/Pixar film Wall*E? That's basically what he's describing as the future of humanity...

[tomos]

in the fairly off-topic vein...
I dont know the song but I was reminded of this one which samples The Prisoner and is holding up well IMO
Colourbox - Just Give 'em Whiskey (1985)


& back on topic:
I think to be ceo of google you've probably got to believe your own (i.e. google's) myths

[zridling]

Anyone see the Disney/Pixar film Wall*E? That's basically what he's describing as the future of humanity....

Wow. A light just went on in my head. Thanks, Deozaan!

[Deozaan]

Anyone see the Disney/Pixar film Wall*E? That's basically what he's describing as the future of humanity....

Wow. A light just went on in my head. Thanks, Deozaan!

It's like the saying goes: The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

I'm always worried when people start thinking that since they (supposedly) know better than me, they have the right to take away my freedom to choose and make decisions for me, for my own good.

Even if they're right, I should still have the freedom to make a bad choice and suffer the consequences.

[Stoic Joker]

I'm always worried when people start thinking that since they (supposedly) know better than me, they have the right to take away my freedom to choose and make decisions for me, for my own good.

Even if they're right, I should still have the freedom to make a bad choice and suffer the consequences.

Damn Straight!

Oh Yeah, and I loved the Wall*E connection... 

[Renegade]

Hahahah~! The guy likes to rant just like me~!

I know that I'm an idiot sometimes though. Sometimes I really just do go off the rails and rant about nothing. He's doing a bit of that. I just picked one that seemed a little interesting.

“And occasionally you may learn something. Whether it’s games, videos or films we can suggest what you should be watching because we know what you care about. So you don’t have to worry so much about the choices – we figure it out for you.

He’s really pushing this one. Repeat after me. You don’t have to think for yourself any more. You don’t have to make choices for yourself any more. Google will do it for you.

For 90% of things, I really don't want to have to think about it. I really do want someone to do it for me. They just aren't that important. It's grunt work. I'm above grunt work. I should be doing the important stuff~!

For things like "which brand of UHT milk is healthiest" or "which kind of honey is healthiest for me" or "which hard drive is at the price/storage sweet spot"... Why should I need to bother figuring all that out? If Google or someone else can figure it out for me (honestly and not deceptively), then great. I'll spend my time on better things.

He's looking at a lot of things in the most negative light possible. (I'm guilty of that too though.)

Still, rants are fun. The holes in the logic are perhaps the most fun part for me.

[mouser]

google isn't any worse than any other corporation -- largely better, but they are determined to get their hooks into everything they possible can so that they make it almost impossible for them to be displaced.  and all i can think is god help us if they ever start to lose revenue for any reason because they are going to do whatever they have to do to keep their money flowing, and they have enough of a strangle hold over all of us to twist the screws pretty tightly if they need to squeeze out some more money from us.

[JavaJones]

*More* money? I don't pay Google a cent. Do you?

Now if you mean selling more (and more personal) data to advertisers, well yes that would be crappy. At that point I'll just take advantage of Google's nicely provided open data interchange formats and switch to another service (and hope that it, unlike the majority of others right now, also supports open interchange formats). Getting stuff out of Google is actually pretty easy most of the time, thankfully. And once I stop using their services, well any data they have on me rapidly becomes useless.

- Oshyan

[mouser]

you are right -- everything google does is free to consumers, and they have so far been good with privacy and really good with letting users export data.

i guess my point was simply that those pleasant facts will last exactly as long as google is able to make money hand over fist with them in place.  if/when google revenue starts to seriously slide, those pleasantries may be thrown overboard.

[mahesh2k]

Google takes 40% share from the merchants at adwords and 38% share from the publishers, so indirectly people who are involved with google pay to them all the time. Google also scans emails and other data on their network to show better ads, across particular range of IPs. For example, once they understand the type of search you do everyday, data stored on blogger/gmail will in turn change the search and the ad quality. That sounds like privacy violation to me. So even if we stop using their data storage services, they trace patterns of searches and based on that show ads and the related search results.