LoneCoder: Google: Lawful Good or Chaotic Neutral?

[Kihara Muriithi]

Hi,
 Dude, I hope you wouldn't be offended, but I have to disagree with you. I
have found it even more odd that wikipedia article for google is even more
critical of them than Microsoft article. The thing is, compared to other
companies, google has really tried to live up to its "Do no evil" motto -
atleast so far.
 The thing you have to understand is, we are never going to be flawless.
Heck if I want, I can point to hundred of flaws with Nelson Mandela, even
though I can not come up with a name of anybody who had such powers but
acted equally humbly, ethically and logically. The same apply to google.
 Face it, there is no way one can have the amount of power that google have
and avoid stepping on someone toe. In fact, if they tried that, they would
fail faster than I can flip the light switch in front of me. These guys have
played a far fair game than the rest of the stale companies out there.
 Take the China stuff for example. They negotiated with China for permission
to inform their user when a search is censored. That was a very clever way
of working within the limitation for the benefit of everyone. After a
search, the user has two things, the scant information that google throw at
them. And the knowledge something else is missing. Knowing something is
missing is a vital information. It gives the user an incentive to search
further. In fact, knowing something is hinden is such a strong incentive
that it makes your brain crave it for the rest of your life. Second, they
are not offering personalized service, making it impossible for China
government to seek names like it has been happening with Yahoo!. Sometime,
the best thing is it work within the system than pack up and leave. Imagine
if RMS had packed up and left to the middle of nowhere because copyright was
so disgusting to him. Where the heck would humanity be?
 As for media interview, how is that strategically important than the
micromanagement that they were doing instead? Google is not going to go down
as a clean company, but they sure will up the ethical standard future
companies will strive to beat. That is an achivement by itself.
 Please don't get it personal. I really hope I didn't sound confrontational
as this is something I try to do in my life

William

On 18/02/06, Ken Burtch <kburtch-Zd07PnzKK1IAvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
> I've just posted the February article to my monthly computer column.  I
> discuss the ethics of Google's recent business decisions and how that
> could impact the Linux community.  You can read the article at
>
> http://www.pegasoft.ca/coder/coder_february_2006.html
>
> --
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Ken O. Burtch                                     Phone: 905-562-0848
> Author "Linux Shell Scripting with Bash"            Fax: 905-562-0848
> http://www.pegasoft.ca                            Email: ken-8VyUGRzHQ8IsA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Caution: Comments may be less negative than they appear.
>
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