Pledge
I admit it, I use a lot of Google products. While it's taken me a while, I'm getting used to Gmail, and of course I'm still a Blogger user (in spite of appearances). I use Google Talk on those rare occasions where I need an IM service, and Google Calendar is working its way into my routine, as well. My Firefox homepage is Google's personalized portal, And then there's Google Analytics, Picasa, Writely, Google Earth, and about a million other tools. (Did you know they are also a search engine?)
Now today they are making their long-rumored move into on-line payment processing with Google Checkout. If you are shopping on-line and see the Google blue cart icon, one click and you are done. The vendor doesn't even get your credit card number, bank information, or e-mail address unless you want them to have it. It sounds promising, and I've been a pretty solid supporter of Paypal since the early days. (Yes, I've heard the horror stories, but so far I've not experienced them first hand.) I can't really explain why, but I trust Google more than I trust most other companies. They must have great subliminals in those TextAds.
Given the way they are expanding, and their business philosophy of not being evil, I am hoping the next few years will see the launch of Google Democracy. Hey, if we're going to sell our nation to the highest bidder, I'd rather it be "One nation, under Google," than any alternatives. They'd get it right.
4 Comments:
Google is our dear and glorious leader. Oh, and they help China maintain the Great Firewall.
Good lord, Nic, what are you, my damned Tyler Durden? This was posted less than two minutes before you commented!
And yes, the China thing disturbs me more than a little. I'm still taking a "wait and see" on that. Besides, it isn't like the competition has clean hands on that, either.
I agree about 90%. I'm a little cranky because Picasa is the best image management software I've found, but it leaves out lots and lots of features I really need. AND it doesn't play nice with my flickr account. grrr.....
I can't blame Google for expanding like crazy, but i'm sniffing around for Microsofty behavior.
Yes, I'm keeping an eye on them, too. I doubt I'll ever completely trust any publicly traded corporation -- they worship a higher power than virtue.
Oddly enough, having been a pre-Google Picasa user (and having paid for it, damn it all), I found (and still find) Flickr counter-intuitive. Even so, I'm willing to admit that the Yahoo-owned Flickr is the current gold standard for on-line image management, and that Google will have to work hard to catch up in that arena. The new Picasa is pretty good, but it doesn't sem to have the popular appeal of Flickr.
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