Google is One of the Biggest Names in Technology…
In our world, it is near impossible to not utilize a Google product for even a day.
We use our Android phones, download apps from Google Play, access the internet through Google Chrome, check our Gmail accounts, and then use the Google search engine to find YouTube videos. All of those are products of Google.
But Google is facing multiple antitrust lawsuits, and people are starting to lose trust in Google, seeing it as another immoral megacorporation, and even comparing it to 90’s-era Microsoft (which may in fact be accurate, as the majority of those who work for Google came from Microsoft).
We Need a Collective Memory
Google seems to have moved increasingly away from preservation and archiving, which isn’t profitable, but is important. We need a collective memory, and Google no longer easily provides that. As Matthew Braga of VICE puts it, “In December, users discovered they could no longer search for posts across the archive by date. Google, a search engine, had made its archive impossible to search.”
Then there is the issue of the lawsuits. Other search engines overseas, like Yandex in Russia, have filed suits concerning Android’s operating system and how it has Google as the default on its devices and has made it difficult or impossible to pre-install competitors’ apps on them. App store owners have also gone after Google in an antitrust case against Google Play.
Feeling Strong-Armed?
One of the main arguments that is being presented is that Google should separate their services more and allow people to pick and choose which services they want to use, especially when it comes to Android devices. Right now, if you want to use any Google services on Androids, you are forced to get the entire bundle and make them the default for all of them. This causes people to feel strong-armed into using Google whether they want to or not, which leads to a loss of trust for a company that was once essentially universally applauded.
If Google wishes to regain and maintain its image as one of the best providers of online services, it may want to reconsider its forceful tactics, because people have a tendency to question quality when they are not given a choice for competition.
More information on Google and Androids, please contact Enstep Technology Solutions today.
