Google Versus | Hacker News Reader

Google Versus

daringfireball.net

13 pointsguidefreitas9 comments

Google Search, Maps, and Gmail were so much better than the competition that I don't think it's fair to not consider them to be something "new". Otherwise, by the same logic, Apple has never developed anything "new" either (MacOS was not the first windowing operating system; the iPhone was not the first touchscreen portable; the iPod was not the first portable MP3 player).

But, I think anybody that lived and worked during Microsoft's market domination in the 1990s has to be seeing hints of the same unsettling behavior in Google.

It's clear at this point that every single market has to see Google as potential competition: SaaS hosting, search & information management, self-driving cars, consumer electronics, and now music. It's not a matter of if Google will choose to step into your market, it's a matter of how much of their resources they will dedicate to it.

I think this strategy will backfire on Google, but I'm not a fabulously wealthy businessman, so what do I know?

But his point is not about Apple being different but about Google's fans eating the kumbaya thing up.

I know. I was alluding to Gruber's strong bias towards Apple, and that he should give Google's products and services the same allowances that he would give to Apple's.

edit: sorry, might still not be clear. Gruber seems to be implying that Google fans are believing something that isn't true; by extension, Gruber's disagreeing with Larry Page's statement that Google is "building great things that don't exist", and both of his paragraphs are dedicated to that point. If he were more objective, he'd have to also say that Apple doesn't build "great things that don't exist", and that the enthusiasm of Apple fans is unjustified. That's pretty far from Gruber's usual take on Apple.

But really, I think that's a less interesting debate than the one about whether or not Google is starting to look like 1990's-era Microsoft. "Embrace, extend, and extinguish" might arguably describe Google right now too.

If he were more objective...

If he were more objective then he would not be Gruber.

Google announces a ton of cool stuff.

Here are some of Gruber's tweets during the keynote:

"Why is AAPL down ~5 percent on this?"

"Where’s Andy Rubin? Too busy?"

"“Requires all students to have a Google Account”."

"Why aren’t all these presenters wearing Glass?"

Biased, sarcastic, and condescending... why do people visit this guys website again?

Biased, sarcastic, and condescending... why do people visit this guys website again?

You may have answered your own question. Gruber is to Apple Blogging what Howard Stern was to radio back in the day. I said this a few months ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4911378

I tend to agree, but that's not the whole story. Self driving cars, google glass, street view - these weren't/aren't established products being done better.

I think Page was being sincere, those aren't the things that really interest him. But that's not to say that google doesn't do those things as well.

Don't forget google fiber! I would say that that is 'new' enough.

(and wave, and kinda docs, and now)

PS: I think we should be hard on companies in general, but its important to reward the good behavior too (maybe).

While everything this article says is true, I believe there is a difference between looking at it specifically as versus.

While I will admit my bias towards Google, I feel like perhaps what he was saying is the way they look at it isn't like "We're going to be better than Apple" but that they step back and say "Okay. Apple did a good job at this, we can learn from them - but how can we make this the BEST xxx"

Which is a vastly different mindset. Much different from "One-Up"ing an opponent.

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