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Wrao
Yarp
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Road Warrior
 
2005-10-09, 14:09

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dorian Gray
Are any of my claims controversial? Public companies exist to make money. Did you think otherwise? Google isn't giving the people of San Francisco free wireless internet out of the goodness of its heart! If Google wanted to help people, it would give free wireless internet to people who could use it but would be unable to pay for it. There are lots of schools in developing nations that need free internet slightly more than the city of San Francisco.
And who says they won't... later. By fulfilling the task in their home town and satisfying a bunch of people that don't necessarily NEED the service, they further instill that feeling of 'google good, we can support google' for future endeavors. I personally believe that it is google's goal to get the whole friggin world online(via mesh networking and ultra cheap laptops). they already have plans for the entire US(googlenet).

Furthermore, google IS helping people in san fran, just because they aren't yet providing internet for people who could use it but cannot afford it(which, people like that exist in san fran too you know) doesn't mean that they aren't helping people in general. Rome wasn't built in a day and all that.

Quote:
Google is successful primarily because of good luck, like most successful companies. Smart management has taken advantage of this luck and made a boatload of money, partly from gullible shareholders.
They are successful because they have taken dozens of popular or useful services, improved them and then offered them for free. People like free stuff, and support this method of business. They sustain the free services through shareholder revenue and ad revenue. I don't see that much luck in why google is successful, their business model is near bulletproof. If you would like to qualify your statements though, I'm all ears.

Do you think apple has been so successful in the past 2 years because of good luck too?

Quote:
In 1887 Lord Acton wrote: "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority." His statement has been shown to be true on countless occasions since. Do you think Google, an American tech company in the 21st century, is going resist this tendency?
Now you're just babbling. I asked for support of your claims and you gave me a whimsical quote from 1887 which, while it may have observable effects throughout history, is by no means a law or constant. Furthermore, this bit essentially tells me that you don't really have any argument against google and you're just paranoid.



Do I believe google to be infallibly good? Of course not. Might they turn sour and begin to exploit people in the future? It is certainly a possibility. So are a lot of things. What I do know is. So far, Google has become one of the most successful internet companies ever in terms of outright growth, popular opinion, and quality of services. They have done so by adopting a modern business model that actually maximizes public benefit whilst still achieving them substantial profits. I don't see any valid reason for them to change their strategy, even if they have the capability. So far, no one in this thread has provided me with any other than "they're a company, and I'm scared of companies"
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