The benevolent dictator

This morning, I woke up and listened to a science fiction broadcast I’m subscribed to on Google Reader while getting ready for the DayJeorb. I downloaded it using Google Listen on my Google Android-powered phone. While the broadcast played, I checked my Google Mail and made a couple notes on my Google Calendar.

I have documents on Google Docs. I’m a member of several Google newsgroups. I use Google Maps for all kinds of things, from finding phone numbers (goodbye, environmentally devastating and utterly obsolete phonebooks) to getting directions. And, like damn near everyone else, I use Google to search for things. It’s hard to imagine a day without using any Google services or software whatsoever, unless I’m taking a sabbatical from the internet itself. The big G makes a lot of my daily activities a lot easier.

And they’ve figured out how to operate effectively in an area where Microsoft distinctly lags: Working with, not against, the internet’s inherent openness. Microsoft got where they are today by making nearly every computer a Windows computer, and making it difficult to use anything other than Windows with other Windows computers. But this strategy doesn’t work against a competitor that literally doesn’t care what OS your computer uses, and is hell-bent on making everything you do online platform-agnostic. Want to check Gmail using Linux? Fine! Want to do a Google search using a Mac? OK! Want to manage your Google Reader subscriptions on FreeBSD running the Opera browser in a VirtualBox emulation on Solaris 10? No problem! Want Microsoft to provide internet services that don’t care what OS you’re using? Not a chance.

Google has managed to do this without engaging in any pernicious vendor lock-in. It would take me a matter of minutes to switch every Google service I use to something else. I stay with Google for ease of use, simplicity, and the fact that every Google service talks to every other Google service without any effort on my part, which makes it attractive to keep using them. But by no means am I required to. Google never tries to make me use more of their services than I want to. Despite all their interoperability, they don’t engage in anything resembling Microsoft’s infamous bundling.

In fact, Google keeps their APIs open and makes it surprisingly easy to build third-party applications which can take advantage of just key portions of Google. They seem to recognize the fact that not everyone will want to use everything they offer, and they seem to be fine with that. Microsoft, with its proprietary file formats, proprietary protocols, and closed APIs, is exactly the opposite. This strategy of platform-agnosticism and openness has made Google an internet powerhouse. Lately, everything they touch seems to turn to gold, and they touch everything.

Which is why I’m a little scared of them.

Google wields tremendous power in our lives now, and collects an enormous amount of data from each of us. So far, they don’t seem to be too inclined to use that data for ill. Mostly, they just use it to serve up targeted advertising, which I really don’t mind since I’m using their services for free. I could always switch to pay services, or applications that are installed locally, if it bothered me. And frankly, I think the trend of showing me unobtrusive advertisements for things I’m actually interested in is a good thing (as opposed to the “enhancement” products that invariably flood everyone’s mailboxes). I frequently see ads for sci-fi/fantasy books and movies, writing tools, and so on. Not the kinds of things that are going to bother me.

But of course, Google is by no means perfect, and their motto, “Don’t be evil,” is sadly unenforceable. All that data could easily be abused, Google’s treatment of the copyrights of authors^* leaves much to be desired, and the recent Chinese government cyberattacks on Google’s data servers resulted in the company enlisting the aid of the NSA, a move that understandably upset privacy and civil liberties advocates. Any handshaking going on between Google and a quasi-illegal, unregulated organization like the NSA merits serious scrutiny.

So the hordes of Google users must hope the dictator remains a benevolent one, And we should more or less assume the government can — and will — take control of Google’s vast data stores whenever it feels like it. That’s not to say we shouldn’t keep using Google, but we should keep an eye on it. And we should make sure it knows, at all times, that we can take our business elsewhere should that be necessary. After all, the open internet and agnostic services Google has championed have essentially won, which means there are dozens of other providers for every service Google offers, and they’re all ready to jump in and fill the void if Google forgets its motto.

And if you don’t believe that, look it up. You can find them all with Google.