Slightly old news: Google joined the online storage business: all existing companies are screwed. Google chose to flatten the industry landscape than negotiate with current landowners. They broke the existing environment in the name of a better society.
Sounds familiar? Like, with what the Chinese government does? The difference is that what Google does is generally accepted by users, including yours truly. What the Chinese government does...is...wait a second, accepted by many people, especially younger generations, too. They are curiously alike.
Switching to another topic, Google is planning to (almost) pull out of China after being forced to compromise and nevertheless being cyber-raped. Rumor has it that the decision was made by one of its cofounders. Clearly there should be an illogical reason for such un-marketwise decision. I suspect Sergey Brin is trying to crush his alter-ego.
In the past, Google had claimed triumph in many of the industry it has entered into.
- Email: Gmail finally turned Hotmail into what it truly deserves: a joke.
- Video: Well, if it cannot be beaten, buy it out...
- Office software: Google office has a long way to replace MS Office, but at least for uploading on the web and sharing with others, Google Doc is becoming the default tool.
- Mobile phone: Android phones nailed MS Mobile's coffin. iPhone is still far away, but at least Google is competing with it, which nobody ever did before.
Now here is China. They cannot be bought, cannot be beaten. Just like Google itself. To add salt in the wound (or to make China even more Google-like), a copycat is claiming the top market share, in Google's eyes.
This battle is personal, at least for Sergey Brin. By witnessing the series of event, we are also realizing who he is as a human being, not as a genius programmer.
