Opinion of Google (the company as a whole)

There was an article in the NY Times this week on how Google is fast becoming the villain of Silicon Valley mainly due to their arrogance, poaching talent from other companies, an unrealistic stock price and PE ration, and sticking their hands in too many markets. Some are comparing Google to Microsoft back in the 1990's.

I think Google has a great search engine with zero competition on the horizon. At the same time little worried that they are quick becoming a monster of sorts and they are exhausting their fountain of good will quicker than they should.

They also are pulling stupid stunts like blacklisting CNet for an posting an article with the CEOs personal information which was obtained from simple Google searches. Text and aiding the commies in China. Pretty crappy for a company whoes motto is "Don't Be Evil."

I still love their search, Gmail, and maps (Earth too) but part of me is a bit worried of what they could become if they become more and more aggressive and get more and more money. There's even rumors that they could start their own internet or at least a "free" WIFI backbone across the US (would never happen BTW due laws from state to state).

I am in the minority being concerned and all?

 

[suse920]

Potential of becoming teh evil.

 

[Deeko]

I use their search engine. That's it. I don't really care about the apparent complete lack of privacy, but I don't find gmail or any of their other services necessary.

 

[Howard]

There's a mistake in the third option.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Don't really care, as the search engine and their map service pwn.

 

[iamtrout]

HOLY SH!T you have a custom title!!!

 

[JME Fidelity]

FREEEEEEEEEEEE.

POSSIBLY EEEEEEEVIL

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I mentioned this issue in the past an no one really seemed to care, but I think now it'll get some more attention in general. I really think it could become an issue in the future, however I'll be very surprised if they don't start seeing some tough competition. To be honest, they aren't doing anything revolutionary, just taking what is already available and doing a fscking awesome job at it keeping everything simple and to the point.

 

[tami]

it's not that they HAVE the potential to be evil. they are evil.

Google hit with job discrimination lawsuit
Published: July 27, 2005, 12:31 PM PDT
By Dawn Kawamoto
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

A former Google sales executive has filed a lawsuit against the search giant, alleging it engaged in job discrimination while she was pregnant with quadruplets.

Christina Elwell, who was promoted to national sales director in late 2003, alleges her supervisor began discriminating against her in May 2004, a month after informing him of her pregnancy and the medical complications she was encountering, according to the lawsuit filed July 17 in a U.S. District Court in New York.

Job discrimination lawsuits are nothing new for corporate America, even for companies like Google, whose founders built a company with the motto "don't be evil."

Google and attorneys for Elwell did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

According to the lawsuit, Elwell's supervisor, Timothy Armstrong, Google's vice president of national sales, became concerned about her inability to travel for several weeks due to complications with her pregnancy. And in May 2004, he allegedly showed Elwell an organizational chart, in which her position had been deleted and asked her to accept a position in Google's operations department.

But Elwell, who also lost two of her four unborn children that month, told Armstrong she viewed the position as a demotion and one that would not require any of the sales skills she acquired over a 15-year history.

Within a week of this discussion, Elwell's proposal to move from being a national sales director to an East Coast regional sales director was rejected by Armstrong, who appointed a salesman that Elwell had previously trained and who had no Internet sales experience, according to the lawsuit.

"Armstrong called Elwell into his office and told her that she was an HR nightmare and that he no longer wanted her in the New York office," according to the lawsuit, noting Armstrong allegedly expressed concern that Elwell was discussing her situation with co-workers and views that her pregnancy was the reason for his actions.

A day after meeting in his office, Armstrong called Elwell on the phone and fired her, saying she "did not understand the direction the company was taking and that she had spoken to others," according to the lawsuit.

After meeting with an employee in Google's human resources department in mid-June 2004 to discuss her severance package, Elwell received an e-mail from Google executive Shona Brown who offered to reinstate Elwell to the operations position.

But also in the e-mail, Brown allegedly accused Elwell's husband of "acting under false pretenses by telling Google that Elwell was having a health crisis," according to the lawsuit.

After Google's director of human resources, Stacy Sullivan, contacted Elwell and told her she had been terminated improperly, Elwell accepted the operations position, even though she viewed it as a demotion.

On June 29, Elwell lost the third child of the unborn quadruplets.

Two days after Elwell's return to work on July 19, she was ordered by doctors to "remain out of work due to the stressful circumstances created by Google and Armstrong, which were putting her already high-risk pregnancy at further risk," according to the lawsuit.

Elwell went on disability leave, and while on leave gave birth to the remaining quadruplet.

On Aug. 18, the day before Google's long-awaited IPO debuted, Elwell filed a discrimination complaint against the company with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Elwell returned to work in January, following maternity leave, and was informed she would have to take the "low-level operations position" that was offered prior to her disability leave, rather than a sales position. She refused to accept the job and was discharged from Google, according to the lawsuit.

 

[NiKeFiDO]

google the new microsoft?

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Google as a tech, GREAT

Google as a money making machine? How many investors can you have?

Google as an investment? Not a good idea.

 

[LongCoolMother]

it seems that any company that fares extremely well becomes "evil" before long.

 

[tami]

Originally posted by: LongCoolMother
it seems that any company that fares extremely well becomes "evil" before long.

it's the "power" mentality, although i can hardly see brin and page taking this stance from what i've read of them. still, a company that succeeds without much opposition is a company that often tries to conquer much more.

 

[alkemyst]

Earth is cool, I don't use anything else, though have tried them all but gMail...gMail is a problem to me.

Google I don't think is arrogant, they know they are the best search engine currently, should they say they suck?

Poaching talent is laughable....you lose your best, you are not paying them well. Now they'd be a$$es to not let you know the offer (and I am sure most are letting them know), but if you can't up the ante at the same time preaching employment at will, why should they stay if you don't add to the compensation.

Stock pricing is a population driven item...so be it....should Google say 'hey that's too much cash, we'll sell it lower'

Now playing games with searching is asinine...I know something like this happens with all search engines...not necessarily the company as a whole, but certain officiers can bring a personal agenda.

I could see Google with their own ISP....hell Kmart has one.