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For consumers, yes, Google is now "The Man" & the IBM & Microsoft analogies are in play.
Unlike those times, however, the internet is far more prevalent & it's much easier for new companies to sweep in & equalize.
Look at Facebook: in about 5 years of existence, they've become wildly popular.
Then there's Twitter: in about 2 years of existence, they've added over 30 million users.
The cycles are getting shorter & competition is getting fiercer in software. That's a good thing for consumers.
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There is no such thing as too much dominance. The only time too much dominance is not good is when a company has a Monopoly. That's what they thought Microsoft had with Internet Explorer. By all means, Google is far from a Monopoly. I just used Mahalo's search, which means I did not use Google, then that means they are not too dominant.
There are plenty of sites and services that have similar missions to Google's, and that is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."
Check out Alt Search Engines:
http://www.altsearchengines.com
They focus on all the sites that are alternatives to Google.
All of these sites below offer search engines or directories. There are plenty of players out there. Google might be well known, a brand name like McDonald's, but there are many alternatives. There are even ones I do not have on this list.
A9
About
Academicindex.net
Accoona
Alexa
AlltheWeb
Allmyfaves
AltSearchEngines
Artiklz
Answers
Ask
Attendi
Auyantepui
Base-Search.net
Bessed
Bitty
Bing
Biznar
Biznetic
Blingo
Boxxet
BrowseGoods
Buildasearch
ChaCha
Chir.ag/wiki
Chunkit Tigerlogic.com/chunkit
CloserLookSearch
Clusty
Curryguide
CustomSearchGuide
CustomSearchEngine
Cometquery
CompletePlanet
Cooliris
CSELinks
Cuil
Damrej
Daylife
Daymix
DBpedia
DeepDyve
Deepy
Docjax
Dogpile
DuckDuckGo
Ejeboo
Eyeplorer
En.Dabu.pl
Evri
Exalead
Eurekster
Factbites
Famhoo
FanSnap
Faroo
Fazzle
Feedeep
Fleeq
Fichey
Filestube
Findingdulcinea
Freebase
Fuzzfind
Galaxyit
Gazopa
Gigablast
Girafa
Gnod.net
Gogimon
Google
GoogleAlert
Grayboxx
Grokker
Guruji
Hakia
Hittery
Hoongle.org
IceRocket
Imprezzeo
Incogna
Indianglaze
Infolust
Inquisitorx
Inversearch
IRazoo
IRovr
ISearch
Itpints
Ixquick
Izito
Joongel
Jumptags
Junoba
Kalooga
Kartoo
Keyboardr
Kidrex.org
Kooltorch
Kosmix
Leapfish
LessonPlanet
Lexxe
Lijit
Like
Listio
Lygo
Mahalo
MakeUseOf
Mamma
ManagedQ
Masterseek
Meccabrowser
Medici.tv
Mednar
MelZoo
Middlespot
Mixcat
Moosemess
Mooter
Myroar
MySideKick
Namemasher
Nanocrowd
Navigaya
Newser
Newssift
Newsflashr
Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/RefSeq
NLsearch
Nofoodhere
Oaister.org
Occipital (photo)
Omgili
OneRiot
Oneview
OxyShopping
Oskope
PageGlimpse
Pandia
Pawst
Picsearch
Pixsy
Pixsta
Pixy.pl
Powerset
PrimalFusion
Proximic
Qkport
Quintura
Redz
RedTram
Referencextract.org
Riya
Rollyo
Rowdii
Scirus
Scoopler
Scour
Scout.wisc.edu/Archives
Searchcrystal
SearchCloud
SearchEngineWatch
Searchpigeon.org
Search.io
Search
Search-Cube
Searchme
Seeknit
Semager
SemantiFind
Silobreaker
Simploos.com.mx
Snap
Snappyfingers
Sortfix
SpaceTime
Spezify
Spific
Swagbucks
Swingly
Soople
Soovle
Spacetime
Sproose
Stumpedia
Superkix
Surchur
Surfcanyon
Surfwax
SweetSearch
Symbaloo
Tagedu
Tafiti
Taggalaxy.de
Tagoo.ru/en
Tezaa
TheFind
Tiltomo
Tineye
Topmarks.co.uk
Topsy
Triplify
TrueKnowledge
Turboscout
Tweetzi
Twerq
Twing
Twingly
Twitnit
Twootles
Ujiko
Visuwords
VLib.org
Viewzi
WbSearch
Webcrawler
Webzzle
Weegy
WhoIsLike.it
Wikia
Wikipedia
Wink
Winzy
WolframAlpha
Worio
Worldcat.org
Wundrbar
Xippee
Xoost
Yauba
Yoople.net
Yotify
Yovisto
YubNub.org
Zookfind
Zotero
Zuula
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It seems to me that Google's dominance is (a) not quite as omni-present as Microsoft's; (b) less insidiously guarded--Google hasn't tried to delete my access to other search engines or services; and (c) fairly earned.
Google deserves to be king because Google has SIMPLY and consistently provided a service people wanted and because they figured out how to make (lots of) money at it without annoying their customers. From what I hear, (I know very little about this aspect) they've been willing to share the wealth to some degree by making ways for others (including the little guys) to make money from ads and web sites. And they keep rolling out other products--Google Maps, Google Earth, Gmail, Google documents, Google calendar, Google Chrome, etc, etc, etc, but they never seem to be in a hurry and the end products are usually just a bit more functional and innovative than other similar products. Can't fault them for that.
So, to sum up, it is my view that Google does, in fact, have a measure of dominance on the web; however, I think that, so far, that dominance has been earned fairly and, therefore, is not a problem. I believe that on the web like nowhere else, if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. If someone else comes up with better ways to do what
Google is doing now, I think they could be deposed--not quickly, but surely. But for now, they keep cranking out better and better mousetraps. Why buy a cat?
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Google is an advertising company. It sells advertising to cluster groups with large keyword audiences.
Google market position makes it popular place for companies to invest into advertising with the company.
Quote
Six business questions: A. What is your key service or product offering? B. How much competition do you have in your segment? C. How does your company differentiate itself from the competition? D. How would your customers explain what differentiates your company from your competition? E. What kind of barriers to entry are there in your segment? F. How sustainable are your differentiators?
Once you have answered these questions, build compare and contrast how Google can meet your goals and market segment against other competitors. For small companies google will seem expensive. For midsize companies a reasonable advertising plan can be devised. Large companies will establish an advertising plan.
Source(s):
Books: Growing Your Business with Google
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By saying naturally, I mean there is no problem with their dominance as long as they are not evil (as Microsoft).
I believe the story of mouse trap above.
Source(s):
http://itcenter.vn/video/internet/tim-kiem/cuoc-song-tai-googleplex/6717/
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Answered Question
M$1
June 01, 2009 02:33 PM
Does Google have too dominant a position on the web?
Does Google have too dominant a position on the web?
You might like to compare its dominance with the past postions of IBM and Microsoft, which were often thought to be a problem.
You may want to argue that it doesn't have such dominance, or that it's dominance is not a problem. In any case, please give evidence and reasoning to back up your view.
You might like to compare its dominance with the past postions of IBM and Microsoft, which were often thought to be a problem.
You may want to argue that it doesn't have such dominance, or that it's dominance is not a problem. In any case, please give evidence and reasoning to back up your view.
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Best Answer Chosen by Asker
| June 04, 2009 11:10 PM |
Unlike those times, however, the internet is far more prevalent & it's much easier for new companies to sweep in & equalize.
Look at Facebook: in about 5 years of existence, they've become wildly popular.
Then there's Twitter: in about 2 years of existence, they've added over 30 million users.
The cycles are getting shorter & competition is getting fiercer in software. That's a good thing for consumers.
| Asker's Rating: |
• None of the answers really went deep into the question. It's certainly possible to innovate as Facebook and Twitter have done, but neither of them remotely challenge Google on it's turf. Search is not an easy business to get into, it takes massive resources to build up an index of everything. All these categories - search, social networking, microblogging - were open for entry before there was a dominant player in place. Coming along later to displace them is something else again.
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Other Answers (6)
June 01, 2009 03:53 PM
Google's position is not too dominant. There are plenty of companies involved with search and search related topics. They are just one of the bigger players out there, or bigger names. I am sure that Google feels the tension with a lot of new search engines popping up, everything from DuckDuckGo.com and Mahalo M2, to Microsoft's Bing. Although I like Google, the answer isn't always found on Google. There are plenty of very good search engines out there, even those who use Google API that are very good. There is no such thing as too much dominance. The only time too much dominance is not good is when a company has a Monopoly. That's what they thought Microsoft had with Internet Explorer. By all means, Google is far from a Monopoly. I just used Mahalo's search, which means I did not use Google, then that means they are not too dominant.
There are plenty of sites and services that have similar missions to Google's, and that is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."
Check out Alt Search Engines:
http://www.altsearchengines.com
They focus on all the sites that are alternatives to Google.
All of these sites below offer search engines or directories. There are plenty of players out there. Google might be well known, a brand name like McDonald's, but there are many alternatives. There are even ones I do not have on this list.
A9
About
Academicindex.net
Accoona
Alexa
AlltheWeb
Allmyfaves
AltSearchEngines
Artiklz
Answers
Ask
Attendi
Auyantepui
Base-Search.net
Bessed
Bitty
Bing
Biznar
Biznetic
Blingo
Boxxet
BrowseGoods
Buildasearch
ChaCha
Chir.ag/wiki
Chunkit Tigerlogic.com/chunkit
CloserLookSearch
Clusty
Curryguide
CustomSearchGuide
CustomSearchEngine
Cometquery
CompletePlanet
Cooliris
CSELinks
Cuil
Damrej
Daylife
Daymix
DBpedia
DeepDyve
Deepy
Docjax
Dogpile
DuckDuckGo
Ejeboo
Eyeplorer
En.Dabu.pl
Evri
Exalead
Eurekster
Factbites
Famhoo
FanSnap
Faroo
Fazzle
Feedeep
Fleeq
Fichey
Filestube
Findingdulcinea
Freebase
Fuzzfind
Galaxyit
Gazopa
Gigablast
Girafa
Gnod.net
Gogimon
GoogleAlert
Grayboxx
Grokker
Guruji
Hakia
Hittery
Hoongle.org
IceRocket
Imprezzeo
Incogna
Indianglaze
Infolust
Inquisitorx
Inversearch
IRazoo
IRovr
ISearch
Itpints
Ixquick
Izito
Joongel
Jumptags
Junoba
Kalooga
Kartoo
Keyboardr
Kidrex.org
Kooltorch
Kosmix
Leapfish
LessonPlanet
Lexxe
Lijit
Like
Listio
Lygo
Mahalo
MakeUseOf
Mamma
ManagedQ
Masterseek
Meccabrowser
Medici.tv
Mednar
MelZoo
Middlespot
Mixcat
Moosemess
Mooter
Myroar
MySideKick
Namemasher
Nanocrowd
Navigaya
Newser
Newssift
Newsflashr
Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/RefSeq
NLsearch
Nofoodhere
Oaister.org
Occipital (photo)
Omgili
OneRiot
Oneview
OxyShopping
Oskope
PageGlimpse
Pandia
Pawst
Picsearch
Pixsy
Pixsta
Pixy.pl
Powerset
PrimalFusion
Proximic
Qkport
Quintura
Redz
RedTram
Referencextract.org
Riya
Rollyo
Rowdii
Scirus
Scoopler
Scour
Scout.wisc.edu/Archives
Searchcrystal
SearchCloud
SearchEngineWatch
Searchpigeon.org
Search.io
Search
Search-Cube
Searchme
Seeknit
Semager
SemantiFind
Silobreaker
Simploos.com.mx
Snap
Snappyfingers
Sortfix
SpaceTime
Spezify
Spific
Swagbucks
Swingly
Soople
Soovle
Spacetime
Sproose
Stumpedia
Superkix
Surchur
Surfcanyon
Surfwax
SweetSearch
Symbaloo
Tagedu
Tafiti
Taggalaxy.de
Tagoo.ru/en
Tezaa
TheFind
Tiltomo
Tineye
Topmarks.co.uk
Topsy
Triplify
TrueKnowledge
Turboscout
Tweetzi
Twerq
Twing
Twingly
Twitnit
Twootles
Ujiko
Visuwords
VLib.org
Viewzi
WbSearch
Webcrawler
Webzzle
Weegy
WhoIsLike.it
Wikia
Wikipedia
Wink
Winzy
WolframAlpha
Worio
Worldcat.org
Wundrbar
Xippee
Xoost
Yauba
Yoople.net
Yotify
Yovisto
YubNub.org
Zookfind
Zotero
Zuula
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June 01, 2009 05:52 PM
Only a comment. Anytime I wonder if a company has too much dominance, I compare them to Microsoft. Not frivolously, seriously.
It's one thing to provide services that people use by choice, but when steps are taken to isolate users by making the use of other choices next to impossible, I object.
I don't believe Google is anywhere close to that. The services they offer are competitive, useful and not all that different in function than other options.
But it is wise when doing important research to use more than one search engine. Engines that utilizes different methods to find results. Like the one at http://www.searchcloud.net/ for example.
While one might dig deeper and find that presenting data differently doesn't mean the results are different, but it a different method of entering and presenting data might inspire YOU to narrow your search differently.
There was one engine that was completely user-weighted (like Wiki). I couldn't find the link (shows how much I used it), but your search would develop a web or solar system of words and as you watched it the web would grow with terms developing as offshoots.
As you clicked on a term it would become the center of the web and new shoots would develop until you either started seeing single sites or you clicked to see the current term in a traditional list.
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It's one thing to provide services that people use by choice, but when steps are taken to isolate users by making the use of other choices next to impossible, I object.
I don't believe Google is anywhere close to that. The services they offer are competitive, useful and not all that different in function than other options.
But it is wise when doing important research to use more than one search engine. Engines that utilizes different methods to find results. Like the one at http://www.searchcloud.net/ for example.
While one might dig deeper and find that presenting data differently doesn't mean the results are different, but it a different method of entering and presenting data might inspire YOU to narrow your search differently.
There was one engine that was completely user-weighted (like Wiki). I couldn't find the link (shows how much I used it), but your search would develop a web or solar system of words and as you watched it the web would grow with terms developing as offshoots.
As you clicked on a term it would become the center of the web and new shoots would develop until you either started seeing single sites or you clicked to see the current term in a traditional list.
June 01, 2009 05:08 PM
I'm one of those people who think that dominance is OK as long as it is fairly earned and not a true monopoly situation. In my opinion Microsoft's dominance was partially earned (They gave the people what they wanted at prices they could afford.) but also quite shady because it always seemed to me that they totally ripped off the Windows format from Apple. (Not sure quite how they won that lawsuit.) It seems to me that Google's dominance is (a) not quite as omni-present as Microsoft's; (b) less insidiously guarded--Google hasn't tried to delete my access to other search engines or services; and (c) fairly earned.
Google deserves to be king because Google has SIMPLY and consistently provided a service people wanted and because they figured out how to make (lots of) money at it without annoying their customers. From what I hear, (I know very little about this aspect) they've been willing to share the wealth to some degree by making ways for others (including the little guys) to make money from ads and web sites. And they keep rolling out other products--Google Maps, Google Earth, Gmail, Google documents, Google calendar, Google Chrome, etc, etc, etc, but they never seem to be in a hurry and the end products are usually just a bit more functional and innovative than other similar products. Can't fault them for that.
So, to sum up, it is my view that Google does, in fact, have a measure of dominance on the web; however, I think that, so far, that dominance has been earned fairly and, therefore, is not a problem. I believe that on the web like nowhere else, if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. If someone else comes up with better ways to do what
Google is doing now, I think they could be deposed--not quickly, but surely. But for now, they keep cranking out better and better mousetraps. Why buy a cat?
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June 01, 2009 05:54 PM
Wow, that was a good answer! (and my opinion too) I did find this picture when I typed in "google" and "dominating" on, of course, google.
http://www.igorthetroll.com/images/matt-cutts-dominatrix.jpg
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June 02, 2009 04:06 AM
What is Google? Google is an advertising company. It sells advertising to cluster groups with large keyword audiences.
Google market position makes it popular place for companies to invest into advertising with the company.
Quote
Six business questions: A. What is your key service or product offering? B. How much competition do you have in your segment? C. How does your company differentiate itself from the competition? D. How would your customers explain what differentiates your company from your competition? E. What kind of barriers to entry are there in your segment? F. How sustainable are your differentiators?
Once you have answered these questions, build compare and contrast how Google can meet your goals and market segment against other competitors. For small companies google will seem expensive. For midsize companies a reasonable advertising plan can be devised. Large companies will establish an advertising plan.
Source(s):
Books: Growing Your Business with Google
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June 03, 2009 09:50 AM
Google "dominate" the Internet naturally thanks to its superiority to others in terms of innovation and exellence. Google can do what other can't to attract thousands of talented employee by their policies. By saying naturally, I mean there is no problem with their dominance as long as they are not evil (as Microsoft).
I believe the story of mouse trap above.
Source(s):
http://itcenter.vn/video/internet/tim-kiem/cuoc-song-tai-googleplex/6717/
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The argument against any monopoly is simple: it allows the monopolist to make bucketloads of money at the expense of suppliers and customers. For example if you want to advertise, you pay over the odds. And if you host their advertising, you get a smaller cut than if there was more competition.
In depth discussion of how that applies to search here:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/25/the-importance-of-a-competitive-search-market/