On "Evil"
Now that Google is coming out with a browser, there's once again discussion about Google's dominance and what it means for their company's "don't be evil" motto.
I think people are confusing "successful" and "powerful" with "evil". (and while we're at it, when geeks refer to being evil, they really mean Microsoft's mafia-syle tactics in the 90's. Predatory. Monopolistic. Illegal.)
If Google.com ever gets a reputation for having inferior search results, people can just type MSN.com instead. If Google's new browser sucks, it will go from 0% marketshare to ... 0% marketshare. If people don't want Google to know what RSS feeds they follow, they can use feedburner. Google simply doesn't have the leverage to lock anyone in.
The problem with Microsoft last decade is they were illegally leveraging their near-monopoly into unrelated markets, and killing off competition that in some cases was technologically superior because of their incredible market power and their ruthless business style. (for example: "if you bundle Linux, you can't bundle Windows anymore", which is blatantly illegal for a monopoly)
Google may be getting very powerful. But it hasn't locked anyone in. It hasn't threatened any of its competitors' business partners (nor do they have the leverage to try). They haven't broken the law. There's simply no comparison.
