Google has forgotten the key to its
success. It's not search. It's not the one big computer. It's not
even search or ad serving.
It's be the best.
When Google's name goes on a piece of crap, it's not just throwing something bad against the wall and hoping it sticks. It is cutting into Google's own reputation.
I have written before of how poor Google is with blogs. Both Blogger and Blogsearch are laggards next to Typepad and Technorati.
Google's Video Search is horrible. It doesn't find most stuff. It's no YouTube. Not even close.
- Google's little software gadgets are just that, gadgets, and most don't work.
- Froogle didn't work and got dropped from the main page, quietly.
- Google Talk isn't making anyone forget Skype.
- Have you heard anything about Google Checkout since it was introduced?
The fact that Google is coming out with something doesn't put the fear of God in anyone.
Are you beginning to sense a pattern? I
am. Google is at its best when it concentrates on something,
concentrates hard, concentrates intense energy on making that one
thing extremely useful, and most of all, different.
So far Google has done this twice, once with its basic search service, and again with AdSense. It is long past time for Google to pare its product line, decide what might work, and make sure it does.
A gardener, after all, kills plants. If you're not killing plants you're not a gardener -- you're a conservationist. And conservation isn't a business model.
The only thing you have in the open source business world is your reputation, and Google is currently pummeling its own pretty hard.
Time to prune the tree.
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