Google-rific

For a very long time I have had a joke with my boyfriend that in 100 years time the word "google" will be a verb used for any type of search, not just online stuff. For example, " I drove by the restaurant three times, but I just couldn't google it." OR "Did you google the fridge to see what we need to buy at the store?"

It seems that, even though Google hasn't been around all that long when you look at the grand scheme of things, it's services and business models have been so spot on that it has quickly pervaded our society. It's not the first search engine, but the numbers seem to say that it's the best.

Google is so much more then a search engine now. The Business Week article predicts that Google "could become, in a sense, the world's primary computer." This brings me to the topic of Google's other services. Not just a search engine anymore, Google has the capacity to store lots and lots of data. Not just searches and histories but your emails, all of your word documents etc.
Google has been pushing the convenience of Gmail and it's other apps like it's online word processor. Gmail really is convenient. In fact, I have my Gmail open and am chatting with friends as we speak. However, there are many privacy concerns that come along with giving Google permission to house your emails and documents online.

My sister forwarded me an email last semester from Michigan State University. They had instituted a new rule banning all Google apps for university business. People who work for MSU are banned from sending any work-related emails through Gmail or and are banned from performing any work on any Google app. The email explained that Google has the right to anything and everything you "publish" through Gmail or on their other apps. For example, if a student writes their dissertation on Google's word processor, Google technically owns that work and the student no longer has any right to publish their work. Google could publish their dissertation online, say as an example of how to write a dissertation, and then the author is now plagerizing. As far as I know Google hasn't gone out of it's way to bar anyone from publishing something they created on their word processors but the fact that there is potential for that is scary.

There are other, more over-arching, concerns with Google i.e. fears that they will turn over searches to the government, or Google's willingness to tattle on Chinese users and block searches. These issues have been widely publicized, but I don't think the average Google user knows to be worried that their emails could be turned over or their word documents used without their permission.

Sometimes it seems that no one will be able to challenge Google's pseudo-monopoly. For a while it seemed that Microsoft's purchase of Yahoo might lead to something. However, now we know that Yahoo has rejected the offer. That doesn't mean that Microsoft will not counter with a higher offer and eventually buy Yahoo. However, even if this does come to pass, it doesn't seem likely to me that Microsoft will be able to innervate Yahoo enough to really challenge Google's dominance. Google will remain Coke and Yahoo will still be Pepsi.