The Googlization of everything

There is this website, The Googlization of everything. This is assumed to be a future book.

We are all accustomed to Microsoft bashing. However, this is different.

Back in 90’s there was a great book on MacDonald’s and the world. The McDonaldization of Society by George Ritzer. It was a sociology book, a sociological study.

According to Wikipedia:

Ritzer suggests that in the later part of the 20th century the socially structured form of the fast-food restaurant has become the organizational force representing and extending the process of rationalization further into the realm of everyday interaction and individual identity. McDonald’s serves as the case model of this process in the 1990s. The book introduced the term McDonaldization into learned discourse to describe mind-numbing sameness.

Well, the googlization of everything is not the same. Although it is similar in name with Microsoft bashers and the famous book “the mcdonaldization of society”, it is not the same.

I think this is not the right time to suggest that Google is the new evil force on earth. Because they are not.

I agree that Google is not perfect, but who is perfect anyway? It is not really true that Google is heading towards a monopoly. It doesn’t do anything to prevent Yahoo or Microsoft or Altavista or any other search engine from operating. Google even does not promote it’s very competent services efficiently.

In a time where Microsoft still exists and does everything to manipulate the world of software and entertainment, Google does not deserve a criticism with a title like “the googlization of everything”. There is nothing being googlized. I wish there was because Google is introducing very productive resources to the whole world. Google is very open to competition.

I am not here to defend Google in any and every aspect it needs a defense. I am not an advpcate of Google, I am not a fan boy of anything particular.

Google is very dominant in search just because it does what it supposed to be. I am a live witness that Google is not perfect in search but hey, it does it’s job pretty well and its opponents should find a different way to compete with it.

Responses (Links to this post)

2 Responses to “The Googlization of everything”

Siva Vaidhyanathan Says:
July 29th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I am afraid you are mistaken to assume that my project has anything to do with Google being “an evil force.” I have never nor would I ever use such language to describe this complex and pervasive institution.

The book is not so much about what Google does or does not do. It’s about how we relate to and use Google and how it affects us.

Google does what it is supposed to do, as you wrote so precisely. My question is: Do we do what we are supposed to do? What should we do when problems arise as a result of Google’s success and domination of certain markets?

I hope to push us to understand our relationship with Google, the Web, and information itself.

Thanks for checking in. Please come back and comment frequently. I would love to get your insight into these and other questions.

And while I am asking for your patience and cooperation, might I ask you to elaborate on your views of Google’s effects on us? How does it affect your life?
Osman S Borutecene Says:
July 29th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Hey! Thank you very much for stepping by and leaving a comment. I appreciate that. Well, first of all, your title “googlization of everything” has this negative connotation about things. I think this might be a false impression.

I promise to read more and of course I’d be very happy to write about my views on Google and how it affects my life.

visnum