An ode to Google

I came across something interesting while skimming through an article at BBC News Online about Google starting a charity organization. It turns out Google's corporate motto is "don't be evil." I thought this was kind of a funny, since Google is one of the largest and richest corporations in America. However, there is something rather charming about the conglomerate; I fell in love with the unobtrusive search engine sometime ago - my browser has called it home ever since (it had been yahoo). I remember thinking it was some kind of indie/alt search engine - no adds, few links, and a simple layout. They decorate their banner on holidays, kind of like the old couple that stick turkey cutouts on their front lawn for thanksgiving. If you've never used Google images or maps you're missing out.

Google is accomplishing much more than just offering a convenient service, it's infiltrating my day-today living. It's so convenient - it pops up every time i open my desktop - I use it without even thinking, as naturally as I would my right hand. I'm sure that the verb 'google', if it isn't already, is only a stones throw from werming its way into dictionaries. Today in Greek philosophy class I received a handout on satyrs with an image on it titled, "random Google image for satyr." A blog I frequent, Total Drek, recently innitiated a new contributor with a Google images produced pictorial history.

That all being said, despite their motto, I’m pretty sure Google is evil. It's stocks are sold publicly, thus it has share holders, and thus it must keep their interests in mind at all time, thus profit above all else, thus, thus, thus. That's as far as I’m going to go with this post but, it's a little frightening isn't it, that even the phrase "don't be evil," has been co-opted by evil. On a lighter note, wikipedia is still "good" right... right... is there anybody out there?