He sounded like your typical archrival, but when Bill Gates announced to the world that “the Google honeymoon will only last a couple more years,” was he right?
The world has certainly gone Google-Ga-Ga, with search, Gmail, Adwords, Analytics, AdSense, and the Toolbar causing a riotous storm. I’ve read countless news articles and blogs heralding Google’s March on Desktop as a scene call for Microsoft. Google can now search within the local machine, will eventually power Internet boxes as a replacement for Windows, and will eventually take over the world!
Now, I’m certainly not attacking Google, but this kind of talk seems crazy to me. Google has a powerful and technologically advanced search application. They have built a beautiful search architecture and packaged it into a winning business model. The launch of AdWords and AdSense was great in a cost-per-click market that was staid and lame, but I have serious doubts about Google’s immediate impact on Microsoft’s monopoly.
I use Adwords, Analytics and AdSense on a daily basis. All my email is combined into one Gmail account, which I read through the Google Desktop toolbar. Google is my preferred search engine and I am generally happy with my Google package.
But there are complaints, and they are growing.
The Google interface is simple. Of course I hear you cry: why would you want to cram such great technology with cheap looks? Well, for us technically minded folks, maybe, but I know plenty of non-technical people (and let’s face it, there are billions of them) who find this very simple approach extremely counterintuitive. Take Gmail for example. Aside from a powerful search feature, Gmail scores fairly low when it comes to usability. Most of the non-techies I come in contact with (I mean lawyers, professors, middle managers, pretty smart folks) have abandoned Gmail for the familiarity and ease of use of Hotmail. At Hotmail, Microsoft offers a highly polished, integrated product that takes a novice by the hand and leads them down the garden path of email. It may not have 2 gigabytes of storage and a great search function attached to it, but a couple of folders and a delete button seem to work pretty well for most people. Like I said, I use Gmail on a daily basis, but I can appreciate what these people are telling me. Of course, we are talking about a beta product, so let’s not dwell on this…
Google accounts do not communicate with each other. I will often need to log into my Adwords, AdSense, and Analytics account within minutes of each other, and will be prompted to log in separately for each. This drives me crazy! In Passport, Microsoft has simplified the desktop login process, opening up a full suite of web-based services in an extremely useful way. Sometimes it seems like Google is trying to keep me out! I would love to see a centralized login where all Google accounts can be accessed.
My point here is that people demand a polished and easy-to-use experience. Currently, Google is making it difficult for non-technical people to access the products on offer. An example of this can be seen in their help files. Just a couple of clicks on the Google Analytics help files will throw up numerous 404 error pages. Surely with such a powerful search feature, a 404 should be unheard of. Why doesn’t the king of search provide me with a list of possible places or sites that could help me instead of a 404 page? To organize the world’s information, unless it’s not available, you’ll have to settle for a 404 error screen, sorry!
Google has grown very fast, and in some ways I feel the company has been surprised by its own success. The exponential growth of AdWords has generated so much revenue that Google is simply throwing money in various directions, building Yahoo 2.0 in the process. Many of Google’s services are admirable. Google Search and Google Books have changed and will change the way humans store and retrieve information. But Google is no rival to Microsoft. In fact, within a couple of years, it could be Google that is threatened. Google has a killer model in the Search-Adwords-Adsense triangle. They don’t need any other services to survive in a financial sense, so perhaps we should be grateful that they provide some of these services for free. But I for one hope Google takes some time to consolidate and improve the usability of its products before they start pursuing even higher aspirations. Google is powerful, but it’s failing to engage those who don’t embrace technology as easily as others. Sure, you can organize the world’s information, but let everyone get it when you’re done.
I don’t want the honeymoon with Google to end, but I have a feeling it’s about to end. Let’s hope they do the work necessary to make a marriage work!
