
Google Is Really Three Companies, All On A Roll - akosner
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/01/05/google-is-really-three-companies-all-on-a-roll/
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rm999
I hate to be so critical, but this article sucks. If I realized it was a
forbes blogger site I would have skipped it; those seem to be consistently low
quality.

>each one of these functions could be a robust company itself.

>3.) The Future

Seriously? I literally groaned when I saw that 1/3 of the article was devoted
to something as vague and silly as 'the future' - what most companies would
simply call R&D or innovation. And how exactly would that be a robust company?
Self-driving cars show promise but wouldn't make a robust company until there
is a product and market. Singularity is an interesting philosophical concept
but I'm unclear how it will make google money (if it will even happen in the
next few generations).

The other two categories, user services and advertising, are obvious to anyone
who knows anything about google. And really, these two are pretty intertwined
at google: user services provide an advertising medium and advertising pays
for user services. It's always been this way, and probably will be for many
years.

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jballanc
If Google _is_ three companies, two of them are clearly not carrying their
weight! Unless things have changed significantly since February of last year,
Google remains the _least_ diversified of the major tech companies:
[http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-google-is-
th...](http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-google-is-the-least-
diversified-business-in-tech-2012-2)

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sdj
"The value that the company provides as a service to internet users is vast
and perhaps unmeasurable."

 _Unmeasurable_? Seriously? Isn't there already a word for this? Oh yeah,
immeasurable. You know why your spell checker was highlighting that word, Mr.
Kosner? It's not because the computer is stupid and you are so smart. It's
because it's not a word.

And that quote... “If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer;
you’re the product being sold.” We're going to attribute that to a MeFi post
from 2010? Really? Ever read a book? Even in digital form? Please for love of
all that can ever possibly be right with the world, stop writing.

