Fud Buster Friday #48 - Google Does No evil

The Google informal motto as we all know is Don't Be Evil.

Just what that means is up to debate usually from various places but evidently it has also been dropped as recently as April 1, 2009.

So now the gloves are off and Google is coming out swinging and if you get in the way, too bad for you. As it happens, Google is swinging, directly,(thanks to Duffbert for finding this) for my fences in trying to win over Lotus customers.

Now why would Google do this? Same reason IBM or Microsoft would when they convert someone. Not going to debate if it's a good idea or not, but suffice it to say, IBM is quite possibly either in the way of Google or a stepping stone to help Google get better footing against Microsoft.

Evil? Well, marketing is usually classified as evil or fictional, depends who is asking and which company you refer to of course.

What makes Google seem evil is they read the Microsoft playbook from the 90's and realized they could be Bill Gates nightmare come to life.

IBM of course is not an angel across the board, but the Lotus side has usually tried to stay above board and have open and honest discussions with competitors and customers. It's what I taught the sales engineers I trained and the way I talk to all customers.

In this case, I am a bit in awe of Google and what they have in place that makes a customer's decision almost child like simple. Like Denzel Washington said in Philadelphia "Now explain it to me like I'm a four-year-old." And Google has done that if you dig deeper into their website links on the migration page I referenced.

What if it's all a game to them? What if they fear search is on the way out, what if they do become the next Microsoft or IBM? Will they truly do no evil once they own your OS, phone, mail, applications and calendar?

Or will absolute power corrupt, as it always does?