Thapelo Tlhong | 
2nd 09 , 2008 |
I read a very interesting exchange between two guys on the Hostgator forums yesterday. Below is an excerpt from the guy that calls himself “whatrevolution.”
The discussion was about website traffic analysis utilities like Awstats, Google Analytics and the forum poster was merely asking about which stats program they can use to filter out his own traffic just to increase the reliability of the stats of visitors to their website.
As it usually happens in forums, the discussion turned into the Google Dynasty and Dominance of the World Wide Web. So this is what whatrevolutions said about Google [Analytics] free service[s]:
Certainly, there are always alterior motives which justify a “free” service. Consider the differences between “rationale“, and “rationalization“.
Google is useful as a publicly accessible database, but not as a benevolent public service fueled by marketing revenue. You’ll laugh, because your skepticism has been conditioned out of you, and replaced by selfish greed for what you want right this instant. That you don’t question unjustified earnings reports and stock prices speaks volumes toward what you’re capable of not questioning.
It’s too good to be true.
Google is useful by design. This is incrementalist herding toward unquestioned total information awareness, which has been a completely successful operation. As useful as it is, and I use it too, in a much more limited fashion; Google is a bane upon self-sufficience in information technology.
Spend less time consuming, and more time building; and just because you “got the job done”, does not mean you did it right. “Google gets the job done. To each their own.”, case in point. Operant Conditioning.
I’ve always had some “reservations” about Google’s dominance, totalitarian tendencies and monopolistic attitude when it comes to all things web related. Think GMail, Adsense, Adwords, Google Checkout, Google Reader, Webmaster Tools and so forth and so on. All these are efficient tools and service that Google provides and mostly “FREE” but I’m well aware that Google is not running a charity, they’re building an empire. Most of these tools if not all of them are there to advance Google’s Business ambitions. They do however, have a philanthropic side effect in that everyone’s online presence and experience is enhanced.
In many ways, the Google practices have connotations of Microsoft except Google seems to be adopting a different approach, it’s a case of “From Philanthropy to Monopoly” unlike Bill Gates’ Monopoly to Philanthropy.
Most of the time, what Google does with the data gathered through using these tools and services is anybody guess. We all use Google everyday, some more than others, some their very online presence centered around Google services and tools. Talk of having your all your eggs in one basket.
They are good tools/services[no doubt] and mostly very efficient and they do get the job done as whatrevolutions says but remember, Google can expunge you from their system without explanation and without mercy and they are not obliged to show any or give you any explanation. So it helps to spread your online activities especially if they are your livelihood.
Check the following stories out, to see what I mean :
The Day Google Erased me from the Internet.
Got Kicked out of Google Adsense
Happy Googling but make sure you don’t suffer from Discomgoogolation ;-).
