[damon_c]

Jeez... Google isn't perfect but... I feel like a lot of people really benefit from Google existing.

Ever use Tensorflow? Or... use 8.8.8.8 as a DNS server? Or... Gmail? or Learn something from watching YouTube?

One has to pay the bills somehow. If Google disappeared from the Earth would the replacement be better?

[ketzo]

or, yknow… searched something on the internet using Google search? that tiny little thing that literally revolutionized the human experience of recorded information?

[serf]

Google search was by no means the first search engine, or the best. They succeeded by having good business acumen during one of the most turbulent phases of industry that tech has ever seen, along with a big drive to integrate the non-tech public into their products.

google has done great, I don't buy ' literally revolutionized the human experience of recorded information? ' -- it's simply not true; they just did well in that niche.

Had they gone insolvent another similar group would have dominated that same field, that should make it dead obvious that their business (search specifically) wasn't revolutionary -- just very successful.

[ocdtrekkie]

Google is one of the most harmful entities on the entire planet. Anyone who doesn't realize that just... doesn't know enough about the topic yet. Nobody is as good at extracting profit from unethical and outright harmful behavior while simultaneously shifting the blame onto someone else for it.