Don't get me wrong. I love my Gmail. I also use Google's search engine and Google Voice every day. I'm not out to bash Google. The Internet wouldn't be the same without them. However, like most companies (or anything for that matter), Google is not perfect. They may only hire the most brilliant minds and they may claim to do no evil, but Google has some flaws that just seem to erk me. The following list is only constructive criticism.

1. Invite Only Want to try out Google's latest and greatest? Stand in line. Google seems to even be doing this with their new mobile phone. Seriously? I think the company takes this practice way too far. As many Google Wave users have found out, there's not much one can do with walled garden invite only services. Who wants to talk with strangers?

2. Google Is Going To Take Over The World! No. They're not. It seems that Google is dabbling in and buying up everything these days. Ever hear the motto 'stick to one thing and do it well?' Google is going to own and provide a lot of services that will make money initially. However, the original developers are gone. These services will soon be obsolete or old hat. Don't believe me? Look at Blogger.

3. Hype This brings me back to the first thing that ticks me off about Google on this list. The invite only model doesn't only suck for those who can't get in or can't find much use in interacting with strangers. It also generates a lot more buzz than the product or service would produce on it's own. I don't know why anyone else doesn't see this. We're all being played and I think it's time that Google stops this. Users deserve more respect.

Tags: critisizm, google, invite, only, voice, wave

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Comment by David Galbraith on December 28, 2009 at 4:22am: Hey, your "Add Comment" button isn't clickable in Firefox for some reason.

Can't believe Rory listed Bing as a good search engine. It's results are almost all advertisements. Had to uninstall it from Internet Explorer. Anyway,

Likes:

Clear interface.
The new options menu.
Easy to block their stupid ads in Firefox. ;)
Google Translator is much improved, though needs lots of corrections.

Dislikes:
Search results are frequently and utterly irrelevant.
When I click "Less Shopping sites", I mean it!
Doesn't have sticky preferences, such as return 100 results instead of just 10.
Search within the last Month needs to be added badly, otherwise I have to use my Google preferences plugin in Firefox.
Should not need a plugin for any of the above.
Still have no idea what their apps do. How is Wave any different from any other crap site like myspace?

Comment by Rory Mitchell on December 27, 2009 at 4:56pm: 3 things I hate/like about Google:

Likes
1. Google Mail- I like google mail because I can use it in the app "Mail" on Mac OS X without having to pay for it and the fact that you can star a email is a good feature when I'm out because I can just back to that starred email and read it.

2. Google Wave - I like google wave, Ever since I got an invite I have used it everyday and I use it to connect with my friends easily.

3. Google Docs - Great way to share files, I use it all the time. Its compatibility with iWork is great as well. Superb Idea!.

Hates

1. They Own All- Well they don't own everything but it certainly looks like they will be owning everything, Like what you said they own blogger and the sense of original developing is gone!. Its only time before they own everything.

2. They're Not Perfect - A lot of google things that have been produced are not really well useable, like there "Google Video" is a waste of time because they own You Tube, "Google Maps" waste of time because they have "Google Earth" which is exactly the same in every detail etc, etc, etc.....

3. "The" Best Search Engine? - I don't Think its the "best" search engine, simply because there are a lot of great search engines out there like "Viewzi", "dogpile", "Bing" etc..., There are a wide range of search engines out there that perfect certain things, like picture searching or just genral web searching or video searching, everything that google has to offer there are better alternatives.

Comment by Shannon VanWagner on December 27, 2009 at 12:57am: Five things I really like about Google:

1.) Android Operating System - Linux-based and Open Source

2.) Google contributes at least 30% of their developer's time to Open Source(think summer of code)... for everyone to use, share, make better and advance with

3.) Google doesn't suck. Whether it be exporting documents in ODF or DOC or PDF, or having unlimited access to your gmail account using POP and/or IMAP with no additional fees, Google gives you a lot and expects only a little

4.) Google aims to a.) First make the products FREE for the user, and b.) Don't restrict the user from using any operating system they want (and this is oh so important)

5.) Chrome - Linux-based Operating System. This is big

I totally agree, Google is NOT perfect, and no company should be treated as if they are. But IMHO - Google is a NEW company that's starting projects off on the right foot by being Open Source and Linux friendly. I look forward to what Google can do for us all.

Shannon VanWagner
humans-enabled.com

Comment by Emmerich on December 26, 2009 at 8:09pm: Cookenstein, just because something is free, it doesn't mean that it should be immune to criticism. Free services have been around since the Internet's conception. I would hope that Google would appreciate any feedback they get, even if it's negative. It's the only way that they will improve.

Comment by Alfred Esbjörnson on December 26, 2009 at 6:56pm: 1. Google has so many people using their different services that they have to use a "invite only" system. Google aren't the only one's using this method either, it's quite common.

2. Sticking with one thing and doing it well will certainly make your thing "obsolete or old hat". Large companies have to expand or they'll become irrelevant, look at Microsoft. Doing a lot of things may mean that they eventually become old and boring, but that's the way it works, another company picks up where the previous one left off.

3. True, but it's not Google's fault that people build up a big hype around their products.

I'm not trying to defend Google, there's a lot of things I don't like about Google, but I think your arguments against Google aren't very good. While I understand that these things bother you, I don't really see why.

Comment by Roberto on December 26, 2009 at 5:46pm: well I am STILL waiting for gmail to load, eve after taking time to register on this ning ring...

Comment by R_Gerard on December 26, 2009 at 5:37pm: Hrm.. well, I had a Grand central acct, so people only had 2 ring ONE # 2 get me. Google Bought it; and was gonna re-launch as google voice. STILL Waiting on THAT. :pp

Comment by DAve Simpson on December 26, 2009 at 5:36pm: I don't like how Google aligns itself with the green lefty socialist throng advocating a reduction in CO2.
The whole concept is simply bad science and is not true. Google has an excellent search algorithm and Gmail is ok, when it is up but forget the rest!

Comment by Juxta on December 26, 2009 at 4:29pm: I'm still pretty convinced that Google is going to become Skynet.

Comment by Andy-Rew on December 26, 2009 at 9:25am: 4. Political Affairs Google is not willing to take a stance on some political views like they should as an american company. A more then perfect example would be to take a look at Tibet on Google maps. If you view it from the US their is a dashed line separating Tibet and China. In India their is a solid line between Tibet and China. In China their is no line. Clearly Google is just trying not to upset any of its users, but they are an american company and should reflect that in political matters.

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