Of course this blog is just a very, very, very tiny microcosm, but readers sometimes mention things here which strike a chord with me. This feeds into some of why I was upset that another blogger would carelessly want to rip out all his prior comments as if they were weeds instead of roses. Beauty is in the eye of the …

Hmm reader Paul is tired of hearing about Google:

What is up with all the Google news? Is Google the center of the universe? … Are all you web developers scared to death of Google? Isn’t anybody else doing good or evil stuff in the web development world?

Paul poses some fair questions and I’m sorry for making this yet another Google-related post (I held it for a little while) — and adding to the baggage — but, well, he asked a different question that I haven’t yet answered here before in any significant detail. Those who don’t care why I am so interested in Google, feel free to skip this one by right now.

I follow Google because:

1) I’m interested in a lot of what they are up to (they make me go hmm on a variety of fronts). They might not always have the best product launches, but they seem to poke around in places that I find to be revealing and in some cases market changing.
2) They are disruptive like many big companies, but they weren’t always big. They were started by a couple really smart guys in their garage at a time when people believed little guys couldn’t rise up and make a difference. They have proved that thinking flawed. So now my fascination is: will they keep the fires burning or flame out like some others who got fat, sucessful, big and became lazy?
3) I own their stock and use, review or at least try many of their products to see if they might help save me time in personal or business, automate tasks and/or make my computing life better. I share those good and bad experiences here so that others can decide whether or not they may want to take the time to check them out. Hopefully I’m saving some folks time by providing information they don’t have to gather on their own, or at least giving them one user’s perspective and experience.

In the case of my opinion pieces on Google, these are the result of following their actions for years now and perhaps helpful to those who aren’t as keyed into their current, past and rumored future moves. If you watch something long enough and follow the timeline patterns do begin to emerge. I’m fascinated studying those patterns. Am I always right about what I think they are up to? Of course not. Do I enjoy pontificating on what their intentions might be? I get a tickle from it, sure. Do I expect every reader will like these posts? Nope. But rest assured, kind readers, that if I feel like I have nothing important to add or say, then I won’t say it.

I also follow what Microsoft is doing because I am surrounded by their products and they are not too far away from where we are located geographically. They have invited me up there on numerous occasions to test products (usually under NDA) and have always treated myself and others in our family who also do beta testing politely and professionally. I don’t own any of their stock but have said several times that I hope to buy some someday. Just not quite ready for them yet. After Vista, perhaps.

And definitely no, I don’t consider Google (or Yahoo or Microsoft) the center of at least my universe. I can’t and won’t speak for other “web developers” as Paul refers to us. Frankly, I consider myself a webmaster/programmer not a web developer or software engineer or any of the other fancy chic names making the rounds today. Readers might consider me simply ‘ blogger’, but in reality this is just a very part time gig for me. Heck, just give me a blank text editor and some free time and I’ll make something happen.

Paul’s comment hit on a trend I’ve definitely been seeing in the tech news and blog sectors: Google mania is on. I’m sure each person/publication has their own reasons for covering them and to what extent. My buddy Nathan — I think we are buddies, I talked to him quite a bit at Search Champs — does a great job covering Google in great depth at Inside Google. If I were to start a blog only about Google, then I’d like it to be as good as his Inside Google or Phillip Lenssen’s Google Blogoscoped. Those two blogs set the bar for Google-specific blogs. For readers who can’t get enough of Google Mania, add those two sources to your aggregator. You’ll be in ecstasty soon.

But I think Paul is talking about blogs and tech news sites in general, not Google-specific blogs, and their perhaps unbalanced coverage of Google, Hmm included. There might not actually be an unbalance but at times it definitely seems that way. I’ve seen people at Slashdot complaining about Google Mania for example, and they definitely don’t focus specifically on Google.

This last week — really since CES 2006 I’ve been growing weary of the excessive Google stories too (and intentionally have skipped some of them, but yesterday busted out with two of them) for example the whole Google Orwellian crap, Verizon complaining about Google piggybacking on fiber and so on. No need for me to link them as you have probably already seen these stories. It’s getting out of hand. Still, I know some readers actually do look forward to my commentary and updates on at least some of these stories because I’ve specifically been asked to comment on a few occasions where I might have taken a pass otherwise.

Sometimes I’ll give a quick response in the comments, sometimes privately and sometimes I’ll use a new post like this (although admittedly the latter two reactions are more rare). I think once in awhile a post like this is helpful to center where I’m coming from and maybe lay some sort of roadmap, as vague as it might be, what could be coming down the line. I like serendipity in reading and writing so if today seems too Google-centric (and you happen to be sick of reading about Google), then check back tomorrow. Actually, I think there has been more blog-related post focus the last few days here than Google.

In fact, looking at the last 25 posts tells the best story. Five of these (20%) were related to and/or specifically dealt with Google. Plenty of different things to choose from — both good and evil — to choose from the rest. I didn’t link them all up, but those interested can just start at the home page and scroll back:

- Is Riya teasing us too much?
- Peerflix DVD service update
- weigh in on the stupidest purchases we’ve made or fun ideas for identifying blog comment spam
- tool to keep track of your comments around various blogs (cocomment)
- NVidia accused of hiring forum shills
- a mini-review of Feedster’s new service
- a bunch of Super Bowl activities and games (prior to the Superbowl)
- the Kama Sutra worm
- NASA’s SuitSat update
- What’s happening to blockbuster movies and hit records?
- CBS skips iTunes to try its own direct 24 hour rental service for Survivor
- Interactive Gold Rush reality TV + AOL show
- A romantic game (Bliss), perfect for Valentine’s Day
- Newspapers changing links on stories after a short period of time to combat deeplinking
- Bought my first eBook: Cell by Stephen King

Anti-Google coverage readers probably do not want to follow tech.memeorandum which seems to have a new Google story or three every day (top story right now is on Google-related, maybe we should make a game out of how often the top story is Google-related?) and many times multiple stories a day with scores of bloggers talking about them. Not the fault of memeorandum, but that’s what people are writing and linking to a lot these days. Google is the 2006 Cabbage Patch Doll.

I hear what readers like Paul are saying and yes in a sense I’m adding to the pile. This blog isn’t only or even primarily Google focused though and I’m not going to shy away from writing about something they are doing if it makes me go hmm. Like any other topic though, no sense staying there too long or riding it too hard. My strategy with most speciality topics has to start another speciality blog about those topics and work them there instead. I do that with my PHP blog, the Mac and several other topics. A new one is coming out next month.

Good news! This coming Friday I’m going to be attending Moose Camp and Northern Voice in Vancouver BC. I will be blogging the event just like last year and was looking over the schedule a little earlier. I’m already seeing some things that have my curiosity piqued and will undoubtedly be blogging about them, so stay tuned.

In my review queue right now I am looking at the much heralded online calendar 30boxes.com, several different Mac apps (part of the MacAddict issue I bought the other day), the new Opera 9 beta, just to name a few, and I’m sure there will be an abundance of non-Google stories to follow. I’m on it. Oh, and it sounds like I may finally get a peek at Riya. One of the things I love about the tech scene is there is always something new, updated or different to write about.

Thank you for the feedback and reading Paul, and to the rest of the readers who put up with an occasional Google overdoses. As Wyle E. Coyote might say: Vomitus Extremetis.

Beep, beep!

Did this post make you go hmm?

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