On Google and philanthropy...

Whenever the goliath of google is mentioned, people tend to have this apprehension and notion that whenever google steps in a field, it's going to dominate the field and crowd out everyone else. Failed projects after failed projects like google wave litter the field. After a decade of dominance in search and advertising, google can demonstrate otherwise, that this one-trick-pony can do its one trick very well, but not much else.

To its credit, it has touched and bettered our life. I've come to enjoy and rely on gmail since its inception. I use google docs from time to time. Google map is one of its pioneers, though I don't find much use in google earth. I'm even use google's blogger for keeping my journal. I guess my life is simple enough that I don't find use much real use of anything else. And with its financial strength, google can afford to throw money away. When its one trick is still working, Wall Street will tolerate; when its growth slows, investors won't be so tolerant.

When the google's philanthropy initiative was first announced, I must say, I wish it successes. I have high hopes that its philanthropic success would translate into much human good. Afterall, one rarely finds for-profit organizations to commit as much resources to philanthropic causes. Surely it must do some good, isn't it? It's sad to see how its half-hearted approach results in so little results. Perhaps, like its motto of Don't be evil, it's more for show than anything else. Its shot-gun approach to try to find and fund ideas, and its equally lightning fast approach in dropping projects that don't deem to be success, could be its ultimate downfall. Why would anyone doubt its gradual decline in morale (and exodus of prized engineers to other startups) when google's successes is far and few in between.

In one word, disppointing.