China is just one of many issues that have focused the spotlight on Google's ethical stance since the company was founded in late 1998 by these two Stanford University computer science graduate students. Google came out of a project that only a computer scientist could love: developing technology to search through large electronic databases of publised research papers. Instead, they came upon a much greater solution--a better way to search through the giant morass of data that is the Internet--and ended up turning their technology into one of the biggest, most influential companies in technology today.

China is just one of many issues that have focused the spotlight on Google's ethical stance since the company was founded in late 1998 by these two Stanford University computer science graduate students. Google came out of a project that only a computer scientist could love: developing techgnology to search through large electronic data bases of published research papers. Instead, they came upon a much greater solution -- a better way to search through the giant morass of data that is the Internet -- and ended up turning their technology into one of the biggest, most influential companies in technology today.

They're unlikely business moguls. Larry is th emore socially awkward of the pair. Heavily eyebrowed, thick-lipped, with a perpetual five o'clock shadow and conservatively cut black hair usually in need of a comb, he rarely volunteers to answer questions unless specifically asked to address them. When he does, it's with a methodical intonation that sounds like a baritone version of Kermit the Frog. Sergey is also shy with outsiders, but more poised, with a piercing stare and curly brown hair piled on top of his head, unable to settle down. They work together on all major company decisions, from ethical issues to product design -- the latter in meetings that can be brutally taxing. But Larry, as president of Products, is the primary thinker about the company, and weighs in heavily on key hiring decisions. Sergey, a mathematical wizard and president of Technology, is the arbiter of Google's technological approach and shows deep interest in the company's moral stance.

Facing questions from shareholders and the press at a corporate annual meeting a couple years ago, Larry sat stiffly in his chair, straight-backed in a blue dress shirt and brown slacks, his hands on his knees, one of them holding a microphone as if he didn't know quite what to do with it. Sergey was more relaxed in a brown T-shirt and faded jeans. He sat comfortably with his forearms resting on his legs, looking over the crowd with an air of intelligent and confident interest, more willing to address sensitive topics than one would expect from such an intensely private entrepreneur.

I got a notice today from the Post Carbon Institute, which opines on alternative energy issues. The organization thinks President Obama's speech on the Gulf oil spill was a tepid bow to Tea Partiers.

Clearly, our politicians need to get a backbone. If you believe that oil addiction is something we need to wean ourselves from, the PC Institute will send some spines to congress if you send them a sawbuck.

My opinion is that we're probably stuck with Big Oil for years to come, no matter what. Too entrenched, difficult to replace cost effectively, makes too many billions of dollars for powerful corporations. But until oil drillers can demonstrate that they can deal with disaster, they should be held liable for the billions of dollars of environmental cleanup, habitat restoration, and lost jobs from any spills they cause. Political backbone might help.

Here's the Post Carbon Institute plea for bucks for backbones.

What's it Going to Take to Beat BIG OIL? 537 Spines.

The horrific Gulf oil spill disaster has clearly shown that our nation's leaders need us to show them what it means to have a backbone. So let's do just that - let's send one directly to President Obama, Vice President Biden, and each and every member of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

For every donation of $10 we will send President Obama or a member of Congress a spine with your name on it.

Marc Benioff gave a talk at the GigaOm Structure conference today. He's never shy of giving his opinions.

He mentioned that he was talking to his
friend, Craig Mundie, a Microsoft executive, at the World Economic
Forum this year. Marc mentioned that his company, cloud computing
leader Salesforce.com, has over 77,300 customers now. Just to show
how efficient cloud computing is, he asked Craig how many servers
77,000 Microsoft customers would require. Craig figured each company
would need at least one, and some a couple more, so guessed at least
100,000.

Benioff boasted that Salesforce.com has
only 3,000 servers (Dell computers) to run all those companies' needs
– and that half of them are not even turned on. The other half are
to handle peak demand. Ouch.

“The Microsofts and IBMs of the world
are just going away” because they can't wean themselves from
selling software, rather than renting it out in the cloud, he said.
“CIOs want change,” he says. “They're demanding it. They're
finally deciding they don't want the same old stuff. They're looking
to Google, to Amazon, to us.” And his final dig: “That's why
Microsoft's stock has been flat for the last ten years.”

Conference organizer Om Malik asked
what he thought about Oracle's boast that it is now into cloud
computing. He pointed to Oracle's “Iron Man” ads, with the
slogan, “Software, hardware, complete.” (Oracle recently bought
Sun Microsystems for its server hardware.) “That's their strategy,”
he says. “Sell you more software, sell you more hardware.”

I have to declare this Hate Google Week, where people from all walks of crime declare their disdain of the 'What, me evil?'  company.

Who's on the agenda so far?

Stop the Google/Admob Deal!

Sen. Herb Kohl, chairman for the subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights, wants the Federal Trade Commission to scrutinize the proposed deal.

(EWeek article to give you the facts that the Wall Street Journal article hides behind its golden firewall.)

Concern about competition. Would give Google 24 percent of mobile ad market. But since all big companies are evil, we can't let it buy anything that would let it take an independent competitor off the market.  

What happened to the days when a monopoly was not illegal unless it leverages its monopoly illegally to keep competitors out of the market? What happened to scrutiny of the deal between Microsoft and Yahoo, which takes the #2 search engine out of the market? (Search Engine Land article.)

Oh, yeah, that's right. Microsoft would never try to leverage its monopoly unfairly.

Visual artists sue Google over Book scanning

(Reuters article)