Google Nesting
Evil? I doubt it.
It seems impossible for Google (or any large company) to do anything good these days. When Google does something perceived as evil they are nothing more than an advertising company when in truth they have created some of the most important technology the world has every seen. Yes, they are a force to be reckoned with and, by all means, let’s keep an eye on them (as well as every multi-billion dollar company) but let’s also acknowledge what Google has given the world.
I am tired of people slamming companies while at the same time using their products every day. If you don’t like (or trust) a company, stop using their products — there is no surer way of making them change their “evil” ways. To this day people judge me (and my wife for god’s sake) based upon the fact that I worked at MS and Apple. Can companies as an entity do evil things? Absolutely. Does that mean the people who create the tech the world relies upon are evil? Absolutely not.
How was anyone even a little surprised by the announcement; it makes perfect sense. We don’t even know yet how big the home automation market is going to be (but it is going to be ridiculously huge). People seem to forget that even a company like Google has to be on the constant lookout for new markets if they hope to continually increase revenue. I wonder if the gnashing of teeth would have been worse if Apple had acquired Nest.
Yesterday marked a new beginning for many of the people at Nest. Instead of worrying that they wouldn’t close a $150M round of funding they found themselves with access to $3B+ and the resources that only a company like Google can offer. Families will soon have the newfound wealth that comes from working incredibly hard, adding value to the world, and making, sometimes, incredibly difficult sacrifices. 99.99% (an actual stat I just made up) of companies never even get out of the gate. Personally, I am thrilled for every Nester — they earned this “next step”. And no, I am not implying that a pot of gold should be our motivation (or end goal) but I wonder how many of the biggest “Google + Nest = Evil” complainers would turn down a few billion dollars simply because they don’t like Google, “the company”.
People scream about the importance of privacy (and the evils that Apple, Google, etc. bring upon the world) and yet they are too lazy to use a passcode on their phone. You either care about privacy and take steps to protect yourself or you don’t — it isn’t complicated.
I think the thing that bugged me most yesterday was knowing how excited the Nesters must have been to make their announcement and then having to watch the shitshow that is our internet turn them into a joke. Perhaps if more people spent their time creating and less time criticizing we’d all be better off.
We have three Nests in our house — if Tony Fadell goes back on his word and Nest ends up sharing user data with the Google Collective in a way I’m uncomfortable with I’ll sell them on eBay. Until that time I’m going to continue to enjoy the Nests as much as I always have.
