I’ve been a geek for quite some time. My passion for technology and electronics, mixed with a high level of intelligence, created a potent cocktail that fueled an adolescence full of tearing apart VCRs and old computers in the driveway of my parents’ house—I wanted to build a robot. Like other babies of the ’80s, I fell in love with Star Wars, Transformers, GoBots, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Oregon Trail days at school and playing Where in the World Is Carmen San Diego? I watched in awe as the computer revolution unfolded in front of me.
My father, a closeted gadget geek himself, brought home the first family computer when I was six years old. It was an Apple IIe with a green and black screen and dual 5 1/2” floppy drives so I could read and write at the same time. The second drive usually held my spare pennies; luckily, my father was nice enough to fish them out for me. Except for a small lapse in judgment in the mid ’90s, I guess you could say that I have always been a “Mac” guy. I’ve grown up listening to the Apple haters talk about how Steve Jobs needs to go, how Apple needs to focus more on games, how it’s a bad idea to go into retail, a bad idea to make a portable music player, how the iPad will never sell and, throughout it all, how closed the ecosystem within the company is.
For years, a chief complaint of the Apple way was how its users were quick to jump on any new offering from the company—be it software, hardware or Internet-based services. Once you had one account from Apple, the rest of the offerings sucked you in because they were all designed to work together. People were furious. “Why can’t I have hardware from this company, software from that company and peripherals from another?” It seemed like people hated the common idea that if you make the whole widget, you’re bound to do a better job than three separate companies. General Motors doesn’t make most of the car and then force you to go buy a stereo from Bose. The company probably could make all the pieces itself, but it’s not the most efficient or economical approach.
Which brings me to the point of this whole thing. A thought. A realization. It’s interesting that those who disliked the idea of one company being in control of so many facets of our digital lives are flocking to Google+. For years, Google has been the king of Internet searches, branching out into a wildly popular e-mail service with Gmail, a mapping system we use as a verb (as in, “Just ‘Google-map’ it, Dad.”), a mobile operating system with Android and a fledgling desktop operating system with Chrome—plus a host of other smaller endeavors, such as Google Docs, Google Videos and more.
Google’s strategy of integrating all of its products is very reminiscent of Apple. Where Apple requires you to use an Apple ID to get into Apple services, Google makes you use a Google account. So why all the fuss? Is it that people love an underdog? Could Google become a company people love to hate? Or is simply getting in on the ground floor making people much more willing to accept Google’s slow takeover?
Most likely it comes down to this: Use of an Apple ID (aside from iTunes) requires you to buy Apple hardware, which is typically a costly investment. Even Apple’s upcoming free iCloud features require use of an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch to take advantage of them fully. Use of a Google account can be completely free, though, as all Google tools and software are available on the Web, accessible through the computer or phone you already own.
Could we boil this all down to choice or freedom of expression? Apple fans are a breed of their own, as we all know, and Google fans are becoming just as crazed. Could there be a war brewing, reminiscent of the old Ford vs. Chevy debates? Two companies, competing in practically the same space, making the same types of products, is always fun to watch. But as I listen to those around me talk about how it’s easy to sign up for new things with their Google account, I can’t help but wonder how many people have begun to feel the heat from the “boiling frog syndrome” Google has unleashed.
