Can you hate Big Brother if he’s doing a good job?

OK, so I’m human. (and no, I didn’t just find that out)

Humans tend to root for the underdog, cheer when he succeeds, grow suspicious when he keeps succeeding…and then root for his downfall when he becomes so successful that his competitors start looking like underdogs.

This is why, I suppose, that we’re starting to talk about Google as if it were Microsoft. Or Dell. Or Apple. Or DEC. Or Hewlett-Packard. Or Intel. Or IBM…get the picture? There’s a cyclical quality about media darlings, at least in the high tech world, that gets kinda monotonous.

Same old song: Little company with crazy ideas and uppity know-nothing (but admittedly bright) kids. Floats a stupid idea and succeeds beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Stock’s in the stratosphere, ideas come pouring out like viruses (and are just as prolific)…and the Horatio Alger-style press that congratulated them for buying their first jet grumbles as they buy their second…and suggests that the company is too big, and the feds oughta do something about them.

I wonder if the old-timers at Microsoft are giggling in their cornflakes. “Heheheheh, Google. See how YOU like it.”

Has Google peaked? Is it following the pattern of most high-tech companies? (i.e., evolve from a bunch of guys doing really cool stuff to a bunch of bureaucrats scrabbling to grow marketshare)

Seems almost inevitable: One day the reputation ride is over and the bureaucrats hire a new ad agency to come up with what I call a legacy campaign: “Google. The company you trust,” or “Google. Don’t be fooled by cheap imitations,” or “Google. The guys that made (a really old version of) search engines great.”

And then the senior execs will go on record as promoting a “culture of innovation” because “our people are our biggest asset.” (dire sounds from the pipe organ)

When I hear that, I know the company’s started that long downhill slide that ends in total reorg, lots of layoffs and–usually–a fresh new brand that confuses the hell out of everyone. It’s a sad little tailspin that only one pilot in a thousand has the strength and skill to pull out of.

At least three biggies slid into that in the last 12 months, but I don’t think Google’s there yet. Here’s why: Hit up Google Maps this morning for directions to this pumpkin patch/cornfield maze thing. Didn’t like the route it proposed, and there was a little tag telling me I could pick another by dragging the blue route line to a different road.

I did. Zingo. The page rewrote the directions, I got a prettier drive, and it took me all of a two seconds.

Instead of blathering on about how innovative they are, how much they’re spending on R&D (another kiss of death–making R&D into a foreign country you have to spend money on so your stockholders can read about it in the annual report)…Google’s still just doing neat stuff and sticking it out there for you to discover.

I’m seeing some of that in pockets at Microsoft–like the stuff they’re doing with Live, and some of the little-discussed things that probably don’t generate much revenue. Would sure love to see them do more of it.

I think Google’s got a ways to go before the plane runs out of gas.

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