Have we become too dependent on Google?

In the wake of Google's weekend error that labeled the entire Web as malware, some like CMS Watch analyst Kas Thomas are asking a provocative and timely question: have we become too dependent on Google?

One wonders: If Google were to go down (or become essentially unusable -- same thing) for, say, 72 hours or more, how disruptive would it be to the economy? Would online retailers see a slowdown in business? Would job-seekers remain out of work longer? Would the productivity of information workers (who supposedly spend a couple hours per day doing online searches) be seriously affected?...

Sometimes even the most highly distributed, highly virtualized, "enterprise-hardened" infrastructure is no stronger than its weakest component. And quite often, the weakest component is human. That's never going to change--cloud or no cloud.

In the case of the Google error, which was caused by a simple human mistake, the world arguably went its merry way without serious disruption. But it's a fair question, and the same one formerly raised about Microsoft's dominance on the desktop. When one company dominates a market so completely, does it become an essential facility and hence require government regulation to ensure that it doesn't bottleneck the economy?

I'm not sure. I tend to eschew government regulation whenever possible, and I'd hate to see Google significantly constrained by U.S. oversight. Even so, the weekend snafu demonstrates just how vulnerable Google is to attack, as well as how susceptible we'd be to going down with Google.

Yes, other search engines are just a click away, but with more and more people enveloping their online lives with Google products (Gmail, News, Finance, Reader, etc.), an error in one aspect of Google's product suite could have a domino effect on all of them, and significantly hamper productivity until Google fixes the source error.

Even so, the answer to Microsoft's dominance wasn't regulation: it was competition. Google, too, will face increased competition on the Web, so perhaps the answer to the concern is simply to wait. Over time, open source and other trends will no doubt diminish the relevance of Google's stranglehold in online search.

But for now, I can't help but feel a little vulnerable.

[Daniel_Tunkelang]

Given how much people feel a sense of entitlement to Google's services and often perceive Google as a benign public utility, perhaps it's an appropriate time to rehash the question of whether Google is living up to its motto of not being evil.

http://thenoisychannel.com/2009/02/

[jcontreras0105]

I used a different search engine (Yahoo)...I can't imagine a majority of other folks not taking that same alternative if Google were to diminish.

[Jay Rose--2008]

Dear Vulnerable....suck it up!

[rurik_bradbury]

I'm glad you are highlighting the danger. I believe that -- in general -- human nature is quite myopic. People don't see looming danger until it whacks them on the arse (excuse my Brit-speak). For instance, millions of Americans thought that house prices would go up forever and that they were being handed a free lunch.

I'm afraid that myopic and naive dependence on Google ("it's free -- yippee!") will soon come to whack computer users too. A dangerous amount of data is stored with Google, which has extremely one-sided terms of service ("we can do almost anything we like, we own a copy of your data, and you have no recourse, ever -- so get used to it").

People need to balance risk before it is too late. It's fine to have a Gmail account for personal use (but back up a copy of your mail from time to time) or Google Reader for news feeds (but back up your OPML) but you should NEVER rely on Gmail for business e-mail, in my opinion. (Disclosure: I work for unified comms software provider <a href="http://www.unison.com">Unison</a>, which competes with Google .)

[greylurk]

I know when Google went down on Saturday morning, I had to pause for 1/2 a minute and think "Ok, I can't click on things from Google anymore... How do i still use the internet?" It was a brief thought, but it was there.

Ultimately, I think most people would be capable of switching over to Windows Live, or some other search engine with a few hours of Google going down. GMail and Google Docs would be harder to recover from for some folks, but then presumably any business that is using those for actual work should have a real disaster recovery plan that includes backup of Google docs and Google email, or at least a risk analysis when using those tools where they've justified the cost of a potential downtime.

[gjleger]

Wow.... I went to Yahoo and searched there instead of Google....

That was hard.

[wavjockey]

This question should be expanded out to:
"Have we become too dependent on Apple, Microsoft, Our wireless carriers, Facebook/Myspace?"

Technology should be a tool; not an internal organ that we can't live without.

Before long everybody will be micro chipped with a google search engine tracking chip. If you ever get lost you can just google yourself and know where you are!

Forget Google Search - try Goggy Search! You'll be surprised what you can find in those search cavities

[CyStarkman]

How did the Google malware issue cause anyone an issue. I often go to sites it warns are malware. You just click the darn link instead of the link?!??

I'm not sure if it's a google dependence or a lack of mental independence. Somewhat like the drivers who crash into walls cause the gps told them to. Can they not to the wall!

Anyway google was probably right. The web is "malware" if that equals quietly collecting data on you.

[scottfillmer]

we put a lot more dependence on Google than just search traffic, at this point they control just about everything that deals with ecommerce and growing, scary to say the least.

[sdpadin]

If Google went down, I'd probably finally go outside and get some fresh air.

[perry-crann]

I think 72 hours would be inconvenient but would not bring the world to it's knees. There are other search engines with much of the same content in them has google. From the adsense perspective things would hurt pretty bad, allot of business rely on it for revenue and traffic.

[aliaspanther]

No, 72 hours of downtime wouldn't bring the world crashing. However, think of it in the perspective of if it actually happened. Nobody is going to know exactly how LONG it would last, 72 hours was just an example. It could even just be fore 24 hours. But in those 24 hours, Web Developers across the world would be scrambling to keep their designs and functionality flowing (if they reference scripts or other such things in their source). It is much easier for these Developers to link to offsite files (ie. the jQuery api hosted by Google Labs) for quick user caching and loading. The hosts go down, the functionality of the website goes down and errors are broadcasted all over the site.

My two cents...

[mjmarsh]

Uh, there is Yahoo and MSN Live

[aliaspanther]

As others have previously stated, Google is no longer just a search engine.
I can attest that I rely on GMail for my personal email. I don't remember all of my contact's email addresses, so in the case that Google fell off the earth, I would be at a loss.

But not just that, with the advancements and development of the web and it's languages, Google houses a variety of API's that hundreds of thousands of websites reference to in order for their design/code to work. If Google were to fail, there would be a numerous amount of broken websites and pages that would take anywhere from days for a small site to fix, to months for a large corporation for it's IT Department to sort through each page and re-design or re-reference scripts and code, as well as establish a temporary. Companies whose business is all online would have a hayday putting things back together.
Now thats not to say that every site does it, but the number is growing. Especially with the incorporation of the popular jQuery, now more than ever Google has the reigns.

[AvangionQ]

If Google were to go down, there are immediately available alternatives -- it would be nothing more than a minor inconvenience ... now, if all search engines were to go down simultaneously, that would have an immediate impact on our economy -- all that's necessary is a sufficiently large solar flare ...

[Michael_Martinez]

Studies have shown that most people use more than one search engine. If Google vanished overnight it would be the talk of the town for a while but search would still go on.

Microsoft now has over 100 million monthly search visitors. Yahoo! still has 60 million monthly search visitors. Ask gets over 30 million monthly search visitors.

The Web would survive without Google.

[kannuc]

Before Google, there were a couple of search engines which combined the results of several search engines and came up with a super list. I can't remember their names but would be interestered knowing if they're still in business, especially if they include Google in the mix

No difference than that of a large snow storm, hurricane or tornado hitting the most prestigious points of our infrastructure. Did someone for get New Orleans, heart of Gulf oil, 911, blizzards or the "grid"? Personally, I'd take my chances with Google, they can rectify their issues much easier. Disruption is an annoyance, not the end of civilization - just something else to blog about ; )