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The Mediocrity of Modern Google
These days, whenever I think about Google, I recall a line from Madame Bovary. “She wanted to die, but she also wanted to live in Paris,” Flaubert writes, capturing Emma Bovary’s provincial reality and her romanticized dreams of escape. That is Google in a nutshell, isn’t it?
The company that once represented the pinnacle of innovation has devolved into a symbol of corporate indifference. Let me share a personal example that illustrates this decline.
I was an early Webpass customer. Back then, before Google acquired it, the service was everything you’d want from an ISP – fast, reliable, and customer-centric. And cheap. The founder himself picked up the phone whenever there was a problem. Usually, there wasn’t.
Post-acquisition? It’s a different story. While competitors like Sonic push boundaries with 10 Gbps offerings in San Francisco, Google Fiber’s Webpass feels stuck in time, content with its 1 Gbps speeds and raising prices. The service interruptions have become far too frequent. It is enough of a headache that we are talking about it on our condo complex’s internal message board. For someone who lives on the internet (like most of us do these days), this is more than an inconvenience – it’s a dealbreaker.
But Webpass is just a symptom of a larger malaise at Google. Take Search, once the company’s crown jewel. Using Google Search in 2025 feels like death by a thousand cuts – each query returning not answers, but an endless stream of AI-generated reviews and ads. Sure, this approach might please Wall Street analysts, but it’s pushing users straight into the arms of ChatGPT and its ilk.
The company’s recent Gemini announcement perfectly encapsulates this problem. Despite technically impressive benchmarks, Gemini 2.5 barely made a ripple in the broader tech conversation. Meanwhile, OpenAI and Anthropic – companies that understand how to capture both technical excellence and public imagination – continue to dominate the AI narrative. Even Microsoft, not historically known for product excitement, has managed to generate more buzz around its AI initiatives.
I’m particularly struck by Google’s AI Studio — one of the most important products the company has launched. From a user stand point it is reflective of the company’s corporate identity crisis.
Here was a chance to follow OpenAI’s proven playbook – create a simple, elegant interface for developers to access state-of-the-art AI models. Instead, we got something that feels like it was designed by committee, buried under layers of unnecessary complexity. This from a company that has more product managers than some unicorns have total employees.
What’s particularly ironic is that today’s Google has become exactly what its founders warned against in their 1998 paper: an advertising company whose business model fundamentally conflicts with serving users’ needs. I remember when Sergey Brin and Larry Page first articulated their vision. I was introduced to them by one of their professors. Their clarity of purpose then makes today’s muddle all the more striking.
The goals of the advertising business model do not always correspond to providing quality search to users. … we expect that advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers and away from the needs of the consumers. … But we believe the issue of advertising causes enough mixed incentives that it is crucial to have a competitive search engine that is transparent and in the academic realm.
Sergey Brin and Larry Page, 1998
Back in 2011, I wrote a piece titled “Can Google Save Itself From Google?” where I outlined the three phases of tech company growth. In phase one, the company is focused on “developing technology and figuring out a business model.” The next phase is about revving up its revenue machine. In doing so, it goes on hiring binge to support its growth. In phase three, companies start to look for new areas of growth. They become even bigger and bulkier.
Google is now deep in Phase Three, where internal politics and process management have overshadowed product innovation. The company has turned inward, focusing more on managing its bureaucracy than pushing technological boundaries.
But here’s the thing about tech – and I’ve been saying this for years – technology’s self-obsolescence is a more effective regulator than any government agency. Google, despite its trillion-dollar market cap and infrastructure advantages, risks becoming the first of the mega-caps to fade into irrelevance as the internet evolves beyond the “10 blue links” paradigm that made it a giant.
As for me? I’ve voted with my wallet. I now use Kagi for search (and pay for it gladly), and T-Mobile’s 5G Home service ($35/month) handles my internet needs. In today’s world, you simply can’t rely on Google to do its job anymore.
The signs are clear for those willing to see them. Like Microsoft in the late ’90s and IBM before that, Google is proving ill-equipped to respond to fundamental shifts in user behavior. The company remains trapped in its “10 blue links” jail, even as the world moves toward direct, conversational AI interfaces. Despite helping pioneer the technologies that enabled this transition, Google seems unable to break free from its advertising-driven business model.
I’ve watched Google since its inception, and perhaps that’s why its current state of middle-aged mediocrity feels particularly painful. The company that once promised to organize the world’s information has become a cautionary tale about the perils of corporate success and the inevitable entropy that follows.
Somewhat like Emma Bovary. “But, in her life, nothing was going to happen. Such was the will of God! The future was a dark corridor, with its door at the end shut tight.”
March 29, 2025. San Francisco
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Google search has become Excite! For those old enough to remember Excite! And Sergey Brin’s demand that employees devote 60 hours/week to remain competitive, without promises at the end of it, reminds me a lot of “Turn those machines back on” from Trading Places. It’s sad but Google has become AT&T.
Amen to that brother.
Agreed. NotebookLM is another good example. Trying to work out how best to subscribe to it and whether the Plus version is worth it was a pain. You can access it via a Google Workspace subscription or via a Google One subscription with different benefits and prices. There is also a third option which I forget. None of it felt joined up.
It is already forgotten. So many of the NotebookLM engineers and product people have left the company to start their own “startups.” It should tell you why the company is unable to really overcome its mediocrity.
not one but two madame notary quotes—no other tech industry thinker has your range, om! great start to my sunday morning—thank you!
Sometimes, this stuff can be boring. And of course, I am re-reading some of the classics! Thanks Martin!
To give another example I asked Google search if company X had done layoffs as our customer service agent disappeared without a good explanation why. Google’s AI summary tool told me it they had laid off 10% of their staff in February. That didn’t sound right so I clicked on the ‘more’ button to look at the source and it was a c
completely different company. This is a pretty basic thing and it’s shocking they couldn’t produce the right results.
The un-answers of AI Summaries can become a late night talk show feature!
I agree with you, Sir!.
Sunder is definitely adding value to Larry and Sergei and to the Google family! Google is a private Government working towards global empowerment in technology and many other domains! They don’t like to show case they need to maintain low profile to add value for the society! They like to fail to make others to win and add value! They are very smart and advanced in thought process, like a private secretive society for global democracy!
Google, once a phenomenal technological giant, not only revolutionized the search engine landscape but also paved the way for numerous startups. With its vast talent pool, Google has been slowing down, allowing other organizations to emerge and create job opportunities. Google’s futuristic technology products and continued leadership in search and AI are impressive, but not great like other business models, but this is for a reason, to drive global business growth and opportunities for competitors and new corporations!
Google possesses the wealth and intellectual capital to expand its business globally, but its current business model not expand their business but breed for many new enterprises like Facebook “orkut”, Amazon “eBay” and many in other diverse domains including cloud space and air and robotic space. Google has creative ideas and innovation, in order to cater to diverse businesses or consumers. This is why they have started sharing prototypes as open-source models, enabling others to develop their own creative solutions. This approach has significantly impacted venture capital opportunities, funding numerous startups, and creating opportunities for multinational corporations worldwide.
it’s beneficial that Google shares prototypes as open-source models, fostering new business opportunities. However, they must maintain their brand and continue to innovate to ensure their future success. As a private entity with significant influence on multinational corporations, Google plays a vital role in providing employment opportunities, contributing to countries’ economies, and creating business opportunities.
I hope Google continues to lead in search engine technology, funds research and development projects, and shares innovations as open-source models. By doing so, Google can maintain its position as a global leader while driving growth and innovation.
Thank you for sharing your valuable insights, sir. Happy Eid, and I wish you continued safety and good health! Cheers!
Google’s array of services based around Gmail work well for me. Their enhancement of Google Tasks a couple of years ago was clean and effective. So for the time being, inertia and advancing old age will keep me loyal.
But, no doubt, the inexorable force of “the attackers advantage” is
shifting the ground underneath Google.
Even Microsoft has shown some resurgence in the last few years. I switched to MSFT Edge with the Chrome engine and a nice interface. And I love the embedded CoPilot in Office which reduces my need to roam through the labyrinthine VBA help files to create Excel macros. It will be fascinating to watch AI develop in the coming years.
Jim,
Thanks for the comment. What is happening at Google (and in fact all big tech) is that they are not able to really get the entire culture to focus on quality and offer better product. Basically every manager is “doing” what they need to do unlock their bonus.
Microsoft fell down so much that we see whatever they are doing as an improvement. That said, CoPilot is table stakes for a developer-focused company that is Msft.
Thanks for your comment re my post.
BTW, I noticed that the HTML of your comment (as viewed in Edge) seems to need a small fix. You restate part of my comment, then there is a “read more”-type link to show the rest of my comment. This link doesn’t seem to work. Same thing occurs on other comments you made.
Also, I just checked the same message on Google Chrome and the read-more links don’t work there either.
Fiber buildouts are exceedingly expensive / mile. But once the capital expense is recouped, fiber has a long life span from a maintenance perspective. That should set the baseline for a win- win for the provider and their clients.
Google fiber is not alone in the build, deploy and forget the client model of ISP management. It’s sadly pervasive throughout the industry. Most of my fiber / coax customers use a solid backup solution with 4g/5g based ( or where available) or satellite based backup/ fail over.
I’m writing this using Infinite Wireless 4g/5g multi carrier vsims technology.
National fiber infrastructure rollout should be a government/private priority and treated no differently than a utility.
Michael,
Google has been adding a lot of buildings in San Francisco but not keeping up the network, and not offering top of the line service. In the midwest I believe they have some really good connectivity, but the density of users on those networks is much lower.
It is a shame that despite charging more money the “ISPs” don’t offer better performance and higher speeds.
Nice, post👍
Thanks
Thanks for the Kagi reference I signed up for the 100 free searches to give it a spin.
I’ve been using DDG but it’s still google and lacking just about all the features that was good (math/currency calculation inside search for starters). Brave’s search is not good (yet) it’s still a very new crawler but at least it’s not google but I tend to switch back to google to often while using ether of them. A simple search might just be better for now.
It’s not just google. It’s alphabet as a whole. Cutesy corporate names only mask the continued diminishing of end user value. Just look at what they’ve have done to YouTube. Anyone notice a substantial increase in the number of ads before being allowed to listen to a song on Y/T? The “a/b” testing model is a monstrous insult to user intelligence. “Don’t be evil”, be worthless.
I gave up google a decade ago – now using Chat GPT and Duck