Can you make supernormal profit (money) without being evil?

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by Stan Faryna

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Eminem, Love the way you lie

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Google says point blank, dogmatically, and in bold…

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You can make money without doing evil.

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Does Google’s shutting down Google Reader bear reflection upon the ten things that Google knows to be true?

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Shutting down Google Reader disconnects people, prevents them from sharing, and changes the game on several levels for many stakeholders. But is that evil?

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What is evil?

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Wikipedia doesn’t give an illuminating definition of evil.

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Myself, I have always considered evil as the deprivation of the dignity of a thing – especially a deprivation of the dignity of the human person. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, for example, are universally considered basic to the design and identity of a human being. That which threatens deprivation (or actually deprives us) of our good exercise of this existential property by intention, therefore, is unmistakably evil.

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Murder, theft, lies, supernormal taxes, unjust laws, unbounded ambition, and adultery are conspicuous and patent examples of evil – recognized alike by the ancient shepherd and modern cosmopolitan. Most of us (myself included) participate in evil to some degree – more often than we may want to admit to ourselves. It is unfortunate…

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But as much as is at stake in Google’s shut down of Google Reader – the deprivation of a free service (once provided at Google’s expense) does not appear to be evil. Even if the deprivation causes harm.

Untimely cancellation of a free service or feature is, in fact, the territory and culture of the proverbial free lunch.

The shut down may encourage us, however, to reflect on Google’s motives and brand.

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Googles’ decision, for example, seems to contradict other Google truths. Are these paradoxes a symptom of incompetent management (Kitchen Nightmare) or a conspiracy of brand?

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Focus on the user and all else will follow.

There’s always more information out there.

Great just isn’t good enough.

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Ultimately, if the moral arc of Google’s character is profoundly problematic, perhaps we should consider the alternatives and disempower the capricious, authoritarian throne that Google seems to pursue.

The more important lessons, nonetheless, are clear:

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Users of freeware, beware.

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Don’t build your dream, business, mission-critical process, product or service on freeware.

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If you’re not paying for it, it’s not a tangible asset. At best, it’s a hack (cheat).

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Stan Faryna
14 March 2013
Fairfax, Virginia