--- date: "2006-01-12T22:32:45Z" title: We Really Meant "Do Very Little Evil" --- <p>Is the <a href="http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/Rooster.htm">year of the Rooster</a> <a href="http://google.com/">Google</a>'s last year of benevolence? Until now, <a href="http://google.com/">Google</a> has managed to be the darling of the <a href="http://slashdot.org/">caffeine-saturated Slashdot crowd</a>, the scourge of <a href="http://microsoft.com/">Microsoft</a>, and generally one step ahead of everyone else. Oh, the <a href="http://google.com/">Google</a> search engine isn't too bad either.</p> <p>So what's up with <a href="http://google.com/">Google</a> as of late? In the past few months, <a href="http://google.com/">Google</a> has </p> <ul> <li>Released <a href="http://pack.google.com/">GooglePack</a>, an underwhelming Windows-centric software pack</li> <li>Released, then pulled, <a href="http://google-analytics.com/">Google Analytics</a>, an ad-targeting system</li> <li><a href="http://news.com.com/What+the+Google-AOL+deal+means+for+users/2100-1024_3-6010327.html">Partnered</a> with <a href="http://aol.com/">AOL</a>, and agreed to give <a href="http://aol.com/">AOL</a> advertising and content some sort of preferential treatment</li> <li>Released <a href="http://video.google.com/">Google Video</a>, a proprietary, <acronym title='Digital Rights Management'>DRM</acronym>-encumbered video store and client</li> </ul> <p>Even if we ignore the first two as silliness and attribute the third as a hedge bet against <a href="http://microsoft.com/">Microsoft</a>, that still leaves us with a company — who's by-line, incidentally, is "do no evil" — releasing yet another bloody <acronym title='Digital Rights Management'>DRM</acronym>-crippled media player. Which means more vendor lock-in, and more media in a format which can't be easily — or, in some places, legally — transferred between programs.</p> <p>Then again, maybe they're just having an off month. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.</p>