Microsoft V Google A short topic on this big issue

[sakmac 0]

I was reading something the other day in a marketing magazine where there tends to be a moving shift into consumers interest into business that have an ethical basis. It was saying that fast becoming some of the more common questions before "how much can you do it for?" are questions like: "is it environmentally friendly", "Is your business affiliated with any sort of charity". I have always felt that the way Microsoft has been developed has been one of "all is fair in business" by kicking down anybody who might want to share the spotlight. However the Google brand to me has always come across to me to being more ethical and cooperative with the broader community... I dont have much to back this up but by the general feeling of the bran I have gotten seeing it grow over the years. Microsoft plays it hard. But a lot of the money they got out of it is being used for charity and improving the world. And is Google really 'doing no evil'? What about their pact with China to activily help censoring the internet for billions of chinese people? What about their link-farm-sites on which they put the ads of smaller advertisers, which is... well.. at least strange.. And their recent decesion to cut off sites with not enough traffic from some of their advertising-programs simply because it didn't make Google enough money? Is there really something like ethics in bussiness? And should there be? By playing it hard and making your company succesfull also means you're helping the economy and creating jobs for people.Google is the type of organization that will hire you and allow you to walk around in shorts and sandals. At the same time, it's on the cutting edge of creative development, and rewards forward-thinking, motivated employees. This doesn't necessarily describe a moral "ethic," but it does paint a pretty good picture of the company's work "ethic" and its appeal to Gen Y. But back to the issue of morality, it's simply an issue of where the Information Age is taking consumers. Society as a whole is becoming more and more "open source" friendly, and people genuinely like digital products that can be personalized to suit their needs. I think Google's main advantage is that it tapped into that mindset early and frequently, whereas Microsoft did not. The actual level of philanthropic work either company involves in is not as relevant.I guess peoples opinions on a particular company/brand can be manipulated by a slick branding campaign. With the right campaign a product can relate to you or you may feel that brand represents you, your subculture or your philosophy. Its interesting because as MrBlueSky said Microsoft may be involved in just as much or even more ethical busines than Google... However as said by deStructuralized because of the bias picture I have painted in my own head (possibly because of the way the brand relates to me and my culture... such as open source and customization and free software products) I am somehow developed this idea that one company is more ethical than the other... just because I feel one represents me better. Does anybody else have an opinion on this sort form of marketing (does it influence you) and how do you think these to companies stand up (from an ethical stand point at least)?

[rpgsearcherz 5]

I'm really not sure what to say on this topic, as I did not quite understand the issue.What are they doing that isn't ethically right?China wants to censor their people, for example...Google capitalizing on that is bad? It would happen regardless, so why not make money from it?As for Microsoft, they don't donate even nearly as much money to charities as a lot of others do. Microsoft could easily be donating hundreds of millions of dollars a year, but as far as I've heard they donate very little(although it seems to be a "lot" to us because we aren't making billions a year).If you look at any big companies, you can find their faults, and how they only care about themselves in terms of where their money goes, but at the same time, isn't that what makes the open market good? Imagine a company that was run by people who care not about profits, but about how they can help others with the money they earn. Now, obviously some people would do a great job still, but the matter still remains that our market goes as far as it does because of people wanting more and more money.If it were not for people going for as much money as they can get, our technology improvement would have slowed down a long time ago.For the record, even government agencies(Police Departments, FBI, CIA, etc.) care about how much money they are making.I honestly can't see where "ethics" plays a role in how the companies are run. They are not hurting anyone. If anything, they are helping us.