I remember I was extremely disappointed 10 years ago, after installing Windows ME on my Windows 98 PC. After paying $60+ of my hard-earned money, only I realized that my PC ran slower with more useless features offered by Microsoft. In that era, Microsoft was a monopoly. I was not as angry with Microsoft as people at Netscape were, however, I was sometimes annoyed when Microsoft took every possible opportunity to "stir" their users stay with their software - things like Internet Explore and Microsoft Office.
I feel Google is now doing the same thing. I wouldn't mind as long as they keep their products innovated. However, I feel they're following the same pattern as Microsoft did - less innovation, more bad products, and tighter controls or less choices for the user.
I suppose Larry Page got some good advises from the legendary Steve Jobs, before he passed away. One of the best managing traits for business of Steve Jobs is that he can stay focused - he carefully chose the top priority projects that Apple should work on, and he made sure to execute. I feel Google is doing the same thing. Shortly after Page replaced Schmidt, he killed many dangling Google products (one of them was Google Desktop Search) and attempted to consolidate the rest and shift them towards Google's "social network" solution competing Facebook, the Google Plus. The PROBLEM is, along the way of this consolidation, Google did not bring out any innovation - they products are remained with the same set of features (or less), and they're turning less user friendly.
Take Google Reader for example - have you seen the new interface yet? It sucks. The previous Google Reader interface used blue and gray for distinguishing unread items - new items are well highlighted in color, and this makes the page simple, colorful and easy for navigation. The new Google Reader interface, on the contrary, has 3 fundamental design issues.
First, the interface wastes valuable space. Take a look at the following snapshot, the "A look at what's new in your Reader" logo is taking 3 rows of space! Combing it with the search bar, and the tabs for my browser, the user looses about one fifth of the screen size on a 14" laptop monitor.
Second, the navigation panel's color scheme is boring. Google is very much an engineering-driven company. With all due respect to the talents, they just don't have much marketing sense. This is why I, and many other people like Apple products. (No, I do not consider myself an Apple fanboy. I try to speak an objective opinion from the user's perspective.) Apple truly integrate technology intuitively - their product interfaces are welcoming. Google's product interfaces are typically simple - even Android. They can either be elegant or extremely boring, like the new Google Reader.
Third, again, color scheme. However, this is sever because it impacts my reading experiences. Take a look at the following picture - I have one unread item, but I cannot distinguish it from the rest because, well the BLACK looks very similar a DARK GRAY (as oppose to blue vs. gray in the previous interface). Seriously Google, are you assuming your customers are all color blinded?!
It's even more sad that I just spend 30min to write my rant. That's because I liked Google's products and enjoyed using them. As Google is turning into a new Microsoft, its arrogant would never allow it to care an end user like me. I lost Google Desktop Search not long ago, and I now just have to start looking for an alternative RSS reader.
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