Don't Be Evil, but Don't Miss the Train
BACK in 2004, as Google prepared to go public, Larry Page and Sergey Brin celebrated the maxim that was supposed to define their company: “Don't be evil.” — But these days, a lot of people — at least the mere mortals outside the Googleplex …
Context & Ripple Effects
The maxim is fraying in public. Back in 2008, Marissa Mayer downplayed it as not an "ordained motto" (Google's own exec calling it non-binding), and last month PandoDaily argued the phrase itself does more harm than good (Why "Don't Be Evil" Is Evil, and Why Google Isn't So Bad). The New York Times now gives that argument mainstream weight, framing the question around what ordinary users actually experience.
What changed on the ground this month: Google removed the revert option from its Gmail redesign so no user can stay on the old look, and announced another round of "spring cleaning," killing Patent Search, One Pass, and Google Related. Under Larry Page, who took the CEO seat from Eric Schmidt, shutting limited-use products has become routine — and the Times reads that consolidation as the company choosing momentum over its founding promise.
First-order effects
- Gmail users lose their escape hatch: with the revert-to-old-look option pulled, every account moves onto the redesigned interface whether they like it or not.
- Users of Patent Search, One Pass, and Google Related lose those services outright as Google's latest spring cleaning shuts them down for low usage.
Second-order effects
- Every forced design change and abrupt shutdown feeds rivals' pitch — Microsoft, Facebook, and Apple can market continuity and user control precisely where Google is choosing speed.
- Internal teams learn the real policy: products without mass traction are candidates for the next cull, which pushes engineers toward big-platform bets over niche tools.
Third-order effects
- Under Page, Google is consolidating around a smaller set of high-leverage platforms — search, Android, Chrome, Drive — trading the experimental sprawl of the 2000s for a focused fleet, and testing how much goodwill its founding maxim can absorb along the way.
- If the pattern holds, 'Don't be evil' completes its drift from operating principle into brand asset — invoked when convenient, subordinated when scale demands otherwise.
The trend: Google under Larry Page is trading its founder-era identity as a user-first exception for train-catching platform scale, and the erosion of 'Don't be evil' is the public ledger of that trade.