[rbarooah]

Why aren't people equally worried about Google becoming the sole owner of the Internet?

Honest question - is it because people are ok with Google being in that role, or because they don't think Google is trying to get into that position?

[LaGrange]

Because Google spins things better.

Google has a nerd-friendly message, and produces things that are building dependence and are genuinely useful (like, say, gMail). So, people are less scared of it, and after some time denial kicks in.

Also, I'm bitter because Google is the one software company that I'm scared of more than of Facebook :-D

[Joakal]

For Gmail, you can withdraw your emails out via IMAP/POP. You can export your contacts.

[LaGrange]

Of course you can. But then you'd be also abandoning the workflow, and I meant dependance on that. Only relatively recently mail clients supporting a workflow similar to Gmail show up.

[danmaz74]

Speaking for myself, it is because I see google as something that brings you traffic (and revenue if you use adsense), not as something that tries to bring away your traffic: You go to google to leave it as soon as you find your destination, while you go to facebook to stay there... and facebook is trying to cajole everyone into closing themselves inside their walls, with their pages, their apps, and so on.

Of course, with Google betting so much on G+, this could change. But I can still hope that google will try to differentiate itself from FB, at least in the eyes of developers, by being more outwardly than facebook. If they can make an offer that is more compelling for third parties, not driving them to completely relocate themselves inside the G+ environment, they could benefit from that in the long term.

[pixelpublish]

I think people are ok with Google in that role because they are not (obviously) trying.