Mail Call: Will Google Falter?

Readers hailed the new rivals to Google discussed in our Nov. 5 cover story. "This is just a part of globalization," one noted. Another added, "Business and technological innovation in accessibility, flexibility and ease of operation or service for users will determine whether Google remains the leader."

A Thousand Rivals Pursue Google
Whether Google remains the leader for the foreseeable future will depend upon many business factors rather than mere exploitation of technology ("Searching for the Best Engine," Nov. 5). Business and technological innovations in accessibility, flexibility and ease of operation or service at the user end will be the deciding factors in determining whether a company can take its product to the next level of success. As things stand today, Google is clearly the best search engine available. It may, at times, turn up some irrelevant information but that is certainly better than cutting down on the relevant. Google remains so confident of its business model of advertising-based revenue generation that it continues providing its products free of cost to the end user; the latest in line being its online presentation tool. And with Adsense it has started sharing revenue with ordinary Internet surfers. Google has incorporated some revolutionary ideas into its organizational model and work culture, as well. In the shortest possible time, its innovative efforts have established flag bearers like Gmail, Picasa Web albums, its online community Orkut and Google Earth, to name a few. Businesses need healthy competition to serve people better and no monopoly position ought to be allowed to build up. Though it seems unusual that some governments are pumping millions into their search engine businesses, this is evidence of the potential market for such enterprises. Despite all its critics, Google is unique on the Internet scene and it would take another equally innovative venture to dethrone it from the numero uno slot.
R. K. Sudan
Jammu, India

I read the article "Searching For the Best Engine." I realized that the Internet industry is one of the most competitive in the world. It has a potential market of users in every country; yet only people in those countries with a developed or developing economy are able to see that over the past four or five years, the Internet has become a part of the lives of almost everyone in the United States and Europe. Even though Google (one of the most powerful search engines on the Internet), is having problems of competence, as the industry grows, more and more companies are being created and they are also catering to the needs of various countries. Russia, Germany and other countries are creating their own Web search engines and Google is losing popularity. I think that this is just a part of globalization.
Fernanda Gomez Guevara
Mexico City, Mexico

Based on my reading of "Searching For the Best Engine," it appears that Google will have to be really innovative to emerge as the clear winner in the cut-throat competition to dominate the Internet. A timely correction of its shortcomings would have helped it to sideline its competitors. In my own experience, Google is now too slow in updating the content it makes available. New search engines are imperative for Netizens in order to keep the user abreast of the latest developments. Their success will depend on whether they are capable of keeping up with the interests of people seeking substantial information about their surroundings. It's really essential to feel the pulse of the user if a company wants to emerge as the undisputed champion in the virtual world.
Arvind K. Pandey
Allahabad, India

Fewer ' Eurocrats ' in Brussels?
William Underhill's choice of words, "Europe's Sausage Factory" (Nov. 5), says it all. Instead of the three "Ds" (democracy, debate and dialogue), the European Union will continue to be plagued by its "ABCs" (arrogance, bureaucracy and confusion). The latest EU treaty is identical to the ill-fated European constitution and continues the top-down approach, which has always characterized the efforts for "ever closer union." Only a minute minority of European citizens in the 27 member countries understand and feel comfortable with the European Union's construction. This will never change as long as ordinary citizens cannot identify with this attempted superstate. The Germans and French will always be Germans and French first and "Europeans" second. The worst aspect of the European Union is that it never gave itself a geographical definition and that its ambitions are dictated by the lowest common denominator. The European Union, especially when seen as a legal entity in its own right, is a time bomb waiting to explode.
Karl H. Pagac
Villeneuve-Loubet, France

I was very happy when I saw that you had published an article about the European Union, but was much less so when I read it. Your writer forgot the four most important points related to what he tries to describe. All key decisions in the European Union are made by ministers from each member state—not by the "bureaucrats," as he says. These ministers all come from democratically elected governments. For more than 50 years this EU cooperation has produced a lot of very important results that have enhanced the daily lives of the 487 million citizens of the European Union: the single market; the fight against monopolies and unfair competition; the common currency, the euro; free movement of all citizens through all member countries; equal treatment of all EU citizens; protection of the environment; the fight against climate change; a joint trade policy toward the outside world—and much more. Not just nitty-gritty stuff, as the article indicates. Your writer also forgets to mention that almost all countries in Europe that are not already members of the European Union want to become members. From 1952 until today the number has increased from six to 27. If the European Union were such a strange place, as the article tries to say, I wonder why almost everybody wants to be in it? Finally, there is the new Lisbon Treaty. Its main purpose is to make a European Union of 27 countries better in making decisions, to make it function better. The purpose is not to fight bureaucrats in Brussels. Of course, many things in the European Union could function much better, as with anything else. And many of us try to make it better. But to describe it in the way your writer does is far away from the realities.
Niels Jorgen Thogersen
Rixensart, Belgium