[quote=briansd1][quote=flu]
Until Google was hacked by folks in China, they didn’t give a hoot about people’s free speech in China, because they (like, Yahoo, Microsoft,etc) are there to make money…Review history again, and you’ll see that Google was totally mum about China until they were hacked…That pissed them off, so they threatened to leave China,
[/quote]
The companies that were hacked were in Silicon Valley.
How does Google leaving China stop future attacks? It doesn’t.
From what I understand, Google in China was a better search engine if you’re looking for real information. But Google was behind in market share and its business was restricted.
Threatening to leave was a failed PR attempt by American executives at Google to force the hand of the Chinese government, and build name recognition and market share by playing up the “Do No Evil” motto.
But the American executives failed to understand Chinese culture which is a lot more about long term relationship than immediate profits.
Google gave up a huge market. The Chinese still have Google research and Google technology in China and in Hong Kong.
But the psychology is different in China. America is a lot more corporate and corporations go where consumers are. For that reason, corporate boycott of Arizona will continue to build until the state legislature relents. Trade associations and companies will continue to cancel conventions and business trips to AZ.
In my opinion, a boycott of AZ by Google would play very well with young computer savvy consumers. And it would help build the “Do No Evil” brand.
Corporations have Spanish at ATM, check registers, websites, etc…not just because consumers demand them, but to attract the marginal new customers who would not otherwise come.[/quote]