"That Google" won't come back

"Is Sony bankrupt today?" Nope. "Is Google back today?" Not yet.

But, are you bluffed by this picture?

Rumors are getting cheaper and cheaper, an extremely crude and inferior forgery"Google(WeiboInvitation to the return to China press conference "All made many people frightened:

First of all, the logo is the old version, and Google changed the logo in early September;

secondly, the Chinese name "Google" has been officially abandoned by Google since 2011;

Thirdly, "return to China" never exists in Google's official context, and the standard statement is that "Google never left China, but the server moved away";

Also, what the hell is "Jony, President of China"?

Finally, "strong return" and "marketing" - do you think Google is the LeTV Jia Yueting who shouts and kills all day long?

This should be the customer information poster of a Google advertising agency, please stay away, thank you.

And the reason why it has been forwarded, spread and believed by so many people today is not only to show that everyone should pay the IQ tax recently, but also to show that we still have a little expectation for this company that has been forced to stay away from us in the past 5 years, hoping that its relationship with us can become a little tighter.

Of course, it shows that Google is really "back". The more and more accurate news I know is that Google Play, Google's app store, is ready to fully "localize" and become Google's first new business in China in 6 years.

In the past six years, Google's search market share in China has plummeted from more than 30% to 5%, but doesn't it say something about a company that can't access its services most of the time and never "can't display this page", still has a 5% market share in this isolated land?

For those who still live on this land, try to use various ways every dayScienceInternet tools For people who use Google's services, Google is not only a collection of cool products, but also a sustenance and symbol at the level of spiritual meaning and values.

(The current Google LOGO looks like this)

Therefore, any news about "Google is returning to China" will make such a group of people very excited.

71 months ago, Google suddenly announced without warning that it was considering stopping its business in China and would no longer accept information filtering from search engine services in China. Sixty-nine months ago, Google announced that it would move its servers serving all its services in Chinese mainland to Hong Kong, completely circumventing information censorship. Then, more and more Google services go from difficult connection to not being able to connect most of the time, and then completely losing contact; More and more Google apps fromappleThe server settings are removed from the Apple Store in Chinese mainland and most of the Android program stores in China...... Until today.

My feelings about this matter are still mixed. That morning 5 years and 11 months ago, I left a bouquet of flowers and a card in front of the building of Google's Beijing office. But what I can't let go of is: what are those users who live in Chinese mainland and have been using Google services to Google? Google knew that what it was doing at the time might make it impossible for these users to use Google's services normally, but what did it think and do for these users? Doing so may gain some "moral support" around the world, but is it morally reasonable to treat the tens of millions of users who already existed in China at that time and exclude them from the list of users who should be served normally?

I have never said these words publicly. I'm still a loyal Google user – both when I was living in the U.S. or China. Our company's email service is still hosted on Gmail, and all colleagues are scientifically surfing the Internet every day. However, now when Google is really "back", I can complain a little: I am a believer in liberalism and embrace the free flow of information, but I am not a political and ideological saint, is the past 6 years really worth the toss for Google or us?

Google is back, and it's not anyone's wishful thinking. I can't tell you the details I know a little, but obviously, for others who have contributed to Google's "return", Google's business has landed in China again, and their "China's Internet is open" argument can be established.

But the statement that "Google is back" itself is not valid. Because the Google that is "back" is actually another Google.

(Google that wants to come back, it's actually this)

The Google that left 6 years ago was a search engine company that also provided some online documents, mailboxes, cloud storage, and maps.

At that time, Android as an operating system had not yet ruled the world, Google had just moved, and it was still a pure "Internet" service provider, with no payment, no driverless, no same-day delivery express shopping, no robots and ride-hailing services.

Now, Google is an all-encompassing tech giant that offers search, mobile app stores, smartphones, wearables, robots, driverless cars, payments, online shopping, online ride-hailing, mobile navigation, ...... This is not counting the fact that it was divested to parent company Alphabetlifescience, outer space and a range of businesses.

Six years ago, Google's business in China was almost searched, and its opponent wasBaidu。 Until one day the search is not filtered and the information finally flows more fully and freely, and then it disappears immediately.

Now, Google's first business re-released in China should be Google Play – the mobile app store business. In the face of the Android app distribution market that has been fighting continuously in the past 5 years and was eventually divided by several companies such as Tencent, Baidu, Xiaomi, 360 and Pea Pod, there is no doubt that Google Play can have a more beautiful design, cleaner pages, and a more scientific way of advertising and traffic calculation, which can impress those best content producers, game developers and tool developers in China, and can make those who have liked Google come back and gain some "high-end" users. And then what?

In the past 6 years, the whole world has been mobile and bitified, and the connection of the Internet and the flow of data have dominated the whole worldUniverseand the lives of each and every one of us. In the process, Google has become more and more powerful, more complex, and smarter, and the mission of searching and integrating information in the world and making the flow of information freer has become less and less important, and more importantly, Google can intelligently understand every detail of the physical world, and then use its own "intelligence" and data to possess them.

Similarly, in the process, because of Google's absence—or whether Google is absent or not, Tencent,Alibaba, Baidu, 360, Xiaomi and LeTV are also on this road where every detail of the physical world is controlled by data. They don't go as far as Google, but the pace of catching up is not slow at all.

Google is "back", but it doesn't come back in its entirety. If we don't have Google in our payments, shopping, transportation, driving, and virtual cinema, it can't really come back. In this sense, Google is not back.

Google is "back", but the Google that "integrates all the information in the world and makes information flow more freely" has not returned, it is Google's app store, mobile advertising and part of the data business, in this sense, it is not the same Google that has returned.

Google is "back", but the Google embodiment of morality and values in the minds of some of China's Internet elites has not returned, and it is possible that Google will never come back.

But who dares to say that it has to be a good or bad thing?