Well, I agree with everything except that Google's not arrogant. Google is arrogant, and that's precisely why they can never be a successful platform company. When I've used Google platforms, things changed under me, for my apparent benefit. If Google changes something in my personal email, that's sometimes annoying. If they crack something I run my business on, it's a whole different ballgame. This is exactly why you see the constant disasters of Youtubers or Android developers being falsely flagged for violations, and having their livelihoods removed by automated algorithms with no means of appeal.<p>When Google tries to build platforms, others can't use them BECAUSE of Google's arrogance.<p>Quote is below.<p>"You know how people are always saying Google is arrogant? I'm a Googler, so I get as irritated as you do when people say that. We're not arrogant, by and large. We're, like, 99% Arrogance-Free. I did start this post -- if you'll reach back into distant memory -- by describing Google as 'doing everything right'. We do mean well, and for the most part when people say we're arrogant it's because we didn't hire them, or they're unhappy with our policies, or something along those lines. They're inferring arrogance because it makes them feel better.<p>But when we take the stance that we know how to design the perfect product for everyone, and believe you me, I hear that a lot, then we're being fools. You can attribute it to arrogance, or naivete, or whatever -- it doesn't matter in the end, because it's foolishness. There IS no perfect product for everyone.<p>And so we wind up with a browser that doesn't let you set the default font size. Talk about an affront to Accessibility. I mean, as I get older I'm actually going blind. For real. I've been nearsighted all my life, and once you hit 40 years old you stop being able to see things up close. So font selection becomes this life-or-death thing: it can lock you out of the product completely. But the Chrome team is flat-out arrogant here: they want to build a zero-configuration product, and they're quite brazen about it, and Fuck You if you're blind or deaf or whatever. Hit Ctrl-+ on every single page visit for the rest of your life.<p>It's not just them. It's everyone. The problem is that we're a Product Company through and through. We built a successful product with broad appeal -- our search, that is -- and that wild success has biased us."<p>And you know, it might not even be bad. Google does very well in B2C / nonplatform / ad-supported. It's not clear they want to go this way. But making a massive investment in platforms from a culture of such arrogance is misaligned.