You think? For several years they definitely kept out the way and provided links to get to the best results fast. By the time they dropped "don't be evil" they certainly were acting against users.

It started well, agreed. But my recollection is the good Google lasted several years.

Maybe. I think that companies change the moment diffusion of responsibility happens because then decisions that are bad are broken up into so many little steps that everybody can credibly claim 'it wasn't them' that made the bad decisions.

For Google that moment came very rapidly. Launch was in 1998. When Schmidt took over in 2001 they already had 300 employees, their 59th employee or so was a chef.

Somewhere between those two Schmidt became a viable contender for the CEO spot.

I figure that happened somewhere in 1999, but maybe you are right and they kept it together until Schmidt took over. But just the fact that you would hand your 'do no evil' empire to a guy like Schmidt means you have already forgotten that motto.

Almost twenty years between launch and dropping Don't Be Evil, which was itself ten years ago now.