All companies do when they reach a certain market size. I still remember the days when almost all geeks I knew would dream for a job at Microsoft.

Turning into Microsoft means saddling your users with shitty experiences and shitty products because you're focusing more on monopolizing them than on building something great for your users. Google has done this, but Apple and Amazon never did, despite whatever other evils they might have committed.

Users of Maps, iWork and Final Cut Pro might disagree.

I never said Apple never shipped a bad product. Apple still tries to ship good products and falls short. Microsoft and Google neglect that because all they try to do is monopolize. That's why Google pulled their maps from iOS.

Who has suffered from Google ending Apple's Maps license?

Now we have two great mapping services on that platform to choose from.

This is a key point: they're not doing that so much for Google any more.

I have friends at Google, they love it and have suggested I put in my CV. (No chance. I don't have a degree and my algorithmic insight is terrible.) But, ehh. An advertising agency with lovely working conditions and smart people to be around, and it's not like I wanted to see my kid anyway. OH WAIT.

> I just never expected them to turn into Microsoft.

Why not? Google started around 20 years later, that's the main difference. In a different environment, google focused more on internet software and grew faster than MS did a few decades ago, but the path from scrappy startup grabbing an untapped niche, to corporate monopoly is a predictable one.