This is written late at night, so I reserve the right to edit heavily in the morning.

It’s noticeable the level of scepticism that Google’s net neutrality/Verizon dealing denial is being treated with. People don’t really believe “don’t be evil.” In fact, everyone has always deep down believed that it’s bullshit. A fuzzy founder’s playground ideology that doesn’t really tie into anything tangible. I mean, it’s not like we can say for sure that Gmail is “evil” with the same level of certainty that we could call bullshit on their fictionally rejected motto: “Don’t build shoddy UI.”

By contrast, Apple are currently marketing the word “magic” all over. Product names, PR ledes and copy all over says “magic” and “magical” and “seriously, we ground down an actual pixie to make this thing flick-scroll”

Apple’s marketese is surely more bullshitty than Google’s (see also: “it’s like holding the Internet in your hand”) yet because it’s all tied into features consumers can see and touch and feel, they require no faith or trust. They try to convince you of their claims with physical products.

Google expects you to buy into their non-evil behaviour because they say so. They also expect you to buy that Android is “open” even though you can’t use it without using their services through proprietary protocols.

Apple will tell you that their touch sensitive rectangle is “magic”, and then let you flick-scroll your email.

Google seem to be lacking in tangible product to match their mantra. It’s no wonder that their net neutrality denial isn’t a wash.