Google has taken a bit of a beating in the blogosphere lately.  I haven't shied away from my share of the criticisms either.  Last week I called Google on violations of their own set of "ten truths" and chimed in with my thoughts on the whole "tips" fiasco.  In fact, after the past couple of weeks it may seem like I'm not a fan of Google.  In actuality, I really do like Google.  And even though they're not following their founding philosophy as strictly as they once did, there are a number of things that I think Google does right.

Search

Even with the clutter on the SERPs that I've mentioned before, Google still offers the best search results available.  I think Google's relevancy is definitely best of breed and none of the other search engines out there can claim to beat Google's search results.  This is obviously important since the company was founded on and derives the majority of its revenue from search and search advertising.

AdSense

I love the AdSense program.  In fact, I'd go as far as to say that it's an amazing service.  Never before have so many website owners been able to make money from their websites with a single program.  It's easy to use and, despite what some website owners do with it, the program is designed to be unobtrusive and stay out of the way.  It's possibly the perfect affiliate program.

AdWords

AdWords is easy to use and, if used correctly, is a darn good way to drive traffic.  It could have better statistics and conversion, but it's still a much better option than the competition.

Patent Search

I love Google Patent Search.  Of the many specialty searches added to the Google portfolio in the past few years, this one is definitely one of my favorites.

Google Cares

As a company, Google seems to care.  They seem to care about the products they release.  They seem to care about user feedback.  They seem to care about what people think of their services.  And they seem to care about the world, in general.  Is it genuine?  Who knows.  I could be completely fake.  But fake or not, I like the fact that they are a more responsive and responsible company than most.

So no, I don't hate Google.  I'm a fan.  I use a lot of Google services.  I use a lot of Google programs.  I think some of their products are pretty close to best of breed.  In fact, the reason that I've so blatantly gone after them in the past is BECAUSE I like them.  If I hated Google, I wouldn't care what they did.  It's because I like them that I want them to hear what I have to say.

Because if they really are the caring, responsive company that they purport to be, they may take a few of my words to heart.