Scroogled? really?

Google released a formal statement in response to the Microsoft Scroogled campaign,
"Microsoft’s latest venture comes as no surprise; competition in the wearables space really is heating up.”

Yesterday Microsoft released it's "Scroogled" campaign which is a merchandise line that say's "Scroogled" and "Stay Calm while we steal your data".  They even launched a website.

I'll be the first to admit that i was immediately put off by the Microsoft smear campaign against Google.  As i usually would be when a company puts a large amount of time and effort into smearing a competitor. 
Let's look at the facts on Google, who's motto by the way is "don't be evil":

Google was founded in 1997 with the mission of organizing the world's information.  Since 1997, besides being the world's top search engine, Google has established itself as the #1 Employer and has single handedly changed the way we shop, communicate, purchase, collect information, read and basically expanded the amount of information we can find with a click .  When they could've just stayed focused on their core business and what makes them money, they launched Google Grants, Google scholarships and Google.org (to develop technology to help address global challenges) with the commitment that technology can help make the world a better place.  

Oh, and let's not forget all the conveniences most of us take for granted:  Google Maps giving us the ability to have satellite views and directions, Google Earth to take us to anywhere virtually on earth that we want to go, Google Finance to help us manage our finances, Google Calendar to help us manage our time, Google Wallet so we don''t have to carry cash if we don't need to, Google translate to help translate any language in the world, Google Apps for education. 
oh and... gmail, gmaps, zeitgist, Search appliance, Google Shopping, gbooks, gblog, gAnalytics, Gtrends...the list goes on (I'm sure i could find a bunch more).

But, let's forget little ole us for a second and move back to the bigger picture Google is working on.  Besides grant programs, countless scholarships and an amazing culture they have built for employees, Google has a renewable energy project with the initiative to create renewable resources.  Besides decking out their own offices with Solar panels with the mission of being 100% operating on renewable energy, they have committed over $1 billion to renewable energy projects with the mission of creating a clean future environment for our world.  They started project Loon http://www.google.com/loon/ which is designed to give parts of the world that don't have it, internet access.  They also developed Crisis response to help connect people in other countries with loved ones in the wake of a disaster.

And, don't even get me started on how they treat their employees!  Ranked the #1 employer by Fortune year after year, Google creates a culture that ignites passion and promotes collaboration and productivity amongst it's employees.  Besides all the amazing perks Googlers receive (and i think if i listed them, this would be an enormous post), employees are given one week off a year as a global week of service to give back to the community.  They give 30,000 employees a week off to give back to their community! 

As far as additional ways they help us, it was just announced today that they've come to our rescue by helping us preserve our online reputations in an effort to make evil websites that blackmail people non-relevant in the search engines.  I don't know about you but my online rep is important! 

Okay, let's get back to the IBM "Scroogled" thing.  So, basically IBM is claiming that we are getting screwed by google.   Microsoft released a full line of anti-google periphenilia  saying Google steals your data and takes your keywords to learn your shopping habits and market back to you based on your interest. 

When it comes to the security of our information, Google is the only company that has a transparency site which shows the number of requests it gets from the government for consumer info.  Microsoft of course has no such thing so who knows what they do with our info.

When i looked up Microsoft charity contributions and how they have contributed to changing our world for a better place, they have raised 1b in 30 years for charity..which is awesome but that's all i found.   Oh and i found the site where i can buy anti-google stuff.

I guess the bottom line is that you need more than a catchy name and slogan to discredit a company that works hard to live up to their "don't be evil" motto.