Google has over the past years becoming one of the most successful IT companies practically out-gunning most of its competitors in every possible field where it has any presence. The success of Google has predominately been due to its commitment to provide service far before the thought of minting money which according to their model invariably follows. This combined with its deliberate effort to harness a level of trust with its users plays an important role in ensuring that Google.com becomes a household name an invariably the most favored search engine by a long margin. Millions of people use Googles endless list of innovative services ranging from GMail, Blogspot, YouTube, Google Reader etc.
A very important factor for Google’s success has been its readiness for localization, an effort to appear more acceptable to the surfing population, language customizations for enabling region specific users to adapt to Google is one way to become acceptable and if compounded with a few layout changes (right to left) just ensures better acceptability and readability, all these factors contribute to ensure a growing level of acceptance and a positive user rating across all regions of the world. In the same effort Google at times has altered its trademark logo to yet again appease the locals which are now commonly referred to as Google Doodles, a tradition started by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998 and has over the years developed hundreds of Google Doodles which have featured on Google.com (or its sub domains) at some point in time. Topics covered have generally been historic days, landmark event, celebrations or any important event that Google feels the need to honor, examples range from Christmas, Olympic Games, St. Patrick’s Day, St. Davids Day, Independence Day for many countries like Israel, India, Argentina, Peru, Belgian etc etc or even a mega scientific event like the start of the Large Hadron Collider which happens to be the most recent Google Doodle as of filing of this post.
What has been seriously missing in its endless inventory of hundreds of Google Doodles is any logo commemorating a Muslim celebration, be it Eid or any other Islamic celebration, that said I am sure there maybe a little hesitancy on making a graphic image of an Islamic event and not fall into a potential cartoon controversy, but I assure you there are way to ensure that these innocent efforts dont back fire. If Islamic events are too hot too handle then we also fail to see Google honoring a National day of a Muslim country like Pakistan. Pakistan has been on the Google map for sometime but we have yet to be honored with an Independence day google graphic on Google.com.pk, our neighbors India instead has instead been on the receiving end of quite a few celebratory doodles gifts from Diwali to even an 15th August doodle on Google.co.in website. But we here in Pakistan sit doodling our fingers in jittery anticipation.
One does get a feeling of a definite bias by Google to ignore Muslims and Pakistan weather it is intentional or unintentional, I wont venture to say but whatever be the case I urge Google to seriously consider our humble request it wont hurt if they surprised Muslims or Pakistani with a customized doodle, I assure you it wont hurt a fly, but only will go to uplift the morals of a nation and indirectly develop a level of trust and understanding with people on this side of the border.
Credit for pointing out this anomaly goes out to ProPakistani
Comments
38 responses to “Google Doodle for Muslims or Pakistanis?”
Well thanks for giving the credit to the original article ‘Google is biased’ below the post…!
I emailed Mr Badar and even got a response.He liked my idea.Well lets see if get any Doodle this Eid…
People you can go and also check out the original article here:
http://www.propakistani.com/2008/09/17/google-is-biased/
But i hope you let me and Propakistani take the credit for the initiative we had put forth…As we did the effort.
Thanks …
Sir,also thanks for putting the issue on your blog.Like this we all bloggers of Pakistan can do this for our country.Work together to achieve the common goal.
Thanks
Bloody hell is this all you can find to talk about?
When muslims can figure out collectively on their own when their holiday’s should be and not every other day that a random mullah across any muslim country decides, then blame google. this was a pretty stupid post awab.
Ya it looks very Biased but this is due to Muslims and Pakistanis have little presence in New World in the field of technology…
With all due respect to Bites85 and Sir Awab! I think asking Google for a Doodle for Pakistan is exactly the same as asking for ‘Naseebo Lal’ to be declared as a Nobel Laureate.
We don’t have any tech excellence. Referring to the two flags in the Doodle’s above (India and Israel) they are the heavens of technology 🙂 they deserve to get the pride
Apart from being a nuclear power we have no tech excellence and that too is a negative one.
I agree with the above comment. Yes, certainly you’d think that Google is biased in this way. But you wont be able to count on your fingers, the other countries that too, feel the same way. You think Google would want to create a Doodle for a country where every day foreigners are under the threat of being blown up ? Let alone the civilians. Next you know, Afghanistan would be asking for one. For a country that is sadly, in a pitiful state, next to Afghanistan and Iraq, I think this is a high demand. But on behalf of other Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, UAE and many others, I do think that such a move would be highly welcomed. I know I’ll be happy about it too.
Well the debate is not to contest if we are eligible or not but its about if Google considers as important alongside other countries who have gotten recognition – but they choose to overlook Pakistan and other Muslim nations –
Im not here to argue if they have a Bias or not – Im mostly putting out a request to Google Inc to treat us with equality 😉 thats all – no harm in that is it
Good suggestion! Should be in good fun to see a Google Eid Doodle. The imagery of the crescent, for instance, is rther universal.
Yah no harm in it but 1st of all both inventors of Google are belongs to Jewish families and the current hoax of ‘war on terror’ might not allow ’em to consider it.
India and Israel are Identical in sense that they both are secular states and both keep deep hatred towards Muslims.
Both have got an illegal states in Muslim majority areas which is root cause of all the current unrest.
Moreover India has got massive influence in IT local and abroad. They’re creating and inventing in other hand we are just following them like a puppet.
One more interesting thing I wanna tell ya is that India is one in Asia which is leading in $Billionaire$ 53. No country in Asia whether be it China, Hong Kong or Pakistan, Japan, Taiwan beating India.
Japan got 26 Billionaires while China and Taiwan jointly got 42 but China alone isn’t beating India in Billionaire race.
Guys, if u read the title once again, doc mentioned Muslims first and then Pakistan. In the middle of Ramadan, Pakistan is less important or even least important. It’s about Muslims!
Total world population today stands at around 6.6 billion people out of which 1.9 billion are Christians and 1.5 billion are Muslims (source: Wikipedia).
If Google can do Doodles for Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day, St. David’s Day, etc., can’t they do ONE Doodle for Muslims on Eid? Why is Ramadan/Eid considered religious while Christmas is considered ‘holidays.’
Secondly, apart from the religious issue, why are you guys comparing Pakistan with India? Do you know that population of different countries for which Google has done independence day Doodles is (internet population & penetration in brackets):
India: 1.14 billion (60 million; 5.2%)
Argentina: 40 million (16 million)
Peru: 28 million (7.3 million)
Belgium: 10 million (5.5 million)
Compare this to Pakistan: 160 million (17.5 million; 10.4%)
Do Argentina, Peru & Belgium deserve an Independence Day Doodle first or does Pakistan? Even if you want to compare India & Pakistan — then don’t compare absolute numbers, be relative! Is 5.2% greater than 10.4%?
@Bite85: Don’t expect a quick response from Badar. It’s not his call. He’s the Country Rep i.e. just a bridge between Google and what’s happening in Pakistan. Am sure, this decision to make a Ramadan/Eid or Aug 14 Doodle comes from the very top.
@Abbas, Dj Flush & Imran: I’m disappointed! Guys, be patriotic! You think India is a perfect country and better than Pakistan? Wake up! Have u guys been to India? I have and trust me Pakistan is a heaven. If we have so-called ‘terrorism’ in northern areas, have u forgotten Kashmir, Gujrat & Asaam in India?
Have you had the chance to read this official Google Blog @ http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-visit-to-pakistan.html . This post was made by an Indian origin American Googler who recently visited Pakistan. I’d like to share an excerpt from his post:
“I recently had the opportunity to visit Pakistan, which just celebrated 61 years as an independent state. Before my visit, my views about Pakistan had largely been shaped by Western media — and these days, it’s difficult to open a newspaper without coming across a story highlighting the country’s “tumultuous” sociopolitical environment.
But do these depictions represent the entire truth? Do they credibly tell the whole story of a nation of more than 160 million people? Surely not.”
May Allah bless you all!
Point to be noted … hmmmm
Well its not this that Pakistan don’t have excellence in technology so we don’t deserve anything. Every state is a new in tech world.The fact is this that the purpose of Google to make Google Pakistan was just to be more personal and localize with people.So,it does not harm Google if they celebrate our Islamic and National holidays! Or does it? So we deserve a Doodle.When we will get our one,it will become a routine so they we wont say all these things.Just be a part.And lets try to make one this time.We don’t care if they are Jew or not.We just asking for a little courtesy on our own Pakistani version of Google.It will be nice to see it.
You people seriously need to get an iLife. Don’t you people have any real issues in your life ?
It’s funny that there’s an “I kissed a girl” Google Text Ad between the post !
I don’t get why is it larger than life? Googlers will ask for which eid?
1)Shia Eid
2)Sunni Eid
3)Bohri Eid
4)Khojas Eid
5)Saudi Eid
6)Peshawri Eid
hehe they will commit suicide in the end. 😉
@ Buzzvines You are absolutely rite man.But it does not stop on this Eid.I will keep on pushing Google and the Two Guru’s Larry and Sergey to make one for Muslims and Pakistan.And you also rite unless we all are united and patriotic we can achieve this Doodle.
@ Adnan Siddiqi if you know in Islam it is clearly stated that The ruler of time has authority that the people will celebrate eid on his selected date if there is some confusion.When i talk about Eid day, i mean the official Eid Day of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
@ Buzzvines Thanks for being a part of the revolution.
Can someone please Tweet when Pakistan conquers Google :S I follow Twitter easily actually
@ DjFlush I will personally tweet you,when we get something from Google which we deserve.We ain’t conquering Google.Why would we want to conquer Google?
Salaam,
@ Buzzvines, excellent , I appreciate it.
I think blaming the whole nation on behalf of just few people is what i call a stupid comment by an idiot person.
ISrael on Phalestine, India on kashmir, Ameriaca on Iraq , Afghanistan. What these nations doing. I am not saying that the whole nations is stupid, i think there are few governing hand which are doing this.
Any way leave it. People who say that Pakistan is the origin of terrorism. They are totally wrong. They are the stupid people who are highly influenced by media.
What we are doing is we are defending our self. Go hell with sucide bombs or blast or presidential issues. We dam care for them. we are doing our job.
I know 2300 kids were smuggled from Pakistan , on a well planned scheme by organizations from USA, Euorpe and INDIA.
I can send you a copy on request.
Come on.
GOogle. I really love it. Infact i don’t think so that i can work on internet without it. Even i am planing to buy a google software mobile.
The point is that, if google made a doodle for Muslims or Pakistanis what is the problem, with others.
Any way, I hope people who place stupid comments… get some sense…
may Allah bless us all Amin!
@bites85: yaar chill. I was kidding
2nd Eid is associated with Muslims not Pakistan only so why Google mention Pakistan for Eid?
@Adnan Siddiqi i know man u were kidding…wasay it was about choti eid,but nw it is also about bari eid,and basically im concerned about the pakistan and its muslims,but it will be cool if google shows it on GOOGLE.COM for all the muslims,why cant they celebrate with us ?
Thanks everybody for your understanding & support to my point of view.
Just to add, Google has in the past couple of years improved their services a lot for Pakistanis specifically.
All of you bloggers may remember the pain of receiving AdSense payments via cheque. Google recently added Western Union to the payment options easing & speeding up the payment process a thousand times!
Similarly, although passive but, Google has been a supporter of bloggers a lot. Blogspot was banned by PTA/Ministry which Google coordinated at the highest levels and got unblocked.
Same goes with Youtube. It was also blocked but Google again coordinated and got it unbanned timely.
Being an active Internet marketer and an advanced user of Google AdWords, I can also share that Google has recently been improving their support to Pakistani Internet marketers a lot as well. You can now get a customized response within hours after submitting a ticket online.
I’m sure u guys have also used Google Apps — the best ever free email service for ur own domain. Most of the top Pakistani universities & colleges now run on Google Apps. Read more here: http://ciopakistan.com/2008/09/saas-at-work-google-apps/
And, by the way, other than entertaining video clips, Youtube is now serving one of the most important areas of focus in Pakistan i.e. education. I’m not sure if u guys know that Virtual University now has a Youtube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/vu where all of their lecture videos are now available “on-demand”. This means, now VU students don’t have to wait for the VU satellite channel to broadcast their specific course lecture at a specific time. Students can now watch their related lectures as & when they like!
Like VU, Geo TV now also has a Youtube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/geo
There are many more things I can share which I know ‘Google Pakistan’ has achieved with Badar being there alone in the market. It’s good that we are doing online campaign to encourage Google to consider a Ramadan/Eid doodle but I’d give Badar time to pitch the idea internally.
I’d be worried & would suggest a serious online activism if Google doesn’t show respect by Eid-ul-Adha. This means Google now has a deadline till around 10th December 2008.
Hey Badar — Are you listening?
But… isn’t google supposed to be the next power hungry organization bent on world domination? 😛
All differences aside, and ignoring the fact about where we stand as Pakistan as compared to other countries……… EID is for Muslims… and not restricted to pakistan.
What we ask from google is that there be a doodle for Celebrating EID for ALL MUSLIMS, all over the world. I mean google can show that much respect for muslims.
So please i wud recommend voting for a greater cause (ie: doodle for Eid for all muslims, on google homepage) rather than a speific subdomain etc or for pakistan only etc.
And being proactive would achieve a lot more than fighting it here. I recommend, we all send mails to google requesting the same thing.
You see the pingback coming from various unknown language websites? the credit goes to me 😀 We bloggers supported the bites85 idea and raised voice internationally. Dr. saab knows 😉
Greast idea.
@Farhan Thanks for doing this man.And understanding the idea !
hey!
I am from India and i also have been observing this feat of Google ,and fully oppose it if it is intentional.I live in jammu and have many muslim friends and they all are against it.This is not just against Pakistan but also against India as it also has a muslim population close to 200 million mark.
2] Another think i noticed is that though this topic was related to something else yet some people just started bringing up this whole topic like Pakistan were getting beaten by india in this field( eg;buzzvines) a india had a diwali doodle or whatever.
Please don’t take it like that if rights of islam are getting violated than India has also been put down as i explained India has 200 million muslims(2nd largest muslim population in a country after Indonesia).
So,i think its better to make it a common war of the muslim world,which also includes india
and well i forgot
Wish all my muslim friends a very happy and prosperous EID.
“EID – MUBARIK”
Does anybody has contacts in the media? Get this matter positively in the print? We should make a case logically why Google should consider it and how it would help it gain more respect in the Muslim world.
Can anybody help highlight this and the Kashmir Mapmaker issue [ http://www.buzzvines.com/Google-Earth-Maps-Azad-Jammu-Kashmir-Google-MapMaker-Kashmir-India-Kashmir-Map-Google-Street-Maps-Road-Map ] to conventional media?
And, once again, please be positive in creating a voice in whatever medium you can!
@ Buzzvines hey great idea dude. I have a few contacts,let me try if i can do something…!
This is bcoz azaad kashmir(as u call it)or beter known as POK
is not an resolved issue.it has an indian claim but occupied by Pakistan so simple answer is its contoversial.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they don’t have any holidays relating to religions. No Christmas, Easter, Hanukkah, Kwanza, and so on. The only thing that could remotely be considered religious is if you think of Halloween as a Wiccan holiday or something like that. They aren’t ignoring you, they are simply choosing to ignore everyone.
will u pleasa upload good bye mr chips dubbed in hindi movie
thank u.please mail me if u upload this movie.please please
Yaar GGOOGLE se acha to smiley central hai jis mein ramazan k havaley se 2 cards hain jo hum chatting ke doran bhej saktey hain 🙁
Why don't muslims and pakistanis make something of their own as good as google. Then they can display anything they want instead of forcing others to promote them.