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Will the real Google please stand up?

Sarah Lacy of PandyDaily writes that Google should do itself a favor and just come clean already about its Search Plus Your World results:

This isn’t an issue of whether Google—as a for profit company—should have the right to push its own services over others. This isn’t an issue over what Twitter or Facebook would do in Google’s shoes. To me, the interesting issue isn’t even anti-trust. This is an issue of what Google promised users back when it went public, without a gun to its head, without any pressure from any competitors to do the right thing.

This is a Google v. Google issue.

We don’t expect for-profit companies to be martyrs. But Google chose this path. And cynics always said it would be tested once Google was under fire. There is a short window here for Google to either walk its own talk or redefine what the rules are.

I know I often link to (mostly) negative stories about Google/Android and (mostly) positive stories about Apple, but make no mistake about it: I love Google. All this Search Plus Your World stuff doesn’t actually bother me at all — at least not yet. And let’s face it, at the end of the day, I’m still going to be using Google (sorry, Bing!), Gmail, and all the other Google products that I’ve come to know and love.

This isn’t about criticizing Google at all, but the company does seem to be at a very tricky crossroads of sorts, and I’m actually really interested to see which path it takes. If Sarah Lacy’s latest article is any indication, Larry Page may have already given everyone a hint. [PandoDaily]