Google's Next Steps

danimlp writes "An article at SearchEngineWatch states that Google and Yahoo have become as almost parts of the operating system, a 'layer' above Linux, Windows or Mac OS. Another article at Kottke.org says that Google is building a a huge computer with a custom operating system that everyone on earth can have an account on. Some people predicts that, after Gmail, Google could start a new instant message service or even its own electronic currency."

gBucks?

[lavaface (685630)]

If google prints money maybe I can be a googillianaire.

Re:gBucks?

[r_glen (679664)]

I'm all for them entering the online money business. Anything to get away from PayPal.

Here you go

[by Anonymous Coward]

http://images.google.com/images?q=money&hl=en&lr=& ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi [google.com]

Re:Here you go

[discogravy (455376)]

one of those images led me to this website [greenspun.com].

I might have to go back to school. I wonder if Google will open a University one day.

GooOS

[supraxnet (567080)]

Convincing people like my wife to trust Google will be a challenge. But if Google can build that trust, then people might have faith to move their data to a Google Desktop -- and that might make Microsoft's presumed desktop power much weaker.

The only "Google Desktop" I would consider using would be one that ran on X. And at this point windowmaker does me just fine. If google could make a window manager that was truly effective and integrated directly with their upcoming gmail/web storage, then maybe Microsoft would have to start worrying.

Re:GooOS

[KrispyKringle (672903)]

Considering that the Google Toolbar only works on IE, Google doesn't actually come across as THAT Linux-friendly (as a client; obviously, they use Linux industrially-speaking).

Re:GooOS

[Cassius105 (623098)]

well

tbh making google toolbar for web browsers other than IE might be a bit redundant since most of the other browsers are actualy good and already incorporate most of the stuff that the good toolbar has to offer

its only useful on IE because IE lacks so much functionality

Googlebar for Mozilla

[jrockway (229604)]

True, and this [mozdev.org] is the google baar for mozilla, if you want one :)

Re:GooOS

[maxbang (598632)]

I used to love the toolbar, but that was before I 1) discovered Mozilla, and 2) switched to Linux. Mozilla already has a built-in search Google functionality in the address bar. Firefox has a separate box just for searches on Google. On Opera for a search on Google, I just type in 'g' and my search terms and it will automatically send a query to Google for me. I don't have a Mac, so I don't know about Safari. I think Konqueror and Galeon have similar functionality. All three browsers have built-in pop-up blocking technology and good autoform support. Those are the only three things I have ever used the Google toolbar for, and all three are only lacking in IE. I don't think the toolbar fixes any security holes in IE. Point is, anyone still on Windows needs to switch to something different as soon as they can. Along with built-in google toolbar functionality, they'll get a much superior web experience.

Imagine...

[FrYGuY101 (770432)]

Imagine a beowulf cluster of... Oh, wait...

Well, yeah...

[pseudochaotic (548897)]

Well, from where they are now, Google could do pretty much anything and people would use it. They could easily be as pervasive as AOL or even Microsoft is to most people.

portal fever

[contrasutra (640313)]

Don't try to do everything Google, you can't win (well, no one else has).

Google has stayed away from Portal Fever so far, and hasn't gotten too cluttered, but they run that risk the bigger they get. There are plenty of companies that do very well in "niche" markets. Basically ALL users will always need a search engine (even more as the web grows), you don't NEED to offer everything.

Just stay as objective and useful as possible, and people will stay. Honestly I think they should be focusing on cleaning up search results. There is an increasing amount of spam and while it's not their fault, who wouldn't want cleaner, more accurate results?

Re:portal fever

[LordK3nn3th (715352)]

Microsoft has come pretty damn close, in some ways.

We have Office, the OSes, some hardware (mice, controllers, keyboards...), among many other things. With this news about the "GooOS", perhaps Google will try to overtake them?

Re:portal fever

[criquet (120814)]

I agree that Google shouldn't try to do everything but I think IM is a great idea (call it Joggle?). Google can supply their search results via IM. I love ActiveBuddy.com services. I love using my IM client, gaim, for posting to my blog. I'd like it to be the interface to many other services too. I think google would be the ideal company to host it.

Re:portal fever

[iabervon (1971)]

I don't think the Google is going to try the portal thing. After all, they're no less aware than we are that nobody else has made that work. In fact, they just made their search pages simpler.

On the other hand, that doesn't mean they can't have other features. I think they're likely to keep adding special things you can "search" for, like UPS packages and "(the speed of light / (440 nm)) in THz", since these don't make the interface any more complicated.

They also already have other pages available, like news.google.com (which indexes news sites in the form of a news site). As long as they keep the reputation of the brand good, and keep the search site focused and the results good, it doesn't matter how much they branch out. They seem to have the right attitude towards advertizers: provide ads primarily to people who are actually searching for products, not to people who are looking for content. They can probably extend their offerings as competently and respectfully of their audience. And they might as well; they've already got the best search engine team out there, and they've got money to expand, so new things they try will use new employee effort, and not detract from the search engine.

Root of Ballamers recent comments

[MrIrwin (761231)]

Once upon a time Netscape looked like taking over the desktop, with ideas about incorporating improved file browsing and making it the universal front end.

Thats why MS put som much effort into Explorer..Internet Explorer.

Ballamer recently bemoaned the MS lack of precense in the search engine and portal space.

Do I detect a deja vu!

Let me be the first to say...

[NSash (711724)]

Are these people crazy?

Speculation: in the next few months, Google will abolish world hunger and buy everyone a pony. Google is search engine, not the second coming of Christ.

Re:Let me be the first to say...

[istewart (463887)]

So are you saying that Christ would buy everyone a pony? Where do I sign up?

Re:Let me be the first to say...

[in7ane (678796)]

Never the less, http://www.gchrist.com/ does exist, and as for gpony.com:

Registrant:
Google Inc. (DOM-425410)
2400 E. Bayshore Pkwy Mountain View CA 94043 US

Domain Name: gpony.com

Registrar Name: Alldomains.com
Registrar Whois: whois.alldomains.com
Registrar Homepage: http://www.alldomains.com

Administrative Contact:
DNS Admin (NIC-1467103) Google Inc.
2400 E. Bayshore Pkwy Mountain View CA 94043 US
[e-mail] +1.6503300100 Fax-+1.6506188571

Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
DNS Admin (NIC-1467103) Google Inc.
2400 E. Bayshore Pkwy Mountain View CA 94043 US
[e-mail] +1.6503300100 Fax- +1.6506188571

Created on..............: 1995-Aug-13.
Expires on..............: 2006-Aug-12.
Record last updated on..: 2004-Mar-31 16:50:22.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS1.GOOGLE.COM 216.239.32.10
NS2.GOOGLE.COM 216.239.34.10
NS3.GOOGLE.COM 216.239.36.10
NS4.GOOGLE.COM 216.239.38.10

...so don't be so sure.

Re:Let me be the first to say...

[platipusrc (595850)]

lies!!

--

Whois Server Version 1.3

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

No match for "GPONY.COM".

>>> Last update of whois database: Sun, 11 Apr 2004 07:11:51 EDT <<<

--

Re:Let me be the first to say...

[SkiifGeek (702936)]

SELECT FROM sense_of_humour WHERE UID = 595850; 0 rows returned.

More?

[cubicledrone (681598)]

a huge computer with a custom operating system that everyone on earth can have an account on.

Some people predicts that, after Gmail, Google could start a new instant message service

or even its own electronic currency.

Gee, I don't know. I thought they had a good search engine.

Wow, Google IM!

[JoeBaldwin (727345)]

Please please please make this Google! Especially if:

• You release the protocol as open, or at least make a Linux client (with all the features of the Windows one)
• You manage to get my friends off MSN, the shittiest messenger service ever owned by a shitty company with a shitty record on doing things non-shittily.
• It interfaces with Gmail (all the benefits of MSN/Hotmail, none of the drawbacks! w00t!)
• Three/four words: Home Star Runner Alerts. Imagine: "You have a new Strongbad Email! Click here to view!"

/me prays for this to actually happen

Google: the Apple of the internet

[capz loc (752940)]

Google seems to be very analagous to Apple's development in many ways: 1. Start offering one revolutionary (not neccecarily original) service or product (Apple: cheap computers, Google: search) 2. Become a household name 3. Slowly add more services/products that are somewhat related to the core product (Apple: iMovie, et al, Google: GIS, Gmail, et al) 4. Take over the world (forthcoming) Microsoft has also arguably followed this track, but has actually made it to the last step. My hypothesis is that once you reach step 4, people start hating you.

Narrow

[CGP314 (672613)]

In case the server goes down, I can show you what the article looks like:

AD AD AD AD text AD AD AD AD
AD AD AD AD text AD AD AD AD
AD AD AD AD text AD AD AD AD
AD AD AD AD text AD AD AD AD
AD AD AD AD text AD AD AD AD
AD AD AD AD text AD AD AD AD
AD AD AD AD text AD AD AD AD
AD AD AD AD text text AD AD AD
AD AD AD AD text text AD AD AD
AD AD AD AD text text AD AD AD



-Colin [colingregorypalmer.net]

This just IN!

[phita23 (667236)]

This just in: "Google to define a new universal standard of internet measurement, called a G-Unit."

Re:This just IN!

[by Anonymous Coward]

In other news, Google has started up a new, popular hangout in many states. Called the G-Spot, it appears to be immensly popular with women, yet many men seem to have trouble finding it, even with directions.

Hmm

[ghettoboy22 (723339)]

From http://www.kottke.org/04/04/google-operating-syste m [kottke.org] "So. They have this huge map of the Web and are aware of how people move around in the virtual space it represents. They have the perfect place to store this map (one of the world's largest computers that's all but incapable of crashing)."

SkyNet? Is that you?

Google + open protocols = awesome.

[newdamage (753043)]

Google mail would be nice, especially if it had quality POP3/IMAP access that only cost $5-10/month. But that's nothing terribly special, there are some good services out there that already do that. Now if they made Google chat available, and based made it a Jabber based service and just put the Google name it on, that'd be awesome. It'd have the name recognition to get popular, and programs like gaim wouldn't have to constantly fight for access like they do with the AIM, Yahoo, and MSN protocols.

Yahoo what?

[Rosco P. Coltrane (209368)]

how prominent Google and Yahoo have become as almost parts of the operating system

Ok, so Google is a really good search engine (although you should also look at Vivissimo [vivissimo.com], it's quite excellent too) and I use it all the time, and everybody I know uses it all the time, and my dog would become depressed if he didn't use it regularly too. But Yahoo?

I don't remember the last time I used Yahoo. Or rather, I know I have an Egroups^H^H^H^H^H^HYahoo Groups account that I've given up on using since Yahoo decided to dump a million metric ton worth of advertisement on me in each page, and I think I went to yahoo.com to check it out with a glazed eye when I read somewhere that it stopped using the Google search engine not so long ago, like it mattered to anybody since I fail to remember anybody I ever met who uses Yahoo for anything whatsoever.

Long term plan

[product byproduct (628318)]

Today Google is an operating system layer.
Tomorrow they're a utility, like gas and electricity.
Next week they're a small government.
Next month they take over the world.
Maybe also the galaxy.

Re:Long term plan

[mpcooke3 (306161)]

Unless a better search engine comes along, in which case we ditch google and forget about them in the space of about 3 hours.

Matt.

The Sky's the Limit

[william_lorenz (703263)]

Google now has all sorts of information on hand. They have the Google search engine to index web pages, various offshoots to index news, images, and similar, Orkut to index people, and Gmail to index peoples' communications. With all this information at their fingertips, the sky is the limit (and it is good to know they seem responsible in the way they use their information, separating advertisements from search results, for example). I know that Google has some exceptionally brilliant researchers on staff, and I expect to see even more excellent services from their camp in the future. Does anyone else think that Google is on the cutting edge of Computer Science research?

Nostradamus obviously predicted this

[Billobob (532161)]

"The young lion [google] shall overcome the old [microsoft]/On the field of battle in single combat; [desktop]/In a cage of gold [computer] he shall pierce his eyes: [gates' breaks his glasses]/Two knells one, then to die, a cruel death [bankruptcy]"

What they need ar auctions

[Unregistered (584479)]

Ebay is full of scammers and the feedback system is horribly broken since scammers can pad their own feedback, but if you leave them negative, they will leave you negative feedback as well as revenge. Somebody needs to come up with a better system and google has the ability to actually make a better system popular.

just the $.02 of someone sick of browsing pages of scams to find a dvd.

Privacy monster

[jabbadabbadoo (599681)]

Google is becoming a potential privacy monster; if you concider GMail and cross indexing with the terabytes of data they've gonna get theire hands on... You see, it includes never-to-be-deleted mail archives, all newsgroup postings since the 80's, mailing list archives, blogs, *cached* snapshots of personal web pages... the list goes on.

I'm waiting for Google goggles...

[SmackCrackandPot (641205)]

I'd like a pair of virtual stereo glasses that could project a screen in front of my eyes, and which would activate keyword searches using silent pre-vocal muscle movements. Then google would be an integral part of my being.

Danger, Will Robinson....

[vyrus128 (747164)]

Just remember, the reason Micro$osft was able to become our evil overlord is because we let them. We bought their software, we gave them our money, and we said "Here Bill, we trust you not to abuse us." Just because we all love Google doesn't mean we should allow power to be concentrated like that... we've already made that mistake once. "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." -- attributed to Lord Acton, 1887

Re:Danger, Will Robinson....

[mvdde_xh (677698)]

And I think it was Bill that said "Power corrupts, but absolute power is kinda fun".

History repeats itself

[Black Art (3335)]

This sounds so familiar...

Remember when Netscape was going to "replace the OS" back in the 20th century?

It never happened and I doubt if this will either.

Seems every time there is a company with lots of hype potential, predictions like this surely follow. (Usually right before Microsoft breaks their kneecaps.)

Argh!

[dbarclay10 (70443)]

Google is a company that has built a single very large, custom computer. It's running their own cluster operating system.

ARGH! LINUX!?!?

Not that Google's magic isn't in their own software, but the least they could do is mention that it's running on Linux.

Re:Argh!

[Alethes (533985)]

Linux is just the kernel. The OS is Google/Linux.

Google is a search engine.

[manticor24 (643590)]

Every day I hear another hairbrained scheme about what Google is supposedly doing next. Start IM platform? Take over the desktop market? Make their own currency? People, please use your head here!

First off, Google hasn't done anything so far that they can't immediately see the return on investment. Look at their aquisitions:

• Deja.com: IMHO they bought this to 1) Remove Usenet from search results to improve quality and, 2) show applicable ads later.
• Applied Symantecs: The underlying technology for AdSense, which greatly expanded their contextual marketing market share.
• Pyra Labs: IMHO same basic principle as the Deja aquisition.

All of them directly affected their major revenue generator, search marketing, in a positive way. (Though blogger might have more untapped potential.)

Now, in comparison, these other theories have no basis on reality. The fact that Google is in a position to have these wild rumors about their Godlike Power is a direct result of the highly profitable search advertising market.

So what is Google going to do with their money? Not piss it away on the logistical nightmares of "GooOS", or "Google Bucks." In fact, they will be effectively printing money by expanding in their core market with the likes of Froogle, GMail, Orkut, and other future innovations.

Concentrate

[Jesus IS the Devil (317662)]

Google is what it is today because it concentrated on what it does best, SEARCHING. All this talk about Google adding auctions, IM, chat, etc etc is just gonna distract Google.

Remember all of those other search engines turned "portal" (buzzword of the dot com days)? What happened to them? They all took a turn for the worst and got sideswiped by a little unknown company named Google. Let's stop it with trying to add "sticky" features. Stickiness and portals went out with the dot bombs.

Or has our memory faded so quickly?

print.google.com

[xtal (49134)]

Google could also change the way the printing industry works overnight with this service - I use the internet for much of my reference needs now, and a few times a year I buy a couple hundred worth of books to add to my reference. The problem is there's a major time investment in locating what new books are actually worth buying - sometimes exceeding the value of the book, almost insignifigant to the effort spent reading and understanding what is in it.

It's not up there any more, but it looked like google was playing around with buying large volumes of IP from publishers then offering it for instant buy in pdf format online. As someone who has a few books in the works and is wondering how to go about trying to make some money from them - a search service and sales avenue managed by google would be amazing.

"Sold!"

Re:GooOS?

[baywulf (214371)]

They will combine SkyOS and .NET to form SkyNET.

Re:GooOS?

[cornjchob (514035)]

They will combine SkyOS and .NET to form SkyNET.

Then, they'll build a robot with an Austrian accent and send him into the past to run against the governer of California

Hell, if the story gets good enough, I say we make a movie. Perhaps James Cameron would be interested in directing?

Re:The Philosopher's Google Box

[4minus0 (325645)]

Easy...take a breath.

I am quickly losing the esteem I have always had for Google with this out of control shitfest of sappy, foaming-at-the-mouth hype.

If you didn't notice, nobody from Google wrote any of these articles. They aren't hosted by Google. I'll recap for you:

• An article at SearchEngineWatch states...
• 
  Another article at Kottke.org says...
  Some people predicts(sic) that...
  

I'm no apologist for any company, but your post blasts Google for no good reason. You now dislike Google because of a few articles not written by Google??? Google is one of the few usable search engines available and I'll not jump the gun on hating a company with such a good track record.

Frankly, I would feel uncomfortable giving my data to any company, especially if they are not obligated to destroy it after I terminate my account.

You've never bought a car? A house? Used a credit card? A debit card? You posted that comment through an anonymous proxy that you connected to using someone else's computer or a wireless account you sniffed? Google is right now one of the few companies I would feel comfortable with my information. Again, they have done nothing to make me feel differently.

Yes (was Re:Does anyone here HAVE a Gmail account)

[zavyman (32136)]

It's pretty awesome. Keyboard shortcuts, clean, simple user interface, labels, a distinction between the inbox and the archive... the list goes on. I also tested encrypted emails with GPG, and this does not violate the policies.

It's all that you'd imagine and more. I am thoroughly impressed, though I don't yet want to make it a primary account over the 100mb IMAP service I have.

Re:Does anyone here HAVE a Gmail account?

[KFury (19522)]

I have a Gmail account, but then I helped build the thing.

No, current users aren't under an NDA.