Google's Next Steps 355
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."
Oh, the neins! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Oh, the neins! (Score:2, Funny)
gBucks? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:gBucks? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:gBucks? (Score:3, Insightful)
It looks like the web is being dominated by Stanford!
Here you go (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Here you go (Score:5, Funny)
I might have to go back to school. I wonder if Google will open a University one day.
Ivy League Domination (Score:3, Insightful)
If Gates and Ballmer represent the typical Ivy league tactics turning M$ into a software powerhouse. I am pretty sure these Stanforders will turn Google into an internet powerhouse.
The question now... is not whether they can offer goods. But offering goods to the masses at what cause. Our privacy? Their monopoly? Our freedom of choice? Doesn't everyone have www.google.com as their home page.
GooOS (Score:4, Interesting)
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 (Score:4, Informative)
Re:GooOS (Score:5, Insightful)
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 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Googlebar for Mozilla (Score:3)
But if you don't like, it don't use it! Nobody's forcing it down you.
Re:GooOS (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Re:GooOS (Score:3, Insightful)
Toolbar shmoolbar.
Re:GooOS (Score:4, Informative)
To search, yo simply put gg: plus the search terms on the location bar.
To search on google images, yo put ggi:
You can make your own for whatever site you like.
Re:GooOS (Score:3, Informative)
Re:GooOS (Score:3, Informative)
You can customize bookmarks to be "quick searches." Basically, you assign a keyword to the bookmark, and typing that keyword takes you to the site.
Then, you stick %s in the URL where the search query goes, and what you put after the keyword is used as the query.
This means you can quick-search anything - dictionary.com, thesaurus... you name it, if it uses CGI, it can be done.
Imagine... (Score:4, Funny)
Well, yeah... (Score:4, Insightful)
GooOS? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:GooOS? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:GooOS? (Score:5, Funny)
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:GooOS? (Score:4, Funny)
Not sure about the pronunciation, but I fear it's killer app has something to do with searching for pr0n.
portal fever (Score:5, Insightful)
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 (Score:4, Interesting)
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 (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:portal fever (Score:5, Insightful)
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 (Score:5, Insightful)
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... (Score:5, Insightful)
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... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Let me be the first to say... (Score:3, Insightful)
How will they abolish world hunger? Give people the poor to feed their pony with?
Re:Let me be the first to say... (Score:4, Funny)
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
dns-admin@google.com +1.6503300100 Fax-+1.6506188571
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
DNS Admin (NIC-1467103) Google Inc.
2400 E. Bayshore Pkwy Mountain View CA 94043 US
dns-admin@google.com +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
Re:Let me be the first to say... (Score:4, Informative)
-- --
Re:Let me be the first to say... (Score:5, Funny)
More? (Score:5, Interesting)
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! (Score:5, Interesting)
Not another "standard"! (Score:2, Insightful)
Please, not another new protocol, you insensitive clod!
However, Google Jabber servers would be cool!
Google: the Apple of the internet (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Google: the Apple of the internet (Score:3, Insightful)
Sorry. Something about
Re:Google: the Apple of the internet (Score:3, Insightful)
Narrow (Score:5, Funny)
AD AD AD AD text AD AD AD AD
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-Colin [colingregorypalmer.net]
This just IN! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This just IN! (Score:5, Funny)
Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
SkyNet? Is that you?
Google + open protocols = awesome. (Score:5, Interesting)
Yahoo what? (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Yahoo what? (Score:4, Interesting)
Long term plan (Score:5, Funny)
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 (Score:2)
Re:Long term plan (Score:3, Insightful)
Why not, it's a matter of semantic really
Tomorrow they're a utility, like gas and electricity.
They already are. Do you recall a day without using Google on the net recently?
Next week they're a small government.
They may not be a small government, but their page ranking system can certainly decide which companies gets better exposure on the web. That's an awful lot of economic power in a sense.
Next month they take over the world.
Maybe also the galaxy.
Re:Long term plan (Score:5, Insightful)
Matt.
Google + Sun = Amazing (Score:3, Interesting)
Google search, email, and file storage
Sun Java Linux desktops for home users
Sun Ray thin X clients for corporations
Sun enterprise servers running it all
How superb this could be...
and what would Microsoft do?
Cheers, Joel
Re:Google + Sun = Amazing (Score:3, Funny)
But what about an office suite? (Score:3, Interesting)
Google users will need an office suite.
And guess what Sun happens to own...
The Sky's the Limit (Score:5, Interesting)
Nostradamus obviously predicted this (Score:4, Funny)
What they need ar auctions (Score:5, Interesting)
just the $.02 of someone sick of browsing pages of scams to find a dvd.
Privacy monster (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Google e-currency? (Score:2, Interesting)
BEENZ.
It would follow the same model as Beenz's:
1) Launch currency
2) ?
3) Crash and burn like a plane made of pentane coated magnesium bricks!!!
I'm waiting for Google goggles... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I'm waiting for Google goggles... (Score:3, Interesting)
The Philosopher's Google Box (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:The Philosopher's Google Box (Score:4, Insightful)
As for the hype, most of it isn't coming from google. All that goodwill is beneficial to google so long as they don't start believing it themselves.
As for not wanting to turn managment of your data over to some third party, I agree completely.
Re:The Philosopher's Google Box (Score:5, Insightful)
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:
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.
Danger, Will Robinson.... (Score:5, Insightful)
I for one... (Score:3, Funny)
I for one, am severely disappointed in the only way in which the word "overlord" has been used in the comments posted thusfar!
Re:Danger, Will Robinson.... (Score:5, Funny)
Oblig Plan (Score:3, Funny)
They Said Same thing About Netscape (Score:3, Insightful)
Let's take it easy with the Google Is Taking Over the World stuff. Let them perfect search first. And they certainly have not won that battle yet.
History repeats itself (Score:4, Insightful)
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.)
Summary (Score:3, Insightful)
Any guesses on the tone if this was Microsoft?
Some of these things would be good... (Score:3, Interesting)
Argh! (Score:4, Informative)
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! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Argh! (Score:3, Funny)
Don't you mean GNUgle/Linux.
Sorry had to say it ;) Hey if not me, someone else!
Does anyone here HAVE a Gmail account? (Score:3, Interesting)
I just want to know from a slashdotter if the beta is all it's cracked up to be. I've seen a few screenshots and some blathering about the GUI...but is it really that cool? Is there a NDC so you can't talk about it? So they are going to target ads based on e-mail content...what if you encrypt? Is this against the user agreemnet?
I just hope they can keep this together without becoming EVIL (read shareholder value centered)
Inquiring minds want to know.
McK
Yes (was Re:Does anyone here HAVE a Gmail account) (Score:5, Interesting)
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? (Score:5, Informative)
No, current users aren't under an NDA.
Brin and Page over Ballmer and Gates (Score:3)
At least Brin and Page can really program.
All of this... (Score:4, Informative)
There is limited demand for web services today and I don't see this demand growing in the near future. There's only so much one can do in a web browser before you're better off working locally. Things like client-side ActiveX and Java, while supposedly making web services a reality, are slow, bulky, ugly and difficult to use.
Besides their foray into email (essentially nothing new), Google will find little potential for growth in their product line. I think the company should stick to improving their search technology by getting access to more data sources and making their results more relevant (there is still much work to be done!)... that's if they want to be dominant player 5 years from now.
A Google "killer" (Score:3, Insightful)
To construct a "Google-killer" is intuitively rather simple, though logistically, quite difficult. Only companies as large as Microsoft or Yahoo may have the financial resources and manpower to carry out such a task. Nonetheless, one of the first steps would be to crawl every single page on the Internet. While Google has an index of 4,285,199,774 pages, it has been suggested that the Internet consists of over 1 trillion webpage's, most of which cannot be reached through the current PageRank algorithm that Google employs (Wired 12.03, 2004). Going through all these pages with a natural language search, and without sponsored advertisements would also be of significant benefit. Furthermore, an archive every single copy of every single webpage would be another "killer" feature. Finally, keeping track of up-to-the moment changes on every webpage through RSS feeds would also be considered another "killer" feature.
Hence, Google has to keep up with the progressing landscape of search technologies if it is to remain profitable. It was not too long ago that Netscape was thought to be unstoppable and considered to be the next Microsoft. An IPO, whether bookbuilding or Dutch Auction, will give Google some leverage to carry on its tremendous pace of innovation, and should allow it to possibly fend off the competition, at least in the short term. It may simply have to compromise between transparency and loyalty, and offer a combination of the Dutch Auction and bookbuilding to price its shares.
Check your facts... (Score:3, Funny)
I had read it was 4,285,203,148 pages.
Re:A Google "killer" (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:A Google "killer" (Score:4, Funny)
Re:A Google "killer" (Score:3, Insightful)
What kind of nonsense is that? The PageRank algorithm doesn't decide which pages are in their archive, it merely decide an ordering so you see the most relevant entries first. I know about three reasons for some pages not being accessible in search engines. Either people will not allow the search engines to index them. Or there are no links to the pages, so there is no way to know about their existence. And finally servers/pages can be
Most illogical (Score:3, Insightful)
They also have not announced that they were going to take over the UN and boot the US out of Iraq. Or that they're going to Mars, or the fact they're going to build a new internet backbone with solar powered UAVs. Or that they have found the cure for AIDS.
Not so paradoxically, that means that analyst is a moron.
Google is a search engine. (Score:5, Insightful)
First off, Google hasn't done anything so far that they can't immediately see the return on investment. Look at their aquisitions:
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 (Score:5, Insightful)
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?
Don't Panic (Score:3, Interesting)
If Google starts offering a free 1000 MB of email account, what is stopping Yahoo/Hotmail etc from offering a 50 or 100 or even 1000 MB of free email account by making money in a similar way as google ?
Competition is good !!
Re:Don't Panic (Score:3, Funny)
Google builds Deep Thought (Score:3, Funny)
Gmail Viewer software with 2048 bit encryption (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, I am just kidding but what is to stop someone from creating such a viewer/encryptor if they want to keep their information private(less readiy accessible to Google bot/PhD's). If they want to read the content, they have to first break the encryption....using email viewer means that once you download attachment, the viewer decrypts it with the key and you can read the mail as if you were using it in your favorite POP mail reader....
Just some thoughts (Score:3, Interesting)
Google: Use Jabber (Score:3, Interesting)
print.google.com (Score:5, Insightful)
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!"
Privacy? (Score:4, Funny)
From the Gmail privacy policy: [google.com]
Ah, good! So I won't receive any spam from John Ashcroft any time soon...
Re:Privacy? (Score:3, Interesting)
Or even more directly, depending on weaseliness of lawyers:
Re:How is... (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh yes, Google is damn pervasive - it is much more than an "occasionally accessed search engine".