Google Gadgets Come to You

An anonymous reader writes "Yahoo is reporting the release of "Google Gadgets", 1,220 dynamic applications for use on your web pages, without needing to connect to Google. 'Google Gadgets range from a miniature look-up for Google Maps or Google Calendar to independent applications ranging from financial information to sports to communication tools and jokes, horoscopes or geometric puzzle game Tetris.'"

Google promoting Spyware?

[jolyonr]

Ok, so they have their standard disclaimer, but I saw a "Smiley of the Day" gadget from hotbar.com on offer on the first page of that.

Doesn't anyone at Google QC this stuff?

First thoughts are after seeing that - I'm not going to trust ANY of that stuff on websites I have anything to do with.

Jolyon

Re:Google promoting Spyware?

[johkir]

My thoughts exactly. I assumed Google just put it out there, so anyone could put up a web-widget. And looking at the disclaimer at the bottom of the page, that seems to be the case.

Much of the content in this directory was developed by other companies or by Google's users, not by Google. Google makes no promises or representations about its performance, quality, or content. Google doesn't charge for inclusion in this directory or accept payment for better placement.

Maybe Google should protect it's name and prevent spyware garbage.

Belgium vs. Google exemplified

[BeanBunny]

Not that I agree with the Belgian government, but this makes it easy to see why they don't want Google to display their news. If this story gets put up like this on a popular edited Web site like Slashdot, it would appear to be safe to assume that many people believe that Google News, Yahoo! News, and MSN news are all authoring their own stories.

From TFA :

[g253]

"Before these mini-Web based applications can go mainstream, however, Google and the others will have to do away with the need to "cut and paste" code and make it possible to install such programs on Web sites in a few clicks"

Please! Cut and paste is too complicated to create a website? Hello?
This is in fact something I like about google : they try to be friendly to joe average user, but not to the point of thinking all their users are brain-dead.

...
When I was young we used to write all our html from scratch, using vi, on a vt100. And we didn't complain!

I don't like it

[Mori Chu]

I'm sorry, but haven't we already seen this in several different incarnations before? Microsoft's "Active Desktop" in Win98. Konfabulator. Apple's Dashboard.

What is this obsession with "widgets", "applets", and "gadgets"? They inevitably end up doing the exact same boring things: weather, sports scores, stocks, dictionary, and maybe a little game. Great. The world of computing has changed forever.

These things are often bloated little programs because they have to run in JavaScript or some other awful language. They never have consistent UIs, so users can't learn many patterns from using one that they can apply to another. Also, it looks like Google doesn't retain any quality control over who can submit "gadgets", so I'm sure it's bound to be abused by people who want to make malware.

This is a prime example of a "me, too" project, and I fail to see how Google's done it any better than the predecessors. At least with Gmail and Google Maps they innovated those applications compared to what came before. And how does this make Google any money whatsoever? Will they put ads in the gadgets? Why should any stockholder be pleased that Google developers are wasting their time on "gadgets"?

Thumbs down, Google. I am not impressed.