google: the future

benjyuk · 24-01-05

a plug I know, but read this column and let me know what you think
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/ar...455082,00.html

Ben
Benjamin Cohen
http://www.quickquid.com

loquax · 24-01-05

Interesting, but imo it's wordy and takes while to establish any real point of merit, also it doesn't cover anything "new", merely a regurgitation of what's been reported before - plus, more surprisingly you fail to mention new developments from Yahoo and MSN which could be key to a siteowner's dependence on Google.

Perhaps you could have used the article to tell that there are alternatives to the "chosen" search of Google and encourage them to consider alternatives?

Just my view

Jason

benjyuk · 25-01-05

thanks
the piece was supposed to concentrate on Google, but I'll try and include something on the other threats in a future diary.

Ben

Green2K · 25-01-05

Welcome to the forum Ben!

I agree with Loquax, I don't think this adds anything new or interesting.

Green2K.

benjyuk · 25-01-05

perhaps it does, as this hasn't been discussed in the times before or other main stream business sections. These issues have only been discussed online in advertising/ techie discussions.

loquax · 25-01-05

But the bulk of the article is about your annoyance with their advertising within a desktop thingy and gmail... neither of which are forced upon a user.

That alone is not sufficient imo to claim Google's "popularity will wane" - you say the piece was meant to concentrate on Google, but the activity of it's competitors does effect Google and imo will impact more on Google's popularity than adverts within a desktop application.

Also imo your second from last paragraph probably has the most interesting snippet of the whole piece and imo should have been the hook to grab your readers - and then the piece developed from there...

E.g....

"Google's popularity as the search engine of choice could be on the wane if the internet giant continues to encroach on consumer privacy and webmasters start to be charged to list their sites. With Yahoo and MSN rapidly developing their own search technology, the future is going to be interesting for Google and it's new shareholders... " - then off you go explaining the reasons etc.

Anyways I'll shut up - I did enough writing (and rewriting and re-editting) in my old job, so don't envy you for doing the articles and thanks for letting us discuss it with you.

Jason

renegade · 25-01-05

I enjoyed the article, I didn't learn anything I didn't know already and it didn't really have a reason for existing but I look foward to reading future entries.

Ben, please do post links to your future articles (and anyone else too).

Retail Creations · 25-01-05

Hi Ben, welcome to the forum.

I can't say I agree with anything you've printed though, sorry.

Why do you think ads on gmail are an invasion of privacy ? Your email is read by a script, not a human. A relevant ad is then shown to you. Where is the invasion of privacy there ?

I would hardly call the ads intrusive either. Part of their popularity is the fact that they don't pop up, drop down or get in your way. They also don't take time to download like graphics. How exactly are they intrusive ?

As for the conjecture in paragraph 14 about google trying to hire national security experts, where is the proof ? I thought the times had better journolistic standards than that.

An explanation of why the google news service (which i think is fantastic) has come under fire from pro-democracy groups ?

I'm sorry but i'm really having trouble working out what you think google would do with this informtaion that they potentially have access to and how it might harm you ?

webvideo4u · 25-01-05

Was this a piece aimed at the layman or people who work on the Internet every day?

benjyuk · 25-01-05

layman

Mogga · 25-01-05

email read by a script to fetch the right ads might not be invasion of privacy but being able to see what ads you get and what clicks you give means that they do have a good idea of what your email is about.

The google news service is good but they've recently changed the web access route to viewing and posting and its not as clearly laid out as it was imo. I've read complaints from people claiming people have had posts censored etc though.

Imformation gathering is a huge part of lots of organisations programs. Some reward the user for allowing collection of data (like rewards schemes such as tesco card) but a lot don't.
What they do with the data will be up to them but if UK law says you should know in advance then that needs addressing.

webvideo4u · 25-01-05

Quote:

Originally posted by benjyuk
layman

As its for the layman then it seems ok to me. We all know that MSN has a new search app out. We know that AOL are probably going to wade in with a new search engine soon as well.

The average person probably doesn't. To them they're more interested in the consumer products of Google, which Ben covers.

Nice article.