I'm certainly not going to defend M$. But Google is not so much about picking ideas (everybody does), it is about picking content, and repackaging it with advertisements. In fact, that's not unlike web scraping. It works well, and brought them a tremendous amount of money. But it's a monstrous concept that in the long run will tear down the quality of the web. Right now, it is still more or less clear to an intelligent person what is content and what is advertisement. But, the more people will grow familiar with the concept, the more they will ignore the ads. In order to keep up the click troughs, they will have to find more clever ways to blend the ads in the content. In my opinion, the web was a better place before Google and their adwords. I consider it spam.
I'm absolutely unwawre of ad content in Google Earth, but it's been a month or so since I used it last...
Is that where words are underlined, and rolling over then brings up an ad that has nothing to do with the context the word was in? If so, I agree that is spam. I didn't realize Google was behind that.
Nope, neighter do I. But I didn't say that. The only thing I said was that Worldwind was freeware without ads... But, seriously, the ads will come. One day, in some format.
In some fairness, Google did pay quite a bit of money to have aerial photographs taken of many areas to fill in many gaps.
It seems inevitable, doesn't it? Some international company will 'sponsor' it, and we'll never see another image without their logo and locations popping up.
i like google... imho, they are now where near the beast the MS is or was...ever heard of DR DOS??? ya well, its one thing to win by providing simply a much superior product (google) then to win by lying and outright deception (MS).. and by outright deception, i DO NOT mean questionable business practices... i mean, completed unadulterated lying... MS DOS did not win by being better...not by a long shot but anyway, i digress... i installed google, i dont care if they track what i do (like i could stop them anyway) since they already do just like everyone else does...(ya thats right, google only does what yahoo, aol, ms and other have done FOR YEARS) and about installing updates without your permission? MS recently admitted that they were installing certain updates to windows OS'es even if auto updates were disabled. i mean, all you guys think google's EULA is something different... well, i dont see it. and as for speed, its waay faster than firefox and the only issues i've had so far is an occasional freeze that lasts 5 to 20 seconds (probably not chrome though since i have had those issues previously) and that it does not support gmail chat...LOL...ya...google browser not fully compatible with google mail
1. While in Google Chrome, use the following keyboard shortcut: Shift+Esc. 2. The Task Manager will appear. Select the desired page that needs to be closed. 3. Click the End Process button. http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/3013/use_chrome_task_manager_to_kill_tabs
So, basically you are saying that you like Google because you don't like MS. This reasoning has given Google unfair credit far too long. I think it's time to judge Google for what they are, rather than for what they are not. Adwords is the superior product that made them so much money. They shaped the world of online advertisements and now they dominate it. I don't like that evolution. And there's more to come. People will grow more familiar with the way Google mixes content with ads, and start to ignore them more and more. In order to keep their growth and their shares in the stratosphere, Google will have to become ever more intrusive and creative in the disguise of the paid ads.
I have nothing against advertising on the web, as long as it's unobtrusive. Adwords is by far the most subtle, unobtrusive, and even sometimes relevant form of advertising currently on the web. I say good job, Google!
Advertising is out of control. It's become so pervasive we hardly notice the influence. Despite occasional flashes of relevance, television has become little more than a delivery system for advertising. 'But', you say, 'TV wouldn't exist if it weren't for the ads.' Yeah, that's kinda my point. Sadly, the internet seems to be going the same way. I'm not sure I can give it up like I did TV.
Now we really do have a different point of view on this! Subtle? - certainly, and that's the danger. Subtle advertisements are the ultimate evil Unobtrusive? - I find it very obtrusive that it automatically adds links for adult sites to my gmail emails if I incidentally include the word "naked" in the body (at least, it does in Dutch) Wth! Sometimes relevant? - Sure. But, almost by definition, not more relevant than a search action would bring up. Good job for Google indeed. Not so good for the Internet.
Well Google does pump alot of money into Hybrids and Green energy. Is "do no evil" officially posted anywhere? As companies go, I trust them more than others.
I vote with my eyeballs, and avoid websites that have popups over links as advertising. And thanks to open source, the most annoying common edge of intrusive websites will be dealt with programmaticaly. Any discussion of MS respecting the consumer experience on the web is laughable. Monopoly breeds contempt, and MS is the poster child of that arrangement. Open source of foundations, open protocols, open formats. At least that is how I spend my money.
This isn't about MS. It's about Google. I'm baffled by the fact that so many folks basically make the reasoning "Google is good because they are not MS, which is bad". People should realise that they are breeding a new MS in that way. I'm looking at what Google does, and what it is up to. And I don't think the balance is positive.
My Point of View: One of the ways MS is bad is that they do not follow Web standards with their browser IE. Because they have a large share in the browser market (due to past ethically questionable business practices, i.e. adapting Spyglass and giving it away for free to sabotage Netscape) many web developers will create web pages that work with IE but do not work well with other browsers. MS does not offer a browser for Mac OS or Linux OS, so that effectively shuts out those operating systems from using the badly coded web sites. If people start to adopt Google Chrome and it becomes moderately popular, it will prevent web developers from coding sites and ignoring everyone but IE users. Because Google Chrome is based on open source WebKit, there is nothing preventing others from using the code for their own compatible browsers and in fact, there are several Mac browsers based on WebKit already. So, Google may be evil in their intent to make money, but at least they are doing it in a fashion that will help de-monopolize the web.
