DISQUS

DISQUS Hello! Mathew's comments is using DISQUS, a powerful comment system, to manage its comments. Learn more.

Community Page

Mathew's comments

Jump to original thread »
Author

Nick Carr is wrong on Google - again

Started by mathewi · 8 months ago

Nick Carr has a post on his Rough Type blog in which he whips up a typical sort of doomsday scenario about Google’s use of a policy called “First Click Free.” In a nutshell, this allows publishers to serve up different content to people who arrive through a Goog ... Continue reading »

7 comments

  • Frymaster

    8 months ago

    I won't debate the merits of this tactic. I have little love for pay sites.

    But I have to say to all the Google haters that the problem with Google's dominance is not how evil Google is. It's that they are so utterly and completely without competition. That's the problem.

    It seems, counter-intuitively, that by focusing on delivering value to their users AOT generating revenue, Google has both cornered the market on search AND made more money than Voldemort.

    Microsoft had to strong-arm manufacturers and buy/kill competitors to achieve this level of dominance. Google just does search better than anybody else.

    Someday, uber-geeks and the VC that support them are going to wake up to the fact that beating Google means out-Googling Google. Not pissing and moaning. Not "serving the shareholders." It means doing a better job at the task at hand.

    But that day is not today.
    reply
  • mathewi

    8 months ago

    That's a great point, Frymaster.
    reply
  • Shelley

    8 months ago

    I wish people would stop using the word "hater" for those who are critical, or who disagree.

    Hate is something that should be reserved for cold-blooded mass murderers of babies or broccoli, not for those being critical (necessary for balance) or in disagreement (necessary for balance).
    reply
  • mathewi

    8 months ago

    Agree, Shelley -- especially about the broccoli :-)
    reply
  • Frymaster

    8 months ago

    Should I stop using the word "cool" as an affirmative? Must I only use it to indicate temperature?

    Language is alive. Usage masters now accept "data" as singular. Infinitive verbs can now be split by a single adverb.

    You may dislike the usage, but it is, in fact, idiomatic and entirely reflective of the polarized society in which I live (USA).

    So don't hate the player. Hate the game.
    reply
  • dbarefoot

    8 months ago

    I mention this because I'm a pedant, but for many sites "the usual way" is via a Google search. That is, Google search is the #1 referrer for most of the sites for which I see stats.
    reply
  • jmy

    8 months ago

    What if I wanted to develop my own, personal search engine? And run it on my own desktop?

    Would the publishers open their First Click indices to me? Or would they only open them to large players, such as Google, MS and Yahoo?

    I suspect that they would not open their indices to me.

    And if that's the case, then it's not a question about Google vs. Microsoft, because they're both "big guys". It's a question of big guys vs. little guys. And if this is an option that is only available to the big guys, then it is not very net neutral.
    reply

Add New Comment

Returning? Login