Scripting News

Thu, 20 Feb 2003 04:42:59 GMT

Ted Turner: "Only a bullet will stop me."

Thu, 20 Feb 2003 02:57:56 GMT

News.Com: "Require anything that has antipiracy technology built in to be clearly labeled and let consumers decide at the cash register." Makes sense.

Thu, 20 Feb 2003 02:59:39 GMT

InfoWorld: Microsoft acquires Virtual PC from Connectix.

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 23:16:16 GMT

Jeremy Allaire: "As RSS 2.0 gains traction and the content moves from being simple text content to richly tagged meta-data and more or less structured content, what's the proper productivity interface for digesting all that data?"

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 21:54:30 GMT

Megnut: "Beware the false blog software." Heh.

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 21:42:48 GMT

News.Com: "A Merrill Lynch analyst on Wednesday voiced concerns about Microsoft's response to the growing popularity of open-source software, echoing statements made by a former Microsoft executive last week."

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 20:52:24 GMT

Sterling Hughes: "Google is not a horrible monster, but it is also not an entity to be worshipped. It is a for-profit company that develops a quality product, and it isn't yet evil. That's a big accomplishment."

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 16:15:33 GMT

Mary Jo: Microsoft Tests the Blogging-Tool Waters.

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 17:58:26 GMT

Patrick Grote: "Google should be concerned about AlltheWeb."

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 14:17:36 GMT

TechCentralStation: "It's time to turn over part of the responsibility for Homeland Security to 'smart mobs.'"

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 21:05:30 GMT

Tara Sue: "Ladies, we must stop raising assholes, or at least stop having sex with them."

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 14:09:55 GMT

BBC: "Hundreds of large companies are being sent a guide by the music industry warning them that staff are downloading music illegally over the internet."

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 11:07:26 GMT

Don Park: "When you start a fight, make sure you have someone around to stop it."

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 10:26:45 GMT

Scoble: "My boss's boss tells me that weblogs are all the rage at the Demo Conference. He asked me to brief him on the topic."

Google don't blink

Wed, 19 Feb 2003 10:36:03 GMT

Here's one for the history books. "For all intents and purposes, Google owns the Web, by virtue of its superior and highly popular search engine." I don't agree. Teoma appears to be as good a search engine as Google. Here's how the Web works. If Google starts claiming that they own the Web, and tries to foreclose, Microsoft will buy Teoma and give something away that Google charges money for. Then John Doerr will be forced to decide if he is willing to wage a cash battle with Microsoft. He will blink. Google will be history.

If I had to bet, I'd bet that Google is smarter. They're not going to make the same mistake Netscape made -- declaring victory. Instead, they will be humble, and self-deprecating, and set expectations low. (They may have a problem because everyone sees them looming so large.) They will figure out what the users want and give it to them. They may try to act like a platform vendor, and if they do, they will have a historic chance to do it right, one that neither Apple or Microsoft or the W3C has managed. (Or dead ones like Personal Software, Lotus, Borland, General Magic.)

BTW, anyone who believes that Google actually owns the Web should remember that Microsoft owns the browser. Google is a good search engine and blogging tool. We don't know how they will connect them yet. I bet they don't either.

Note to Teoma. If you want to compete with Google, you must have image search.

Adam asks if Teoma should have an XML-RPC API, and the answer is of course. And it should go further than the Google API. Of course the Google API should go further than the Google API too. ";->"