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Re: What has Google done for us?

  • Subject: Re: What has Google done for us?
  • From: rapskat <rapskat@xxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2005 04:09:07 -0400
  • Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
  • Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com
  • References: <pan.2005.09.12.15.14.53.764628@rapskat.com> <l7mgv2-gur.ln1@ellandroad.demon.co.uk> <pan.2005.09.12.16.55.47.243712@rapskat.com> <dg4cpi$13gu$1@godfrey.mcc.ac.uk> <pan.2005.09.12.17.50.29.916311@rapskat.com> <dg5cet$1c32$1@godfrey.mcc.ac.uk>
  • User-agent: Pan/0.14.2.91 (As She Crawled Across the Table (Debian GNU/Linux))
  • Xref: news.mcc.ac.uk comp.os.linux.advocacy:1029973
On Tue, 13 Sep 2005 01:38:11 +0100, Roy Schestowitz wrote:

>>> Wrong. [sarcasm] The Google Toolbar for Firefox was made available a
>>> month or two ago.
>> 
>> Not from Google.  That is an independent OSS project not in any way
>> affiliated with Google.
> 
> 
> I am not talking about GoogleBar or PRGoogleBar. Google released a homebred
> toolbar. Have a quick look if you do not believe me.

Yes, you are right, my fault and apologies to Google on that count.

 
>>> That is the nature of indulging on the audience that makes a majority.
>> 
>> At the cost of alienating the source of your cash cow?  Not sound
>> business.
>> 
>> There is nothing preventing them from offering equal and/or equivelant
>> products and services for both platforms.  For every thing they do for
>> Windows, there should be an equivelant thing for the Linux.
> 
> 
> I have received a message from DiBona minutes ago. It seems as if Linux
> equivalents will follow. Let's just be patient.


Damn that!  I want results NOW!!!


j/k ;-)

 
>>> In their defence, promoting an operating system, which is something
>>> Google do not deal with directly, would appear like propaganda and become
>>> a repellent.
>> 
>> How so?  All of the "<insert vendor here> recommends Microsoft Windows"
>> banners I see all over the place are not repellent?  Well, they are to me,
>> but you get my meaning. :-)
> 
> 
> This speaks of an actual fact. Hardware of a Dell machine, for example, is
> designed for and tested on Windows platforms.

Hmmm....tricky verbiage.  "Tested on" and "Recommends" have different
implications.  One sounds like statistical fact, the other closer to the
"propaganda" of which you speak.  However that's semantics and best left
to marketing people and lawyers.

>>> I believe this is bound to change, especially with appropriate criticism,
>>> which I am sure these posts project.
>> 
>> I certainly hope so.  Apparently from Mark's post I am not the only person
>> in the community to feel this way or express it.
> 
> You are not alone in this, but you may be more vocal then others and the
> arguments you outlined are rather powerful.

Yeah, I can be a bit...heated at times if I sense a perceived injustice.
  
>> Precisely.  Taking away from OSS.  On top of that, no doubt that they have
>> some sort of clause in their employment contract that effectively states
>> that anything developed by their employees belongs to Google.  How does
>> that effect OSS development?  How do we know that they won't pull a SCO in
>> the future with the code contributions that their employees have made to
>> various OSS projects?
> 
> 
> Don't compare Google to SCO. It will never happen and you know it.

It wasn't a comparison, it was a query.  And the only thing that I know is
that I don't know anything.  Disregarding a possibility (and it is a
possibility, however remote) allows vulnerability.

Question everything.

>> They certainly haven't shown any major effort of good faith that would
>> convince me otherwise.  Everything they've done has been 100%
>> self-serving.
> 
> 
> What do you call Summer of Code and the involvement in OSS? It sure counts
> for something, but as I said before, you expect the reciprocity to have a
> correlation with impact and the figures in the bank account.

I think it should voluntarily be directly proportional to how much the
faction has benefited from it in accordance with their ability to do so.
That's fair, don't you think?

The troll "linux-sux" who posted in this thread is a troll and posts
merely to evoke a response so isn't deserving of one, but he does have a
point in an oblique way.  If people continue see their hard work being
exploited by people to get rich and they are getting nothing in return,
after a while they may start getting a bit frustrated.  As a developer,
I'm sure you would as well.

However, perhaps I have been hasty in my judgement of Google.  They do
provide crucial Internet services that I myself make copious use of, I
even post using a gmail address.  So I'm willing to wait awhile and see
what their direction is.

Thanks for your exchanges, they were a refreshing change from the norm in
this froup.  :-)

-- 
rapskat -  03:42:18 up 2 days, 10:59,  1 user,  load average: 0.95, 0.54, 0.34
	"If I have been able to see further, it was only because I stood
on the shoulders of giants".
	-- Sir Isaac Newton


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