[fsug-thrissur] Google's attitude : To acheive what?
- From: Tinku Sampath <tinkusam@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Undisclosed.Recipients: ;
- Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2006 19:45:43 +0530
It's All Fun and Games Until
Someone Gets Poked in the Eye
By announcing Google Pack, is Google, Inc., following a Windows-centric
strategy, despite
signs that globalization will carry Linux into every under-developed corner of
the world?
by KEVIN SHOCKEY, Editor in Chief, TUX Magazine
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Earlier this year at the International
Consumer Electronics Show, Google, Inc.,
announced the availability of the beta of
Google Pack. It is described as a free collection
of safe, useful software from Google
and other companies that improves user
experience on-line and on the desktop.
Soon after the announcement, John
Batelle, author of the Searchbog and the
book The Search, commented, "...the
company [Google] has made no secret of
its intention to poke Microsoft in the eye
from time to time." As it happens quite
frequently in the blogosphere, this phrase
stuck and the Google Pack was quickly
branded as a poke in the eye of Microsoft.
However, I'm not really sure who is getting
poked in the eye.
Of the biggest Internet companies,
Google is surely the leader when it comes
to promoting Linux and open source.
From standing out as a clear innovator by
leveraging the power and reduced total
cost of ownership from running Linux in
its massive server farm to sponsoring the
Summer of Code, there is no mistaking
that Google is a friend of Linux and open
source. Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of
O'Reilly Media, is fond of sharing this
observation. Many people, when you ask
them, swear they never have used Linux
or open source. But if you ask them if
they have used Google, they will say, "of
course". At which point you can tell
them that if they have used Google, then
they have used Linux and open source.
NO END-USER LINUX APPLICATIONS
The problem is that Google Pack is not
available for Linux. Although Google Pack
includes many third-party applications,
some of which might be available for
Linux, the bulk of the software available
was purchased or developed by Google.
Of the five applications Google Talk,
Picasa, Google Earth, Google Desktop and
Google Pack Screensaver, none are available
for Linux. Many industry experts position
Google against Microsoft in terms of
competitors. So, to me, when you make
announcements for products that require
the foundation of your competitor's profitability,
you are not poking them in the
eye. You are poking yourself in the eye!
Conceding the operating system level to
Microsoft is one thing, but actively making
products that require your competitor's
products is foolish and shortsighted.
If Google were building a Linux version
of these applications, that would be the
kind of news I would like to hear. I'm seriously
hoping that these developments are
in progress, and that Google is remaining
quiet until the right time. Recently, a
rumor surfaced that Google was working
on an Ubuntu-based distribution.
However, Google resolutely denied that
rumor. One of Google's key strategies is to
corner the market on the brightest scientists
and engineers. So if Google is moderately
successful with this strategy, the reason
it has not released any Linux software
applications can't be due to a lack of talented
resources. Although I might be widely mistaken, the lack of Linux software
available from Google is the result of faulty
strategy and lacks a critical understanding
of the software marketplace.
A NEW GLOBAL MARKET?
Anyone familiar with Thomas Friedman's
work will readily agree that a globalized
marketplace has been emerging that will
bring incredible change. When we consider
that the majority of the people in the
world have never seen a computer, surfed
the Internet, used Microsoft Windows or
searched Google, it leads me to believe
that it is paramount to ensure that the
first computer they do see runs Linux.
Due to the stark differences between proprietary
and open-source software, many
of the countries where all these potential
customers inhabit will demand Linux. But
what about the others? Is Google also
willing to concede all of those potential
customers to its competitors?
If there is any doubt where the market
is headed, consider an announcement
made by Mandriva in January 2006.
Mandriva, publisher of the popular
Mandriva Linux operating system, has partnered
with HP to distribute HP computers
preloaded with Mandriva Linux 2006 to 37
countries in Latin America. The companies
will work together on sales, support and
marketing in all Latin American territories,
including Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.
The first of these preloaded machines has
already begun shipping.
CORE OR CONTEXT
As Google rolled out some these applications,
many wondered what does this product
have to do with indexing the Web and
serving context-sensitive advertisements?
Geoffery Moore, in his book Living on the
Faultline, outlined the concept of core versus
context. His premise was that successful
companies focus their efforts on service and
products that differentiate their offerings in
the eyes of the customer; everything else is
context. So what is Google Pack? Is it core
or context? One opinion shared within the
industry is that anything Google might do
that helps end users manage and find information
is core. This popular opinion also
concludes that if Google can become
involved with the management and indexing
of information, all paths lead back to
them - that is, it will find a way to put a
context-sensitive ad beside that information.
This strategy is confirmed with Google
Talk. When it was originally released as a
standalone client, there was no way to
index or include advertising. Recently, however,
Google announced Gmail Chat.
According to Google, it is the first integration
of e-mail and instant messaging in the
browser that offers users a seamless communications
experience. One of the features
of Gmail Chat is that the logs from
instant messaging sessions will now appear
within the Gmail browser interface. Of
course, this now means that Google can
place ads beside those log sessions.
So even if it might not be clear now, it
certainly seems, that with these products
all paths do lead to Google. My concern
is that in the process of forging all of
these new pathways, Google doesn't
accidentally create them in ways that
force us to pay a toll. If these applications
(that Google wants everyone to get
hooked on) are not available on Linux,
Google will be doing more than poking
themselves in the eye when we choose
not to use its paths. When everyone
around the world finally does get a computer
and joins us on the Internet,
Google might discover that it built pathways
for today, when it could have been
building expressways for tomorrow.
EDITOR'S NOTE
Before going to press, I learned that
Google and CodeWeavers are working
on a version of Picasa. Although the
result will not be a Linux port of the
application, but rather the combination
of Windows Picasa code and Wine
technology to run Windows Picasa on
Linux. Nonetheless, it is still a move in
the right direction.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tinku Sampath
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