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Google Chrome released into the wild

Today's tech buzz has been all about Google's release of its very own web browser, Chrome. I've seen tons of breathless blog posts, comments, and Twitter updates about this over the last 24 hours; hordes of people were eager to start downloading it the very instant it became available.

Why?

At its heart, Google is an advertising company, not a software company. Sure, they employ some of the most frighteningly brilliant programmers in the world*, but they're basically just an advertising company with some very sophisticated and clever ad-delivery strategies. So why is everyone so eager to download and install an application from an ad company?

What if the advertising company in question were, say, DoubleClick? Would everyone be just as willing to dive off the deep end and install one of their products?

I'm not necessarily suggesting that Google will somehow monitor every single freaking web page Chrome users visit and use that data for ad delivery or anything, but it certainly does raise another question: why would an advertising company even want to create a web browser in the first place?

(*One of my co-workers is fond of saying that none of us in our IT department are even smart enough to work as a janitor at Google, and he's right.)

UPDATE: The terms of service look a bit sneaky (via Frank Strovel on Twitter):

By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any content which you submit, post or display on or through, the services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the services and may be revoked for certain services as defined in the additional terms of those services.

In other words, Google believes they have the right to pirate your blog posts, photos, videos, or any other content for their own marketing purposes, just because you used their browser to upload it. No thanks.

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Published Tuesday, September 02, 2008 8:56 PM by RussMcBee
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Comments

Thursday, September 04, 2008 5:49 AM by vagredajr

# re: Google Chrome released into the wild

They have since changed the TOS and struck that rather draconian language.

If you think Google is an ad company, you're missing the bigger picture. That's like saying NYT is an ad company because they make money from ads. True, they do, and they sell ads and sell classifieds, etc. But they aren't an ad company.

Google is a web services company. Calendar, documents, photos, social networking, chat, etc. etc. The reason Chrome is a big deal? Well, you should have listened to the Download Squad talkcast last night ;) They focus on search first, services second, all supported by a wicked clever ad system.

It's a big deal because... Imagine if Microsoft's first product wasn't an OS, but Office. And let's say that Office was the dominant player it is today in that segment. And let's say that, having achieved domination in that segment they suddenly realized: everyone is using our product on top of an operating system. We need to be in the operating system business! If XP or Vista were their first OS, we'd all be blogging our butts off about it.

Same thing here. Google's platform is the web. But the platform is in danger. There are proprietary plug-ins that threaten the openness of the web. There are quirky rendering engines that make productizing web services difficult. And finally, JavaScript is a crap shoot. Your browser, your machine and your proclivities all make for a very uneven field for anyone writing to that platform. No way our computing lifestyles would be so accelerated if our OS'es were just as quirky and unstable (yeah, I know, I know...)

So the entire point of Chrome is to accelerate the web-as-platform model. Google uses the web as a platform, and their endgame is to make that platform as stable and comfortable to the average user as booting up Windows and "doing stuff." Remember that Google sells servers to enterprise customers-- what makes you think someday when Gmail and Docs are out of beta they won't have an entire LAN-based or Cloud-based (or combo!) version for business? Thin clients running Chrome with Google backends? Google for Enterprise? That plus advertising is a very enticing combination. They are playing the long game, but everyone seems focused on what they AREN'T doing now... But that's why most people don't make a lot of money in the stock market!

Like Siddartha, think, fast, wait. They've got the thinkers, they are accustomed to lean code and they have plenty of cash to wait with.

Thursday, September 04, 2008 6:21 AM by RussMcBee

# re: Google Chrome released into the wild

I'm sure all those projections about Google's future are accurate and are part of their long-range strategic vision, but at this point, their revenue comes almost entirely from ads. Hence the statement that they are an advertising company. For the forseeable future, that's their primary revenue stream, and until they find a way to monetize all these other services in a significant way, preserving the integrity of that cash cow will remain near the top of their list of priorities. Ads are Google's lifeline and will remain so for years.

Online advertising companies have an atrocious record on consumer privacy, and I see no evidence that Google is any different. I don't trust DoubleClick (which Google now owns), and I don't trust Google for the same reasons.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least to see Google completely redefine the way we interact with the Web, and to see its online services dominate everyone else. That is precisely why their approach to consumer privacy must be watched like a hawk.

Monday, September 08, 2008 12:23 AM by revelator

# re: Google Chrome released into the wild

> It's a big deal because... Imagine if Microsoft's first product wasn't an OS, but Office. And let's say that Office was the dominant player it is today in that segment. And let's say that, having achieved domination in that segment they suddenly realized: everyone is using our product on top of an operating system. We need to be in the operating system business!

I'm confused.  That's effectively what they did!

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