Google Web Accelerator Brings Up A Lot Of Questions
A million things are running through my head about Google Web Accelerator. But first, the world exclusive first GWA joke:
- Do you think this was the only way they could speed up Blogger?
Anyway, this raises a lot of questions. If this program becomes very popular, Google will be running most of the world’s website traffic, much like Bloglines now runs a huge percentage of the RSS traffic. Will some of these features make their way into Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7? Is it okay that, 15 minutes in, Google now knows my password?
One thing I’m thinking of is that this just doesn’t “feel” very Google. It almost seems beneath them. Even if it is a very effective product, its just a little gadget. I thought Google was supposed to be competing with Microsoft? Instead of a Google browser (which I feel is a stupid idea anyways), Google best efforts are trying to replace Windows’ find feature and saving you a few seconds here or there. Meanwhile Microsoft is building Longhorn, IE7, Xbox 2, a competitor to the PDF format, and future versions of Office, antivirus, antispyware and other programs. Is Google playing to beat Microsoft, or are they just playing with (useful) toys? I like this product, but I expect to find it at some site called “Mike’s Kewl Downloads”, not Google.com.
I don’t know exactly what I’m complaining about. Its a nice program. I guess I was hoping for a little more ambition.
Hey, readers! Give me your thoughts.
UPDATE: The privacy implications are staggering. Google can now know absolutely everything. If they thought Gmail created a mess when the Gmail ad thing went down, its going to look like a stubbed toe next to this. The hell will rain down on Google over the following weeks, you better believe it.
I don’t know what to make of it either other than there’s much more to this than is already apparent.
Comment by Nicholas | May 4, 2005
I think that selling “ads” will eventually mature for Google. The honeymoon might be over soon, so to speak. They need to get kicking with something that is worth while. Right now they have brand recognition. Now is the time to make a big move with something like a software option. I don’t know if Google could sustain an OS - ads on our OS? They’d have to change their culture - it seems to be about ads lately. Would they give their OS out as an open source item or sell it to OEMs and the like? They would have to give out a Google Browser. How would they make money on that? Ads in the browser? Who would take it? What value would it bring?
I don’t know if Google realizes this. It doesn’t seem like it so far. It seems like they are “stuck” on ads.
My 2 cents.
Comment by Scott | May 4, 2005
I’m a bit lost between IE, Firefox and this new Accelerator. I don’t think Google made a good move with this product. And referring to Philipp Lenssen post http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2005-04-29-n21.html , with Google also knowing my extra ‘browser-linked-data’ like passwords etc. … I can’t help but noticing a ‘cautionous distrust’ starting to develop.
I have no problem sharing my data every here and there on the web, but if one company knows too much, I feel rather uncomfortably with it. Let’s wait & see, I guess. As for design matters, I haven’t found any difficulties when it comes to cross-browser compatibility. That’s a good thing about it.
Comment by Miel | May 4, 2005
I know people who still wont sign up for a gmail account because of the privacy issues. It’s not that bad though. As for passwords… Let me ask you this:
Have you ever used the same password for site logins as your email password? Ever thing that the people collecting passwords tagged to email address, that they might have your email password too? Assuming that they’re the same.
Comment by Scott | May 4, 2005
I’ve got to agree with Nicholas — there’s more here than meets the eye.
Would Google invest in dedicated machines just to shave some seconds off the browsing experience? Is their goal do an end-run around Microsoft, who’s spent years and billions on Longhorn and IE7 only to see Google steal the show?
Maybe that’s all there is to this, but I’ve got to think we’re witnessing major changes in Web architecture and Google’s position in the universe.
Google’s moving from search to hosting content. They’ve been passively caching the Web for years, they’re hosting video, now they’re doing active caching and direct content serving.
On Google’s first quarter analyst call, Larry Page said, “What we’ve done for the Web, Google aims to do for television.” I see the ability to cache, serve and accelerate petabytes of data as crucial if they’re to achieve that vision.
Even Google’s move to CPM brand advertising fits with a strategy to extend into the living room and disrupt the entrenched networks. (More here.)
This isn’t just a rink-a-dink applet — it’s part of a much bigger strategy that will change the rules.
(More on Google TV.)
Comment by Mahlon | May 4, 2005
I’m sorry Nathan, but your article is a load of inane sensationalism. It seems to me that you wrote it just to be the first person on the scene after the release of GWA. The article makes two main points, both of which I object to for the reasons which follow.
The first is that GWA is a threat to our privacy. Let’s get the meaty stuff out of the way first, https traffic forwarded by GWA. That rules out anything reasonably important such as bank details. Google will never know “absolutely everything”, to quote your rather odd update that didn’t really seem to add anything new to the article. This puts many people in more control than Google - your telephone operator and ISP always have had access to all of your web traffic. Then, like any large company, the stakes are too high for them to even consider violating their own privacy agreement. I personally feel more vulnerable that I am sharing my email address with you than that I’m sharing anything with Google (I currently don’t use the accelerator, but do use Gmail).
Your second point is that GWA goes against the Google ethos, and is no use to them. The bit I like best is “it‘s just a little gadget”. Google is all about ‘little gadgets’! Google’s mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful“. Handy little things like this are what Google is all about, especially when providing something that no other company is in the position (i.e. can afford) to do. And since when was Google supposed to be competing with Microsoft? This is surely the most absurd statement in the article. The closest thing to a major service that the two companies have in common that are in competition are Google search and MSN search and Google already wins that hands down. I think what you were perhaps trying to refer to was the speculation that Google may eventually overtake Microsoft as the largest multinational corporation. This is surely a possibility, but if it happens Google will do it in their own way, and by and large will do so without costing Microsoft that much, as they are very much in different sectors. The only Microsoft department that currently makes a profit is the operating system department, and I see no signs of a Google operating system, and certainly not one to knock Windows off its post. As some commenters have already picked up, GWA may not even be the little Google-esque trinket that it currently stands as but part of the framework of something much bigger.
For now though, I’ll be very surprised if I see the sort of hullaballoo that you are predicting - at least on such daft grounds.
Comment by Will Hirsch | May 5, 2005
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,1050065-1,00.html
Comment by Nathan Weinberg | May 5, 2005
But, to respond fully: I do trust Google. However, I do not trust every person working or who will ever work for Google. With almost all of my web traffic (and we all put plenty of identifiable information on non HTTPS pages) going through Google’s data centers, there is a huge opportunity for someone to take advantage of that.
.
You mention the telephone company. We regulate them, don’t we? And as for the ISP, since Accelerator is a proxy, Google just cut them out. Now they don’t have access to that data, Google does.
.
In the past I could argue Google had far less data than your ISP. I can’t do that anymore.
.
It is just plain naive to think that there is no harm in giving out all your data to anyone. No matter how nice Google has been, that can always change. In addition, no single company should be able to have all of that data. It is too far reaching.
Comment by Nathan Weinberg | May 5, 2005
Blablabla, always complaining, this whole article is just ridiculous, before making such words on the internet about Google I would say: You setup something like Google yourself and lets see how far you come huh! Morron!
Comment by Blabla | May 5, 2005
[…] le ramifications of using this product. Below are some snippets that outline what I mean. From Inside Google:The priva […]
Pingback by IsGoogleEvil?com » Blog Archive » Google Web Accelerator - Potential Nightmare | July 4, 2005
耗資源‧老孤狗真能 速？
文╱修無居葛剛看楊天 本沒興趣談Google新推出的網站 速器（
Trackback by 珍愛e世 | August 16, 2005
[…] Source: ↗ google.blognewschannel.com … […]
Pingback by The Google Web Accelerator Fiasco :: | June 24, 2007