The Latest on Google
Regardless of what Google does, everyone in the world of the Internet seems to listen. Unfortunately for the search giant, it seems that the initial excitement over new releases is the only use that many of these projects seem to get. We’ve been somewhat critical of Google - from our post on Google Press DayÂ? to our post about Google’s role inÂ? digital media -Â? in our blog, but that’s mostly because we expect more from Mountainview.
The very name of the company has now been established as a verb in both the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary and Oxford English Dictionary, meaning ‘to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internet.’ With that kind of influence on pop-culture, it’s understandable the critics would have high expectations. In 2004 and early into 2005, Google had put out several popular releases that were well received by the industry and average user alike. Google Earth, Google Maps (which grew to include Google Mars and Google Moon), and GmailÂ? definitely impacted the online experience. Both Microsoft and Yahoo! had to make drastic improvements to their email systems to compete with Gmail. The same can be said about the impact of Google Earth and Google Maps. Microsoft and Yahoo! were way behind after these three releases, and it seemed that Google could do no wrong. But were these releases that significant to Google themselves?
When looking at Google Properties, Gmail and Google Maps are ranked third and fifth for percent usage, respectively. The search engine, image search, and news fill out the first, second, and fourth spots. Google Earth may be ranked twelfth on that list, but the use of the product by major media outlets is hard to ignore. In short, these three releases, all released in less than a year, have become important pieces to the Google empire. So where do some of the other recent releases rank?
Google Video, GTalk, and Google Calendar are three recentÂ? releases that have been significant to the Internet.Â? Although Google may not be the dominant player in theÂ? area ofÂ? online videos, Google is the only company to have aÂ? definiteÂ? model for monetizing the content.Â? The ‘open video marketplace‘Â? is definitely a huge stepÂ? towards the digital revolution, but the service could almost be described as trash mixed with treasure. And even if some of the problems in that New York Times article have been addressed, it brings up the idea of a public beta that Google has made so popular. When Google Calendar was released, we posted about the service and had twoÂ? points about it that were positive. The only problem was that the bugs were so significant, we had to comment about those first. So what about GTalk? I’ve personally never used the service, but I will admit, Silent Rob is quite fond of it. So, since we were split on this, I went to the people. First, Mr. Michael Arrington’s post, then Mr. Om Malik’s post, and then this small little operation called the New York Times had an article about Google and Yahoo that talked about GTalk - this table is quite telling.
The overall message in the article from the New York Times was that Google and Yahoo! had different approaches to achieve the same goal, something summed up in the title as Consistency vs. Wow. Having been a Yahoo! user for several years, I have been impressed with their services, their integration, and to put it simply, the consistency of what they’ve done. Google, on the other hand, does seem to be very hit and miss, and as the new kid on the block, it can afford to take that approach. However, as people become more and more attached to the Internet, it’s likely that they will become less and less fond of the frustrations that come with wow and move towards what works.
So that must just leave us with one question - Where is Microsoft in all this?