42 Quirks

I am pretty sure the guys at Google must be sneakily reading my blog. Remember this?
Google has rolled out a special version of Google Maps for your mobile phone (via Google Blog). Well, well, well…

So is it really true, then? Is Google silently creating a presence in all possible verticals? How long will it be before they integrate all things under one roof?

I am still wondering…

Technorati Tags: google, feature, promotion

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This post by Doug (a Xoogler) talks about how different people with different visions read differently into one and the same thing. Well, actually he talks about the Google-Dilbert Logo that *almost* caused quite an internal scandal in the Googleplex.

Those of you who have seen it, know what I am talking about. Those who haven’t, follow this link and read this.

Technorati Tags: Xoogler, Google, Dilbert

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People are lapping it up.

Google launched Spreadsheet on Tuesday and it was promptly covered. There’s a rumour about Picasa coming as a Web-based version soon. Anything Google releases is a matter of hot contention. It is not a question to ponder whether the interest in the product will be sustained or will die off the very next day itself. As long as it exists in the minds of the people, it will always bring in the hits.

You may call me a Google-basher, if you wish, but it still baffles me why Google should churn out these services at such a high rate. There are so many better things to do! Like, for example, they could actually be fine tuning their Search algorithm or re-inventing it.

Maybe they are already doing it and these things are simply to throw the hounds off the scent. Or maybe, they don’t have a clue where they should be headed now. Whichever it is, the big picture is really hard to see right now.

In the last year, since the advent of Gmail, AJAX and Web 2.0, Google has been building up a veritable repository of Apps, sorry, FREE apps for the *public*. What they did not create, they bought. And what they could not buy, they bought the competition and gave it away for free.

Again, the concept of Contextual Text-Ads worked fine, but then other players have now entered the Market and they are slowly eating up into the marketshare. Not that it is going to affect Google’s ‘economy’ much, but yet, it is something Google cannot ignore for long.

Let’s take a look at the facts:

1. Google has built up a large user-base based on one single product - Search.
2. Google has introduced various offerings into the Webosphere, definitely keeping up with the trends. Yet, there has been no visible innovation seen in the recent times.
3. Every new Google product or offering has one result assured - Love it or hate it, you can’t ignore it.
4. And lastly, each of the newer Google products is *loosely* integrated with the other ones.

Take a look at the last one again. There are no links from any of the Google apps to the others, save for the standard footer (which is ignored most of the time). Except for a few isolated examples (Maps and Calendar in Gmail) there have been very few instances of product integration. Why hasn’t Google integrated attachments with Writely and Google Video? Or with Google Base for that matter? Surely, it is not unimaginable? Why are they ignoring/neglecting/forgetting/overlooking/whatever such simple points? Or are they doing it deliberately?

One fine day, if they choose to bring all services (the old ones, the current and the new ones) under one umbrella, then this is what your typical day might look like:

7 AM. Wake up. Ready yourself for your daily work. Breakfast.
8 AM. Check Google Mail. Add client appointment(s) directly into Google Calendar. Check Google Traffic* for driving conditions and consult Google Maps for best route. Drive to Work.
9 AM. Reach Work. Open Gtalk. Your Calendar settings have been imported and all your appointments have been sent automatic reminder mails/notices about your meetings. Check your Gmail. Collaborate on Software Requirement Specifications and make changes with your colleague in Australia and save it immediately.
10 AM. Create a presentation for your Client meet using GPres* along with the same colleague in Australia. Simultaneously tabulate all the requisite data, draw up some quick formulae with the help of your colleague in Europe. Voila! Google Spreadsheet is ready with a cost estimate instantly!
11 PM. Client is online. (Need we mention free WiFi, here?) Hold a webmeeting with your client using Gtalk and conduct a video conference simultaneously. Close the deal and send a link to the already drawn up MoU and NDA along with the cost estimate that you just ruffled up with your colleague in Australia
1 PM. Open Google Search. Look for birthday Gifts for kids under ten years with a special interest in Pokemon. Find appropriate Gift. Pay using GMoney* and get it delivered instantly to your Office.
2 PM. Lunch Break
3 PM. Repeat steps 3 to 5
6 PM. Check your Gmail. Check for Google Calendar reminders/notices. Check Google Traffic* and Google Maps again. Drive home.

(*Coming Soon to a Browser near you. Please submit your eMail address for a special beta preview invite.)

The keen reader may observe that I have touched upon barely a few of the current offerings of Google. I have merely implied the potential what Google could capture with its current offerings. Whay are they holding back then? Is it to be a surprise attack, a Blitz-Krieg of some kind? If suddenly Google chooses to generate revenue out of all the (currently) free services

Google is building isolated chunk of applications. For us, they seem like unseemly, strange shapes. But they might well turn out to be smaller pieces of a mastermind Jigsaw puzzle. Google could well be on its way to building the only competition to, and yet not compete against Micro$oft.

Confused? Picture this: The Google WebOS and the Google Office.

The world is moving towards the virtual. Google might well stand to gain from this movement. At the same time as Google builds a monopoly on the Web, Microsoft keeps its monopoly on the Desktop. This might sound like a random conspiracy theory, but it is supported by hard facts.

Note that Google has not pushed any independent standards with any of its Applications. Writely supports .doc format as well as other formats. Spreadsheet claims “Familiar desktop feel” and that you can “Upload spreadsheets or worksheets from CSV or XLS format - all your formulas and formatting will come across intact.”

Wouldn’t a company seeking to remove M$ out of the competition promote other standards so that they could force the users out of the habit?

Consider this: Of late, there have not been any major innovations and releases in Google desktop paraphernelia. Those that are released have a distinct web connotation, for instance, GDS 4. In the other corner. M$ seems to have slowed down its work on the web front. Ray Ozzie and his Live clipboard are being handled by tech enthusiasts, who realize the implications of the tool. But the man himself, (Ray) seems to have faded somewhere into the horizon. The first impression of this is each of them is sticking to known battlegrounds.

And if they continue to do so, is it not a precursor of the things to follow? Is it really a random conspiracy theory, then?

Technorati Tags: google, microsoft, conjecture, theory

Over at ZDNet, Marc Orchant has this to say in his article Foldera: Measure twice… cut once:

I applaud this strategy. The more forethought and preparation put into the launch, the better.

Marc was talking about the eMail sent out by Foldera CEO Marc Orchant stating that Foldera is postponing its launch, simply because:

“we didn’t have the firepower in our datacenter to handle the sort of demand indicated by so many registrations.”

I wish to make it known for the record, I haven’t received the mail, this snippet has been extracted from the mail extract that Marc posted in the article.

Marc goes on to say that even after the resounding success of Gmail and the early frustrations of Gmail users, Google did not learn. The result was apparent for everyone to see with the initial pull-backs of Reader and Pages.

Some (personal) observations:

1. Personally, I believe Google did not pull back Pages because of high demand. It was probably due to a bigger glitch, something I have previously blogged about.
2. Foldera may be stretching the public interest a little too far. Going by the conversation on Mike Arrington’s Techcrunch, Foldera should have been launched and here many times over by now.
3. However, interesting a tool may be, the longer you take to launch, the shorter the buzz post-launch.

At least that’s what I think happened with Origami. Of course, Origami was a little early, about three years early, by my guess. In a world where laptops and palm-pilots have not yet become commonplace, introducing a gadget that was a level up in the futuristic scale seemed to me, a crazy idea.

One thing I have realized so far is:

“You can’t hurry up or slow down the future. It comes when it comes. You better be prepared for either case.” Probably that’s what Foldera is thinking. Or are they?

PS: I have decided to be a little more regular now. Hope to live upto my words…

Technorati Tags: foldera, google, peeves, launch

The Big Brother launched Google Pages yesterday. Of course, it is in Beta.

Here’s how they are plugging it:

Want to create an online photo tour of your vacation to Bali? An overview of the South American precipitation cycle for your science class? A shrine to your pet ferret?

Google Pages comes five days after Microsoft’s Office Live, which was recently launched amidst fanfare among the A-list bloggers. That’s fast.

Compare this to the launch of Pages and the blogosphere opinions on Google Pages:

1. “Google Pages Released” by Nik Cubrilovic on Techcrunch
2. “Google Page Creator” by Matt Cutts of Google
3. Jeremy Zawodny’s Google Page - Spammers hit the Motherlode!!
4. None from Scoble… Interesting…

Some first impressions:

• Google Pages follows Google’s clean design policy.
• Ajaxified Geocities?
• There is a 100 MB limit. ‘Nuff said…
• Intuitive working interface.

What struck me initially as pleasant and later as funny was this: Google Pages in OPEN beta. Seems like they are sending a message across to someone…

So, now, with its foray into personal pages, Google has literally become an all pervading force on the Web. I think I’d better create a list of Google products on listible. Wait, they are gonna buy that one too, right?

There seems to be a 100 page max limit on each user account. Hmmm…

Currently the user accounts are stored as yourgmailusername.googlepages.com which, I admit is ugly. C’mon guys, unleash the spam upon me! Would you be willing to risk that?

But I suspect, they are in the process of securing a deal with one or the other hostname providers to get your own domain name for free.

My bet is it will be either GoDaddy or Register. The former because it is the most popular, the latter because it’s, uhh well, never mind…

There are they haven’t yet incorporated Google Analytics into Google Pages. I suspect it won’t be too long before they do that.

It remains to see how long Pages remains in beta. But I do admit, pages is pretty slick even for a beta. Although it kept going offline quite frequently (every hour or so, frequent by Google standards) You can access mine here.

By the way, I don’t know how many of you have noticed, but all our clicks in Gmail are redirected through this site. Read through the content. eMail marketing, eh? Seems my fears are turning out to be right. Well, time to shut down my Gmail account or what?