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Google Eyes New Email Service, Expansion
GillBates0 writes "According to a CNN/Reuters story, Google is
developing a service to attach its lucrative keyword-based advertising to
email: ''I'm sure Google is getting more and more concerned about locking
in users. It wouldn't surprise me if they did something very sophisticated
with e-mail,' said Danny Sullivan, editor of SearchEngineWatch.com, who
tracks the industry.' Apparently, Google has purchased an e-mail management
software maker and registered the domain name googlemail.com. The article
also speculates that Google is slowly on the way to becoming a
full-fledged portal, with the gradual addition of more and more portal-like
features like Froogle."
Just think when you get all your usual spam, it will be annotaed by keyword to other sites that sell similar crap
I make my face look like this and concerned words come out.
I for one am dumping (or at least sidelining) my other webmail accounts immediately if "googlemail" has the features I need. When is the last time you saw Google down?
At the moment, they can do little wrong in my eyes, and I thouroughly expect to enjoy anything coming out of their company. I just hope that as they grow into the beast they are sure to become that they don't lose the purity and creativity that sets them apart from the rest.
Improve your Google efficiency:
http://www.dmiessler.com/google
dmiessler.com -- grep understanding knowledge
I don't know about any of you, but "Froogle" hasn't impressed me yet. I am a frequent user of pricewatch and techbargains, and Froogle hasn't even come close to matching these. Call me old fashioned, but I sincerely hope that google stays away from the portal business.
Celebrate Steak and a Blowjob Day!
You log into your GoogleMail account, and it has emailed you an entire evening's worth of web crawling for the data you were looking for. It's searched for places for your for your next vacation, and has managed to provide you with not only information, but Froogle'd for the best prices too. It's suggested things you'd like to do, and gone out and found the most popular sites about that as well. All you have to do is log into your Google HomePage and accept its suggestions, or negotiate with your own little GoogleBot for other venues.
Could this be the beginning of intelligent software agents? It would seem that if anyone could bring such a thing to us, it would be the Google folks...
libertarianswag.com
yup
couldn't agree more. google is definitely a class act. like their pop-up blocking software. it blocked 3 for me from that refdesk site.
vodka, straight up, thank you!
So what's wrong if Google becomes a portal? I certainly see enough people complaining about it. As long as the search engine still works pretty well... :)
As for "locking in" users, I would hardly compare this to the wonderful lock-in schemes we've seen out of Redmond.
Google email... would that mean that they parse my text and attach a keyword-based ad to it?
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
Dear Google,
r eesexsite.com that it's becoming incredibly hard to actually get any information out of it. It used to be that when I searched for a product, you gave me user/site reviews on that product. Now, all I get is a bunch of people trying to make me buy it from them.
Instead of messing around with all this e-mail stuff, how about you concentrate on actually making your search engine useful again? It has become completely overrun with results like sony.dscp10.reviews.digital.cameras.hot.sex.now.f
Please remedy this before trying to do other things.
Thank you.
As far as I am concerned, they can start offering e-mail, or whatever. They can become as much of a portal as they want.
Just don't destroy the simplicity of their search engine's front page by tacking on all sorts of ads and images and text. The bare-bones website they offer up for searches is so much more efficient and, I feel, better for serving the purpose of what Google primarily is - a high quality search engine.
If they start tacking all sorts of crap to it, they'll become just like everyone else, and lose their uniqueness. It'll still be a high quality search engine, but without stand-out packaging.
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
Is it just me or does it seem like google is getting further and further away from what they are good at (excellent search results) and closer and closer to a Yahoo type service?
I am sure the money must be great for introducing services like these but aren't they canabalizing their value by introducing these new services while at the same time polluting their search results?
2) Do one thing incredibly well? Check.
3) Do one thing so well you got MS nervous? Check.
4) Slowly expanding offerings that move more and more away from core competancy? Check.
5) Try and become everything for everyone? Check.
6) Spiral and burn?
The pencil is poised. I hope to god its not true.
"Enough of this wretched, whining monkey life." -- Marcus Aurelius, _Meditations_, Book 9, 37
Isn't this a perfect time for Google to announce such a common, easily identifible service as this than at this particular juncture? How better to prepare the investing world to sell this upcoming IPO to Main Street Techno-Neophyte Investors than to say that Google is expanding, and that they even have email services ... Plus, think about those eyeballs that will be locked into those browser-based email pages, and all the ad space that comes with them. I am a cynic, but that's just me. I'll still sign up for the service!
is it that bad seein a hot chick again? if i see a hot chick walkin down the hall i dont say "repost"
...all of this could be driven by the fact that they are working on an IPO.
They may be the kindest, gentlest search engine and downright good people, but cash is cash. Everybody wants more. More features means more users means more money.
[ Don't reply to this ]
Google is still on top of the market. But, more and more often I am getting bad results from a search. By bad results I mean that instead of getting the best site, I get the most commercial site.
y er.com
I would really like google to get a feature that instead of listing the name and summary of a web page, lists JUST the domains of returned results. i.e. if I search for "mp3 player", i get back
www.apple.com
www.rio.com
www.othermp3pla
--- not buying google IPO
I'm sure Google is getting more and more concerned about locking in users
It's only a lockin if the users want to leave but can't. Google has a good history with users, I wouldn't expect them to do any less with a mail client.
--
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American Weblog in London
it seems to me that the more google branches out into these extra services the more the only reason for google's success - the web searching - will be lost and ignored. I really hope google doesnt become like www.yahoo.com, which is simply an eyesore and completely useless as it tries to do too much...
95% of all computer errors occur between chair and keyboard (TM)
Seems like in the last few months, Google searches have turned up other "search engines" as a top result or 4 out of the top 5. So, as an example, I search for "foo" and most of the top results lead me to another (crappy) google like site with it's own results for "foo". The feeling I get from those sites is similiar to those crappy sites you end up on when mis-spelling a URL.
Wouldn't it be great if you could use Google to search full text all the refereed scientific journals?
That would make the internet into what it was made for, free open exchange of scientific work.
A LexusNexus Tab would kick ass to but might be a little pricey.
On the other side of things, Google stands to make a killing here. Google can sell a new class of ads to people like plumbers, who don't need a webpage.
Back a few months ago I was developing software and the question arose as to whether or not it'd be best to charge for the software or to include ads in it (i.e. Kazaa). It was concluded that Kazaa like ads were too intrusive and text based ads would be appropriate. I emailed Google about whether or not their AdWords could be used in a software environment and they said not at the current moment, but its a possibility for the future. The guy was real nice and forwarded the idea onto some more people inside Google. Personally I think that text based ads would be perfect for situations where you can't open source your project, but you can't (or don't want to)charge for it either, but still want to make profit. For example, you could place a nice little unobtrusive text ad at the bottom of your menus or something. Who knows, maybe we'll see google coming out with this kind of feature in the future.
Regards,
Steve
My guess is that they will end up looking a lot like Yahoo. I think Yahoo thinks that too, since they have already announced that they want to go head to head with Google's search technology. Yahoo surely hopes that by the time Google starts registering users they will be able to convince their existing user base that there is no need to register at Google too.
I doubt it will be required to register at Google to continue to use their search. You can do a lot of things with Yahoo without setting up an ID there, it's just that you can't do anything that requires it to remember your settings, preferences, etc.
What is sad is that most useful email addresses @google.com will be swallowed up within ten minutes of the service going live, so you'll be back to charlie055539833 or cooldude1975 as your userid there too.
Get used to Google losing its agnostic stance after it goes public. Stop thinking of Google as a round-about and more as a parking lot.
What is left in webmail? The best Google can do is offermore default space than Yahoo and Hotmail. This will cost them money - Yahoo currently soaks $19 a year out of anyone wanting more than 4 MB. Maybe they can do filtering better, but I don't see them outdoing spamassassin etc. Ultimately its just another email address. The geek cachet will wear off quick after everyone you despise starts using googlemail.
it's a bad bad move on google's part. The infrastructure needed (and the sysadmin) to provide a robust, spam-free , web based email system is of a sheer magnitude greater than just being pure search. ,and add to google's costs. And Googlemail will become the numero uno target for spammers. ...ahem... Wall Street I mean.
For starters , the tech support will ramp up
If I were the Google founders, I quite honestly wouldn't bother - it's to much hassle and dilutes the Google "brand".
But then again, the IPO is coming up, so having a "webmail" component is an easy sell to "analysts" in Five Points
Go to google.com, then go to yahoo.com (if you're using a good browser, view them in tabs side by side). You'll notice Google has their search bar prominently in the middle of the page, surrounded by 13 links, 4 of them are for searching, 1 for the news service, 3 setup options. Also, out of the way at the bottom are links to info about the company.
Now look at yahoo, the search bar is at the top (good) but there are probably over 100 links to all of the various parts of yahoo arranged in a, *gasp*, portal like fashion.
It seems obvious that for google, searching remains job 1, while for yahoo, searching competes with the dozen other features they offer.
-Reid
... they also registered the following domain names:
googleporn.com
googlesucks.com
Can we expect better content from Google soon?
More seriously, when they register domain names, I believe it's more to prevent abuses than anything else...
There are more than 1800 domain names registered containing the google keyword.
I found a cool List of Google Features that you may or may no be aware of. Check it out.
I have never had anything but praise for Google. The "Less is More" design was an oasis compared to other yahoos. However, I have always had a Yahoo account because it is free. I'll jump to google in a heartbeat ~ as long as it's free.
Google has created more innovative search features than anyone. And they just keep doing it. People have discussed the impending or eventual doom because of new offerings from MS and Yahoo, but the mindshare is with Google and the service just rocks/folks!
I have only 1 suggestiong for Google, and that is to let me up the number results returned to 250 or 500. Other than that, I'm on the bandwagon!
Stuff that matters.
http://www.arb-forum.com/domains/decisions/114712. htm
Possibly the REAL reason they registered it...
--Proudly not RTFA'ing since 1999
I hate grammar Nazi's.
... maybe trying to do more is a bad thing. Diversity breeds excellence. To site the rather colorful discussion on yesterdays thread... Women love to shop. Alas, it is true! Wouldn't it be awful is there was only one manufacturer of women's clothing? Talk about cramping our style!
So Google... stick with what you do best and just keep improving it. It's better to do one thing well than to do several things mediocre.
The parent post was copied verbatim from a Slashdot post from last year. The parent poster is karma whoring. Check out his posting history for other examples of this.
I just hope that it can stick around and not go down the road that bluebottle did!
That's my two cents
Willie