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Google's Next Steps
danimlp writes "An article at SearchEngineWatch states that Google and Yahoo have become as almost parts of the operating system, a 'layer' above Linux, Windows or Mac OS. Another article at Kottke.org says that Google is building a a huge computer with a custom operating system that everyone on earth can have an account on. Some people predicts that, after Gmail, Google could start a new instant message service or even its own electronic currency."
Considering that the Google Toolbar only works on IE, Google doesn't actually come across as THAT Linux-friendly (as a client; obviously, they use Linux industrially-speaking).
ARGH! LINUX!?!?
Not that Google's magic isn't in their own software, but the least they could do is mention that it's running on Linux.
Barclay family motto:
Aut agere aut mori.
(Either action or death.)
----
And the muscular cyborg German dudes dance with sexy French Canadians
I used to love the toolbar, but that was before I 1) discovered Mozilla, and 2) switched to Linux. Mozilla already has a built-in search Google functionality in the address bar. Firefox has a separate box just for searches on Google. On Opera for a search on Google, I just type in 'g' and my search terms and it will automatically send a query to Google for me. I don't have a Mac, so I don't know about Safari. I think Konqueror and Galeon have similar functionality. All three browsers have built-in pop-up blocking technology and good autoform support. Those are the only three things I have ever used the Google toolbar for, and all three are only lacking in IE. I don't think the toolbar fixes any security holes in IE. Point is, anyone still on Windows needs to switch to something different as soon as they can. Along with built-in google toolbar functionality, they'll get a much superior web experience.
I also reply below your current threshold.
There is limited demand for web services today and I don't see this demand growing in the near future. There's only so much one can do in a web browser before you're better off working locally. Things like client-side ActiveX and Java, while supposedly making web services a reality, are slow, bulky, ugly and difficult to use.
Besides their foray into email (essentially nothing new), Google will find little potential for growth in their product line. I think the company should stick to improving their search technology by getting access to more data sources and making their results more relevant (there is still much work to be done!)... that's if they want to be dominant player 5 years from now.
True, and this is the google baar for mozilla, if you want one :)
My other car is first.
I have a Gmail account, but then I helped build the thing.
No, current users aren't under an NDA.
Kevin Fox
Nothing beats konqueror support for google and other things.
To search, yo simply put gg: plus the search terms on the location bar.
To search on google images, yo put ggi:
You can make your own for whatever site you like.
My heart is pure, but make no mistake, it's pure evil
You can customize bookmarks to be "quick searches." Basically, you assign a keyword to the bookmark, and typing that keyword takes you to the site.
Then, you stick %s in the URL where the search query goes, and what you put after the keyword is used as the query.
This means you can quick-search anything - dictionary.com, thesaurus... you name it, if it uses CGI, it can be done.
im in ur