Slashdot Mirror
New Google Toolbar Brings Browse By Name
Philipp Lenssen writes "The newest release of the Google Toolbar (Internet Explorer only) comes with a Browse by Name feature. It lets you enter keywords in the browser address bar, and when Google decides this is a sure bet you will be directly forwarded to the right page. Is this the return of Internet Keywords?"
So...it goes to the I'm Feeling Lucky link?
FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
Keywords for sale.
Like firefox's address bar already does? Type in a word or phrase and hit enter and you're directed to the equivalent of an "I'm feeling lucky" search on whatever you typed.
I haven't looked under the hood but I suspect it's a glorified I'm Feeling Lucky google search. Doesn't seem very news worthy to me...
Shoot Pixels, Not People!
So they can get to everybody. An invite isn't something you sign up for, it is something given to you, current users would give it to their close friends and relatives, who are prolly not technical users and know nothing about current tech news and development of something as bland as a new email service, but thus letting people know of how good it is, and making sure the word spreads out that much farther. wow, no wonder google mostly or only employs phd's...
smart aren't they? also, google is still free, and I saw many people say they would be completely willing to pay for it on slashdot just because it is pretty much better than any other search engine that is currently available, and it is so damn fast. But Google doesn't need to slow down their conquest of the internet market, by doing something like making their services fee-based, at least not yet. First something as unimportant as a search engine. then an email service. next an efficient and elegant messenger with most features you need and enough userbase from gmail and google to make it the most popular messenger in the world. then a web browser with all these features integrated into a slick and resource efficient application, along with it a security package guarding your internet experience.
then an operating system.
then manufacturing it's own line of computers. most common type at first, but after maybe making it's own type of a portable computer system.
sounds like Apple, in the way that it is so popular right now with the iPods, but only iPods, and the way their products are so elegant and clean and efficient. ut much less expensive than Apple, currently at least.
Along the way probably Google will make a bad decision or in one of the processes I described something better than a Google's product would be released and would gain popularity and the plan would fall through. but Google probably isn't stupid enough to create a plan that isn't fault-tolerant. the course of this plan may take 15, maybe 20 years, and then Google will control humanity and make a cluster of human brains integrated with computers to find out the meaning of life?
oh wait, that would be evil
I pwn this comment. "The Fine Print" says so.
My first thought was "why MSIE only?" but then upon looking closer discovered that it only seems to be more or less replicating the facility already built into Firefox and Safari.
Not too earth shattering, and just in time to catch a declining IE. Most of the folks who would download and install this are probably competent enough to download and install Firefox.
Is this the return of Internet Keywords?
In one sense, Google has always been about "Internet keywords" -- accessing information by description rather than name. This simply streamlines the process of going to www.google.com, typing in the search terms, and hitting "I feel lucky" into a single step within the browser.
So why did "Internet keywords" get such a bad rap the first time around? Because, contrary to Google's motto ("Don't be evil"), they were doing it to profit from selling keywords. While they claimed to be delivering information to users, they were really delivering users to advertisers.
Thankfully, Google discovered that there's a sizeable market for honest technology that does what it says. To cite another example, this is also why user-controlled RSS has succeeded where deliverer-controlled "Push" technology failed so spectacularly.
Cheers,
IT
Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.
A lot of high-mod posts on here are totally missing the point. The point isn't so much that IE is finally getting the equivelant of an "I'm feeling lucky" text box, it's getting one that is (supposedly) intelligent. When Google thinks the "I'm feeling lucky" link is what you want, it will take you there. If not, it takes you to the regular search results. That is what makes this (albeit questionably) interesting.
"Wow, you're like some kind of superhero able to ward off happiness and success at every turn."
-- Ryan Stiles
*I* do!
I switched back to IE from Firefox because I got tired of bugs like this
Best Buy can have you arrested