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The Google News Dilemma

Posted by timothy on from the to-beta-or-not-to-beta dept.

(54)T-Dub writes "Wired has an interesting article about the status of news.google.com. It has been 3 years since its release and the major bugs have long since been ironed out, so why is it still in beta? Apparently, it's because Google hasn't been able to figure out how to make money off of it. Slapping up some Google Adwords seems like the obvious solution. The problem is that Google News has multi-million-dollar news publishers scared because of the incredibly low-cost method that Google has employed to bring us 'up the minute news.' Currently they are able to scrape the content of news sites under fair use because they are not using it for commercial purposes. Once they move away from the nonprofit, educational purposes of their system they can expect to be deluged by cease and desist orders. Before you break out the tissue box though, remember that google sent their own cease and desist orders to a Google News RSS feeder a few months back."

8 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. Dilemma? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=dilemma&r =67

    1. Re:Dilemma? by Dachannien · · Score: 4, Funny

      And the true, true irony....

      http://news.google.com/news?q=dilema

  2. For more information... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...visit Google News.

  3. This has been known on Slashdot for some time. by chill · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. Create some cool web portal things
    2. Drive traffic to it
    3. ??
    4. Profit!

    Google, like the rest of the world, is still stuck on figuring out #3. :-)

    -Charles

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  4. gmail content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    well they can still take stories out of your gmail account and present those as news

  5. Re:Bad Grammar...? by nomadic · · Score: 5, Funny

    Am I reading it wrong, or is the title of that Wired article (Google News: Beta Not Make Money) really bad grammar? Do they have editors over there?

    Tarzan like job at wired but miss jungle.

  6. I can relate by Chimmy+Chonga · · Score: 3, Funny

    My current employment is beta, until I make some money that is.

  7. Re:This Post by Doesn't_Comment_Code · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why stop there?

    The next time my mother-in-law asks why I don't make more money, I'm going to tell her I'm in Beta.

    --

    Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.