John Doerr Disclaims Rumored GBrowser

iseff writes "Contrary to the rumors which have been circulating, John Doerr (VC and early investor in Google) told the Web 2.0 conference that although he believes in another browser war, Google won't be a part of it. Then again, he did say he didn't know everything that goes on at Google, even though he's on the board. Now it makes you wonder why Google registered gbrowser.com?"

Comments

Browser?

[Dr Caleb]

Now it makes you wonder why Google registered gbrowser.com?

No it doesn't. They also registered googlesucks.com, but I don't think they feel that way about themselves.

Re:Browser?

[squiggleslash]

They registered Googlesucks.com? This is clear evidence they're entering the vacuum cleaner market!

Re:Browser?

[Kenja]

They must have registered Googlesucks.com because they plan on setting up a porn site!

Re:Browser?

[Anonymous Coward]

They registered Googlesucks.com? This is clear evidence they're entering the vacuum cleaner market!

Crap! I was hoping it was an adult content search engine :(

Re:Browser?

[gmuslera]

I'm a spanish speaker so sometimes i miss some details in english expressions, but a browser don't need to be a desktop web browser like IE/Mozilla/Opera. Something that could be interesting is a site that gives an overview of different google sites, an integrated view of their services or portal site and maybe that could be called that way.

Of course, they also could want to avoid some porn site to use that domain name to trick visitors thinking that it as a "door" to google.

Re:Browser?

[Paralizer]

They registered it to keep their options open. It costs $35 for 3 years at Dotster, and it's a multimillion dollar company. It's practically free :)

Re:Browser?

[magefile]

No, that would be Booble.com (may not be safe for work; depicts one pair of cartoon breasts). Note: Booble was sued by Google for this page; I'm not sure what the outcome was, but now you have to go to search.booble.com to see the Google parody rather than just booble.com.

Re:Browser?

[polecat_redux]

They also registered googlesucks.com

It's called cybersquatting. They obviously want to extort money from someone who has a legitimate reason to register googlesucks.com.

Re:Browser?

[dtobias]

Since when does Google need any domains other than google.com? They've generally been very clueful about knowing how to use logical subdomains for their various sites, like groups.google.com, images.google.com, and so on.

Re:Browser?

[AndroidCat]

Neopets bought up something like 300 domains to cover any futures plans as well as negative domains. Strangely, they pointed the negative ones at their main page too. (They're also marketing survey spammers, so I guess they're used to not being liked.)

Re:Browser?

[Romeozulu]

Because for most "normal" people, typing gmail.com is more intuitive them gmail.google.com.

Re:Browser?

[whovian]

They have both googlesucks.com and googleblows.com. But what is interesting to me is the apparent foresight they had in registering them:

Domain Name: googleblows.net
Created on..............: 1999-Oct-15.
Expires on..............: 2005-Oct-15.
Record last updated on..: 2004-Oct-01 21:03:44.

Domain Name: googleblows.com
Created on..............: 1999-Oct-15.
Expires on..............: 2005-Oct-15.
Record last updated on..: 2004-Oct-01 21:03:13.

Re:Browser?

[JeanBaptiste]

"Crap! I was hoping it was an adult content search engine "

bah, they already have that. go to images.google.com, click advanced search, and turn filtering off. search for whatever your can think of. happy pr0ning!

Re:Browser?

[AKnightCowboy]

They also got a front page Slashdot story multiple times over it. $8 to register a domain buys a lot of free Slashvertisements promoting your company if you can start the rumors.

Re:Browser?

[RWerp]

Or gmail.com... why not mail.google.com ?

Re:Browser?

[XemonerdX]

Cuz they already have gmail.google.com... Gee...

Re:Browser?

[Random Guru 42]

And who would have such a legitimate reason?

Re:Browser?

[BriarRose]

Groomba, perhaps?

Re:Browser?

[Anonymous Coward]

Crap! I was hoping it was an adult content search engine :(

That would be googleblows.com

Administrative Contact:
DNS Admin (NIC-1340142) Google Inc.

Re:Browser?

[Zebbers]

It actually should be classified as such.

They should be punished.

I hate the abuse of domain names.

Re:Browser?

[Anonymous Coward]

I was thinking the same thing. Browser doesn't have to mean web-browser. When I first saw it I thought it would probably be a listing site, as in browse through googles entries by "browsing" and not searching. Maybe something extra dynamic from google, something that works better than yahoo.

Why is parent only a 3? Bump this guys karma, because he's absolutely correct.

Re:Browser?

[Anonymous Coward]

For english being a second language he did fantastically. You may want to praise him on picking up on the symantics of the word "browser" better than the majority of slashdot readers.

Re:Browser?

[bhsx]

I just registered gporn.com
I'm gonna squat it for a while, see if someone ponies-up for it ;)

Re:Browser?

[Epistax]

Apparently you haven't tried a GIS with the filter off.

Re:Browser?

[Anonymous Coward]

Your MOM.

To blog about her experience with google every night.

Re:Browser?

[kundor]

Karen Groulx?!?

Re:Browser?

[Anonymous Coward]

I bow my head in shame, for I am now normal. I always type in gmail.com. I suck, and not in a good way.

Re:Browser?

[Anonymous Coward]

Soo... Google both sucks AND blows. This confirms my theory that Google is secretly operating a cluster of quantum computers.

Re:Browser?

[drinkypoo]

I'm gonna squat it for a while

Apparently this is closely related to goatse.cx.

see if someone ponies-up for it

'nuff said.

Re:Browser?

[black mariah]

It's funny when grammar trolls don't know WTF they're talking about. "Don't" was the original contraction of "does not". It has fallen out of favor in preference of "doesn't" but either one is completely acceptable.

Re:Browser?

[Justus]

It's worth noting that http://mail.google.com actually does take you to gmail.

Re:Browser?

[DrEasy]

But what is interesting to me is the apparent foresight they had in registering them

You mean they think that eventually they WILL suck? ;-)

Re:Browser?

[Anonymous Coward]

no they shouldn't. The only other way to work domains is to have a consortium of people that decides whether you have a valid claim to a domain name, and why should that be the case.

Re:Browser?

[Daengbo]

I'm sorry, but in what modern form of English (i.e. neither British nor American) are either "don't" or "doesn't" completely acceptable with third person singular subjects?

Re:Browser?

[PetoskeyGuy]

Maybe it's googleblows.com - they own that too

Re:Browser?

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree, but I can't pick the semantics of "symantics" ;-)

Re:Browser?

[jamiethehutt]

They registered Googlesucks.com? This is clear evidence they're entering the vacuum cleaner market!

Crap! I was hoping it was an adult content search engine :(

Depends if vacuum cleaners are your thing realy... ;)

nlookup so you wont have

[Anonymous Coward]

MarkMonitor.com - The Leader in Corporate Domain Management

For Global Domain Consolidation, Research & Intelligence,
and Enterprise DNS, go to: www.markmonitor.com

The Data in MarkMonitor.com's WHOIS database is provided by MarkMonitor.com
for information purposes, and to assist persons in obtaining information
about or related to a domain name registration record. MarkMonitor.com
does not guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a WHOIS query, you agree
that you will use this Data only for lawful purposes and that, under no
circumstances will you use this Data to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise
support the transmission of mass unsolicited, commercial advertising or
solicitations via e-mail (spam); or (2) enable high volume, automated,
electronic processes that apply to MarkMonitor.com (or its systems).
MarkMonitor.com reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.
By submitting this query, you agree to abide by this policy.

Registrant:
Google Inc.
(DOM-1278108)
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View
CA
94043 US

Domain Name: gbrowser.com

Registrar Name: Markmonitor.com
Registrar Whois: whois.markmonitor.com
Registrar Homepage: http://www.markmonitor.com

Administrative Contact:
DNS Admin
(NIC-1467103)
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View
CA
94043 US
dns-admin@google.com +1.6503300100 Fax- +1.6506188571
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
DNS Admin
(NIC-1467103)
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View
CA
94043 US
dns-admin@google.com +1.6503300100 Fax- +1.6506188571

Created on..............: 2004-Apr-26.
Expires on..............: 2006-Apr-26.
Record last updated on..: 2004-Apr-26 16:46:39.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS1.ALLDOMAINS.COM 64.124.14.32
NS2.ALLDOMAINS.COM 209.25.143.102

MarkMonitor.com - The Leader in Corporate Domain Management

For Global Domain Consolidation, Research & Intelligence,
and Enterprise DNS, go to: www.markmonitor.com

Re:nlookup so you wont have

[TCM]

What are you doing on slashdot if you confuse nslookup and whois?

Re:nlookup so you wont have

[Anonymous Coward]

"What are you doing on slashdot if you confuse nslookup and whois?"

At a guess, security-consulting for companies who confuse microsoft with secure software... ;)

Re:nlookup so you wont have

[Anonymous Coward]

Playing a round of xtrek is my guess.

Re:nlookup so you wont have

[wuice]

Probably reading stories, comments, posting comments, you know.. the usual.

I'm not convinced

[rafikki]

If you look at all the new programs they've been putting out lately, the deskbar, the toolbar, the new Gmail Notifier etc. and realize that all that stuff could be very usefully integrated into a web browser... not to mention some of the stuff floating around in their Labs section. I suspect that's not the last word we'll here on a new browser.

Re:I'm not convinced

[rainwater]

The problem with that is most of the stuff they build is Windows specific and IE specific. Surely, they would be building Mozilla/FireFox extensions if they were planning on expanding thier browser extensions.

Re:I'm not convinced

[nine-times]

I agree. They could easily take Firefox, add a few extensions that tie in specifically with their services, and rebrand it "gbrowser".

Of course, I'm also not sure it's very worth their while at this point. Firefox's default search is Google. People have already created a Google/Gmail related extensions for Firefox without Google needing to lift a finger. As long as the open-source community is so supportive of Google, it might fall under the category of 'why bother?'

Re:I'm not convinced

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess the only reason they have to release a browser at this point is to lay foundations for a MS like empire. Granted I dont think they will be producing operating systems any time soon, but maybe they want to take on MS in other areas like e-commerce, news, mail, and everything else MS does that is no way related to the software they developed. MS is not necessarily dominating in every area they touch but just putting the MS logo on things drags in thousands of know-nothing users who think anything MS branded is their solution.

Re:I'm not convinced

[zero-one]

Or maybe it could all point to them wanting to add searching / browsing features to client PCs.

Google have done a really good job at making searching the Internet easy so much so that it is often easier to find a document on the Internet than on a desktop PC.

If Microsoft are going to get into the search business it might be reasonable to assume that they would want to do combine local and Internet searching in one app and perhaps lock Google out using their control of the desktop.

Now if Google were to get there first...

Just an idea.

Re:I'm not convinced

[Anonymous Coward]

"why bother?"

It may be taht for lots of people it's easier to adopt a Google browser since they use Google daily and never heard of Firefox.

Re:I'm not convinced

[cowens]

As long as the open-source community is so supportive of Google, it might fall under the category of 'why bother?'

I thought it was obvious. Google has made its money off of being the best search engine available. How did they do it? By creating the Page Rank algorithm. How does Page Rank work? By giving sites linked by many sources a higher value. Imagine Google had a (completely sanitised) copy of everybody's history file from their web browsers listing where they have been, at what time, for how long, and where they went next. They could use this information in a similar way to how they use Page Rank now and create an even more useful search algorithm.

Or maybe I am paranoid (goes back to reading emails in gmail).

Re:I'm not convinced

[marcello_dl]

A very interesting idea, I was thinking something similar that doesn't involve mining users' history but let them give a feedback rating on search results. Statistical analysis could isolate users who try to cheat marking crap sites as useful.

That would give a lesson to those sites trying to exploit pagerank to serve useless content.

Re:I'm not convinced

[drinkypoo]

Surely it would be better to just release a set of plugins and maybe a skin to make firefox into gbrowser? That way they don't have to maintain the infrastructure. Forking is expensive, adding on is the way to go, especially since Firefox is so accomodating in that regard.

Re:I'm not convinced

[Anonymous Coward]

>Or maybe I am paranoid (goes back to reading emails in gmail).

you know what is also interesting, that google has a map of gmail users linking them to each other because of how the invite system is used to get accounts.

Re:I'm not convinced

[Grizzlysmit]

If you look at all the new programs they've been putting out lately, the deskbar, the toolbar, the new Gmail Notifier etc. and realize that all that stuff could be very usefully integrated into a web browser... not to mention some of the stuff floating around in their Labs section. I suspect that's not the last word we'll here on a new browser.

Yeah I know you just think if you keep spreading these rumours about a google web browser, that in the end they'll give in and make one to shut you up right.

Re:I'm not convinced

[nine-times]

I wasn't suggesting any real fork. Like nothing would be changed but the graphics and some extentions, and then users could download it all as one package, from google. Something less than what Netscape was doing with Mozilla.

I'd almost like for Google to do this. How much easier would it be to convince PHBs to switch to Firefox if you could pretend Google made it?

Hmm.

[Anonymous Coward]

*nods* Makes you wonder... what else are they already thinking about, that even most of their own people don't yet know about? Then again, as long as they provide extremely good service, it probably doesn't matter that much.

Options

[Kralizec]

Now it makes you wonder why Google registered gbrowser.com?

Because every business likes to keep its options open?

Re:Options

[elmarkitse]

Perhaps they plan on a name change for Picasa, or their online image / news engines.

Why? That's Easy

[attam]

They registered Gbrowser.com for the same reason they turned "www.googlegear.com" into "www.zipzoomfly.com." They don't want some schmuck grabbing names that might be related to them, and bogarting off their brand recognition. Just my 2 cents on the matter.

Re:Why? That's Easy

[TrollBridge]

So "G" now constitutes a brand? I thought it was "Google". By any chance, did you defend "Lindows"?

Re:Why? That's Easy

[stratjakt]

Them grabbing googlegear or googlesucks makes sense, but why gbrowser? Maybe the GNOME people could use gbrowser.

Does everything with a letter g in front of it belong to google?

If I saw an ad for GDonuts I wouldn't think of google.

Re:Why? That's Easy

[squiggleslash]

I seriously doubt it. With no context, I'd assume "GBrowser" was a GNOME or GNU tool. Assuming I'd never heard of GNOME or GNU, I really wouldn't be able to tell. I certainly wouldn't assume that it's something to do with Google when the only other "G" domain I've ever heard of was GMail (when was the last time you used GSearch, GImages, or GGroups, or GNews?)

If the domain name was "GoogleBrowser.com" that'd be difference.

Re:Why? That's Easy

[GlassUser]

No, not at all. But it's still associated with them by many. There's a clear difference between them speculatively registering names that they wouldn't like associated with someone else at their expense, and abusing the legal system by making fraudulent claims of trademark and name infringement.

Re:Why? That's Easy

[jekewa]

Eh, someone else grabbed it. It's one of those "domain for sale" pages, so Ray's probably just sitting on it waiting for Google to want it:

Registrant:
Ray Xia
12695 Autumn Crest Dr
Oak Hill, Virginia 20171
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com
Domain Name: GOOGLEBROWSER.COM
Created on: 03-Mar-04
Expires on: 03-Mar-06
Last Updated on: 03-Mar-04

Administrative Contact:
Xia, Ray rfx_98@yahoo.com
12695 Autumn Crest Dr
Oak Hill, Virginia 20171
United States
7038603069 Fax --

Re:Why? That's Easy

[attam]

well... the fact that google registered "gbrowser.com" was enough to make a LOT of people go "oooh, google browser coming out." so, yeah, maybe "G" does constitute a brand.

as an interesting aside, i guess when you hear of something "iXXX" coming out, you don't think of apple, do you? seems to me like "i" constitutes a brand, so why not "G?"

Re:Why? That's Easy

[attam]

If I saw an ad for GDonuts I wouldn't think of google.

you're right, neither would i. but did you stop to think that maybe they want us to? ;-)

Re:Why? That's Easy

[pjt33]

McDonalds certainly seems to think that Mc constitutes a brand - they sue all kinds of companies named after founders whose name started Mc.

Re:Why? That's Easy

[Anonymous Coward]

It wasn't the name, it was that they had registered it. If they launched a ZService and then started registering domains with Z, they'd probably do the same.

I don't think of Apple when I see i*, I think "Internet." That Apple has been co-opting a fucking letter for their branding is completely irrelevant. Google has precisely one service where they use "g" for its name, and everything else is "Google X." They might certainly try to co-opt a letter for their branding, but that would be pretty stupid. There' a lot of stuff that uses the g prefix, but then there was a lot of stuff with the i and x prefixes, too.

Re:Why? That's Easy

[Anonymous Coward]

I bet the Irish like that.

Re:Why? That's Easy

[Anonymous Coward]

well... the fact that google registered "gbrowser.com" was enough to make a LOT of people go "oooh, google browser coming out." so, yeah, maybe "G" does constitute a brand.

um, no, it was because it was done by Google, not because of the G in front that people said that.

Re:Why? That's Easy

[Anonymous Coward]

They don't have Gstring.com, do they?

Re:Why? That's Easy

[paragon_au]

Cost to google for gbrowser.com: $10

Consumer cost if they get confused: $10 x Customers

It's not like the cost of registering a domain name matters to google, they may aswell register all the domain names just incase. Evil as that may be.

why!

[Coneasfast]

Now it makes you wonder why Google registered gbrowser.com?

well, gmail caught so much attention to competitors and made them all increase their inbox limits. maybe they thought registering it will do the same and increase the quality of browsers on the market?

ok probably none of this is true. just a thought that came to my mind though :)

Re:why!

[oGMo]

well, gmail caught so much attention to competitors and made them all increase their inbox limits.

I concur. I look forward to Google's ONE GIGABYTE of browser. Firefox only gives me 21MB (with extensions). I'm counting on Google to give us more.

Re:why!

[Anonymous Coward]

Unlike firefox's "Take back the web" , google will be offering "Take the web with you" (veiled suggestion about the HUGE cdrom of the `WEB` they shipped for the coding contests).

Isn't it obvious?

[rsrsharma]

Now it makes you wonder why Google registered gbrowser.com?

Um, isn't it obvious? Can you think of what the public's reaction would be if a company released a "Google browser" which contained spyware/adware? Plus the possiblity that they might want to make a browser in the future? After all, when you're a big company like Google, you've gotta cover your ass or it'll get sued to hell.

gIPO.com

[PopCulture]

Now it makes you wonder why Google registered gbrowser.com?"

'cause of the I.P.O. ?

And look who's talking...

[Cigarra]

I mean, this isn't any John Doe... err, right?

Re:And look who's talking...

[ESqVIP]

No, it's somebody who doess stuff.

normal trademark behavior

[Speare]

Normal operating procedure with concepts nowadays:

• discuss idea at lunch
• register five variants of the name
• consider a few features
• focus test among friends over beer
• tell management
• make a powerpoint mockup
• focus test among friends' spouses over weekend
• issue a press release denying it
• ...

Why is this news?

Re:normal trademark behavior

[pete-classic]

Don't say it

. . .

Dooon't say it

. . .

Muthafucka!

-Peter

PS: You thougt I was going to say "profit!"

-P

Re:normal trademark behavior

[sik0fewl]

Why is this news?

If you take a peek at your address bar, I'm sure you'll find the answer you're looking for.

Re:normal trademark behavior

[hackstraw]

register five variants of the name

It should be register five variants of the name for all of the top tld's.

I seem to be the only person alive who thinks that tlds are useless.

Re:normal trademark behavior

[stoborrobots]

Well, between you, me and Brad Templeton, that's three of us...

Re:normal trademark behavior

[pete-classic]

Anybody who can name the reference (not undeware gnomes) gets a gmail invite ;-)

-Peter

Gbrowser?

[Anonymous Coward]

Google didn't register that to produce a web browser.

No, my friends. Google registered it as a ladies' novilty underware store. The truth is out, can you handle the truth?

Re:Gbrowser?

[Anonymous Coward]

Then it should be gbrassiere.com.

Re:Gbrowser?

[Anonymous Coward]

thats odd. i could of swore i read somewhere it was going to be a personal site for the major stock holders displaying illustrated pie charts of the money they are now pulling in.

Re:Gbrowser?

[FirstTimeCaller]

Google registered it as a ladies' novilty underware store.

Then shouldn't it be gBrassière?

Re:Gbrowser?

[sharkey]

Or GString

Is anyone keeping score?

[TrollBridge]

So would this make Google more Evil or less Evil? Who's keeping track this week?

Re:Is anyone keeping score?

[had3l]

Seinfeld Quote: Waitress 1: "More..." Waitress 2: "Less..." Waitress 3: "Same" Cook: "How long is this gonna take?"

Re:Is anyone keeping score?

[rmarll]

This is google's week to be good. IBM have the last week of the month, unless SCO has another press release, then they're good that week as well.
Sun is good on all days that are multiples of 5 and evil on the 11th and 23rd of the month. When available they are evil on the 29th of February.
I've lost track of Oracle but I think they alternate the 2nd and third weeks of the month. Microsoft is always evil unless Timothy posts the news, in which case Slashdot is evil for posting a duped story and MS passes go and collects their 200 bucks.

It's incomplete but there is the rundown on the schedule as far as I can tell.

Re:Is anyone keeping score?

[polecat_redux]

So would this make Google more Evil or less Evil?

This is Slashdot:

Good:
Google
Linux
Apple (and everything they touch)

Bad:
SCO
MPAA/RIAA/The Man
Microsoft (and everything they touch)

Post anything alluding to the contrary and get modded into oblivion.

Re:Is anyone keeping score?

[AndroidCat]

I did a search, and the results showed them to be amazingly good.

Re:Is anyone keeping score?

[KZigurs]

I always wonder why we have just funny for such gems.

"Hilarous" (spelling, pleeze) would be so much more apropriate!

hmm maybe

[Foo2rama]

Hmm you think maybe they just registered it so no one else could use it? Look at all teh things they do own. gogle.com, goooogle.com , gmail. It could be premptive, since tucows seems to own everything else. gmusic.com gwatch.com etc.

Re:hmm maybe

[bcmm]

They haven't got goooogle.com, some lame online casino scam has.

Browser War

[pete-classic]

If they believe in the browser war, why do they only support IE?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I belive that the tool bar and the gmail notifier are Windows/IE only.

-Peter

Re:Browser War

[sbirnie]

Firefox has an extension available - don't think it's made by Google though.

Re:Browser War

[jeffskyrunner]

the notifier now has an option to choose which browser to open. I have set it to firefox. Windows? Because the mass majority of the people are using windows. Plus, I believe there are many unofficial Linux versions of this. Unofficial Toolbar for Mozilla/firefox.

Re:Browser War

[kisielk]

The notifier FAQ says they are working on versions for OSX and Linux.

Re:Browser War

[Kristoffer Lunden]

I have Gmail open in a tab. The text on the tab (the title) tells me when new messages have arrived. In case I really am in such a hurry to notice such. I always have a browser running anyways, so it doesn't cost any extra, actually it is less effort on both me an the computer. And it works on both Windows and Linux.

As for the toolbar, I've stopped using it. With bookmark keywords, the new type ahead bar and the "go up" extension (as well as "go up" mouse gestures), it is just so much lost space. I'm searching and navigating faster now without it, and most of the functions I never used.

I used to love the toolbar, but now I've come to realize that it was so great when I used it on IE, because on IE you need it. With firefox, it is just making you do stuff the slow and painful IE way. Try doing it the other way for a while!

I still would like the go up button to have a dropdown like the googlebar has though, that is the one thing still missing. ;-)

Get Firefox!

Re:Browser War

[jimmyharris]

FreePOPs is a great utility which allows you to check webmail (including Gmail / Hotmail / any Squirellmail based site) as if it were a standard POP3 account.

It runs on Linux, OS X and Windows. If anyone is interested, I've written a guide for installing and using FreePOPs with OS X and Apple Mail or Microsoft Entourage.

Re:Browser War

[Anonymous Coward]

gmail still doesnt work with my browser of choice, opera. :(

Re:Browser War

[pete-classic]

Genius! Squirelmail leverages the power of IMAP, and FreePOPs lames it down to POP.

And it's SquirrelMail. Two Rs, two Ls (not three), and StudlyCaps.

Thank you.

-Peter

why register it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Getting value from google services doesnt have to be only from a browser interface. So gbrowser.com could have only been grabbed for marketing but not for the purpose of making a browser.

Re:why register it?

[Anita Coney]

Redundant?! Gee, I don't remember posting my agreement more than once.

Perhaps it's not a full-blown browser?

[Gunfighter]

Maybe they really aren't looking to enter the browser wars. Perhaps it's for a plugin of some sort to simply "enhance" browsing. I know they have their toolbar (and I personally user the googlebar for Mozilla). Perhaps there's something bigger and better around the corner.

What other browser enhancements could you see working their way into a plugin without it being labeled "spyware"?

Or... perhaps this guy really has no clue what's going on and Gbrowser v0.9 is right around the corner.

Re:Perhaps it's not a full-blown browser?

[DocTee]

One of the things that happens in the book 'The First Immortal' is the development of a widespread 'backlinking' feature in a web browser, so every page you visit, you get a list of sites that link to that page, so you can instantly and easily check out everyone's side of the story, with the aim of forcing society to be completely honest about everything. Google is obviously in a position to do this, be freaky but cool if they actually do. It is an excellent book btw, well worth reading.

Generic Genome Browser : gbrowse

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.gmod.org/ggb/gbrowse.shtml

Google's going to do for the genome what they did for the internet?

Re:Generic Genome Browser : gbrowse

[k4_pacific]

Welcome to Genome Browser

Enter your query: cgatcgcgat

...

Search results for "cgatcgcgat":

1. ...atcgatcgatcgcgatcgcgatcgcg...

2. ...cgcgatcgatcgcgatatcgcgatat...

3. ...cgcgcgcgatcgcgatcgatatatcg...

4. ...atatcgcgatcgcgatcgatcgatcg...

In order to show you the most relevant results, some genes have been omitted.

Re:Generic Genome Browser : gbrowse

[ESqVIP]

Maybe they could for this version replace the o's in "Gooooogle" into a DNA strip?

Google Print, however..

[ackthpt]

Google Print is a new book search (partnered with Penguin and Scholastic) they'll roll out formally on Thursday, in some more of this interesting little tango they have with Amazon (they of the a9.com search engine free of ads.)

Re:Google Print, however..

[kbahey]

The new part is that this will be launched tomorrow. Thanks for that.

However, it has been in beta for about a year or so. I definitely saw it several months ago.

Nice service anyways.

Re:Google Print, however..

[rmarll]

Hate to pick nits here. But A9 does serve ad's and places them in a more annoying space.

Consider this search on the word "denver"

Re:Google Print, however..

[jals]

Didn't Amazon get in trouble for allowing you to read pages of books because it kind of allowed you to read the book online, though not easily?

Re:Google Print, however..

[jals]

Woops, mod that as failing to RTFM...

"Can I read an entire book online?

No, afraid not. Google Print is designed to help you discover books, not read them from start to finish. It's like going to a bookstore and browsing - only with a Google twist. Google searches across entire books in order to find the pages that are most relevant to your search. Once you're on a book page, you can 'flip' two pages forward and back, view other information about the book and even conduct another search within the book."

and no Netflix/Tivo deal, either...

[javaxman]

I mean, really, you can believe what you want... but it would be a bit foolish to trust a businessman !

Not that I see Google making a browser ( I don't... maybe they'd pick up a cobrand an existing one, if anything ), but this guy's statement could just be possitioned to throw people off of an otherwise secret business strategy... I seem to recall Netflix and Tivo denying their deal quite firmly, for example...

Cheaper than a trademark lawsuit...

[drmike0099]

Registering and keeping your own names out of everyone else's hands is a much simpler and cheaper way to do it, rather than getting into nasty, expensive lawsuits later on over who gbrowser.com is owned by. How much did the Lindows lawsuit cost MS, both in terms of $$ and public good will?

Re:Cheaper than a trademark lawsuit...

[Hatta]

But when you read gbrowser.com, do you think google? I think "GTK" or "Gnome" first, then I think G as in "whut up G?"

Re:Cheaper than a trademark lawsuit...

[justplainchips]

Microsoft had public good will?

Re:Cheaper than a trademark lawsuit...

[Holi]

How is registering Gbrowser.com protecting Google's trademarks.

Re:Cheaper than a trademark lawsuit...

[Anonymous Coward]

If only Microsoft was smart enough to register:
aindows.com
bindows.com
cindows.com
dindows.com
eindows.com
findows.com
gindows.com
hindows.com
iindows.com
jindows.com
kindows.c om
lindows.com
mindows.com
nindows.com
oindows .com
pindows.com
qindows.com
rindows.com
sindo ws.com
tindows.com
uindows.com
vindows.com
win dows.com (oh wait!)
xindows.com
yindows.com
zindows.com

They wouldn't have had to put up with a lawsuit against Lindows.

Re:Cheaper than a trademark lawsuit...

[Anonymous Coward]

gbrowser is an obvious extension of gmail.

Re:Cheaper than a trademark lawsuit...

[uriber]

Speaking of Microsoft, I just found out that gmicrosoft.com expired yesterday.

If Google will be quick to grab it, they'll be able to create their own version of an evil monopoly!

Re:Cheaper than a trademark lawsuit...

[leonmergen]

Are you thinking about GTK or Gnome when you hear about GMail ?

No, it's all a matter of branding... and for google, it's way easier to keep everything generic - so GBrowser would be the best name for their browser.

Re:Cheaper than a trademark lawsuit...

[Anonymous Coward]

Before Google released GMail, I wouldn't for a moment have thought of Google. Indeed, as far as I can tell it's the first service they've released that relies on a single letter rather "Google X" for its naming. There's no GNews or GGroups or GFroogle, or GSearch, or GAnswers.

I'd have thought of GTK way before Google, and probably GNU before GTK. Also "Global" would have come to mind as a possibility.

Re:Cheaper than a trademark lawsuit...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why? Do you use an e-browser or something?

Re:Cheaper than a trademark lawsuit...

[drinkypoo]

Much like money, it is possible to have negative amounts of good will. The technical term for it is "ill will" :P (Kind of like "bad stuff" points.)

Re:Cheaper than a trademark lawsuit...

[laejoh]

But when you read gbrowser.com, do you think google? I think "GTK" or "Gnome" first, then I think G as in "whut up G?"
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.

When i read

Kodos

I don't think "The Simpsons" first, I think "KDE".
:)

Re:Cheaper than a trademark lawsuit...

[balloonpup]

It's a shame they didn't follow the "oogle" convention they started with Froogle.

Noogle for news
Groogle for groups
Moogle for mail---er---maybe not...

Re:Cheaper than a trademark lawsuit...

[dacaldar]

Some other squatting company got windoze.com, though.

Re:Cheaper than a trademark lawsuit...

[codemachine]

Well considering KDE has KMail, it isn't out of line to think Gnome's client could be GMail. Of course Google made sure everyone knew about their GMail with their 1GB offer. Getting large amounts of press can certainly help a brand.

G!

[MasterLordSatan]

I wonder if this will fall under a M$ patent? After all, it starts with G! So does Gates!

Google + Mozilla = Success

[Anonymous Coward]

Why shouldn't Google release their own mozilla based browser? Imagine where Googles innovation capabilities could take us...

Re:6 gmail invites

[Anonymous Coward]

these are NOT gmail invites, do NOT click on them... trust me you will be sorry.

Doesnt have to be a _web_ browser

[Nylathotep]

It could be some other type of browser.

Re:Doesnt have to be a _web_ browser

[bcmm]

Hmm... A file browser? Maybe a Windows Explorer replacement with built-in search?
(FYI, people who don't have to use windows, everyone uses the same file browser under windows, even the ones who use alternative web browsers.)

Re:Doesnt have to be a _web_ browser

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah man, like revive gopher - except put a Google "spin" on it and call it "Goopher". :)

Profitability

[powerpuffgirls]

Like any company, the decision to do something relies to this something's profitability. Given that Google is not responsible to its shareholders, this cannot be more true.

So what can Google profit from a browser? Can it add its Text Ads to the browser, will users accept yet-another "advertisement" browser?

Re:Profitability

[Creepy Crawler]

--Can it add its Text Ads to the browser, will users accept yet-another "advertisement" browser?

Ad's are good when it gives output of what people are looking for!

If I'm looking for a recipe on the net, and find similar.. Google reccomeds that 3 of these books have a very similar recipe, and matches similar search responses...

Is that bad? I'd actualy like that, IF I could choose to keep multiple identites, and trash old ones when needed.

The WORST type of advertising is when you're watching the "MAN Show", and a beer ad (good), car ad (good), and a tampon ad (bleh) come on. Guess which one is out?

Cue to google: Take input I authorize, and give me good content. Then Ill be happy.

DO NOT CLICK !!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

goatse style noise

Glookatme!

[MasterLordSatan]

Maybe it's just for attention? If so, it worked!

If google intends to compete with MS

[pcx]

If google intends to compete with MS and IE then it's stupid for them to try and make their own browser. However it is VERY smart to throw all their weight and resources into making mozilla so killer it blows IE out of the water.

I'm just really surprised they haven't ported the popular google toolbar into a firefox extension yet.

Re:If google intends to compete with MS

[TrollBridge]

"However it is VERY smart to throw all their weight and resources into making mozilla so killer it blows IE out of the water."

More 'features'. Yeah, that's just what Mozilla needs. It's already a 12MB download and has a HUGE memory footprint.

Google is the last thing that Mozilla needs. It's a shame that Google has managed to infiltrate Firefox (Google search bar) already. I was under the impression that Firefox was supposed to be lean and mean.

Re:If google intends to compete with MS

[dsb3]

google search bar == fancy bookmark

what's not lean about that?

Re:If google intends to compete with MS

[angrykeyboarder]

Google hasn't "infiltrated" Firefox. The search bar has Google set as the default but you can add virtually any search engine you want in addition to or instead of it. It's not the "Google search bar" it's simply "The Search Bar"

The folks at Mozilla just recognized that Google is the best search engine out there (and the most popular I believe) and decided to make it easier to access it. I believe this is also true of the Safari and Opera browsers as well.

Re:If google intends to compete with MS

[value_added]

"I'm just really surprised they haven't ported the popular google toolbar into a firefox extension yet."

I'm not. When you compare the limited functionality of Google's toolbar (or any 'toolbar') with both the numbers and varieties of plugins available for Firefox, I can't see how you can say that it offers functionality that isn't already available.

Put another way, "It's been done and it's been done better."

Re:If google intends to compete with MS

[Aggrajag]

I think the best option for Google would be buying Opera as it is by far the best browser there is and available for pretty much every platform.

Re:If google intends to compete with MS

[ndrtkr]

If google intends to compete with MS and IE then it's stupid for them to try and make their own browser. However it is VERY smart to throw all their weight and resources into making mozilla so killer it blows IE out of the water.

dude, let me correct you; FireFox already IS killer enough and it's ALREADY blowing IE out of the water...

Re:If google intends to compete with MS

[pswnet]

http://downloads.mozdev.org/googlebar/XPI-firefox- 1_0pr.xpi

Re:If google intends to compete with MS

[Anonymous Coward]

I like firefox a lot, but where is the highlight + integrated find of query words that the official google toolbar offers? Real question! Maybe I missed it.....

Re:If google intends to compete with MS

[mla_anderson]

Grab the unofficial Google Bar plug-in it has many of the features of the IE Google Bar, works nicely.

Re:If google intends to compete with MS

[DrEasy]

... and they would serve ads that are dependent on the web page that you are currently browsing. Opera's business model and Google's adSense could indeed be a match made in heaven.

Re:If google intends to compete with MS

[Anonymous Coward]

thanks... I tried it a long time ago and it was mostly crap. tried it again and it appears to work much better, with, like you said, most of the features.

Obvious

[SamSim]

Obviously, Google intends to release an application or service designed to stir the people of the United Kingdom into some sort of frenzy. Hence, Great Britain Rouser. "gbrowser".

*ducks*

Re:Obvious

[Anonymous Coward]

That's probably the most un-funny thing I've ever read. Please kill yourself, or at least never post to this site again. Thank you.

Re:Obvious

[bhima]

OK, your joke sucks

But the link in your sig... that's funny!

Naw, it's the Yalies

[A nonymous Coward]

It belongs to George Bush, who is proclaiming he is a real rowser. There's no W because they never did find that key when moving in after the Clintons left.

Re:Naw, it's the Yalies

[Anonymous Coward]

Except for the one in 'roWser', right?

Re:Naw, it's the Yalies

[Anonymous Coward]

Shut up, bitch!

Re:Naw, it's the Yalies

[A nonymous Coward]

The very one. My brain recognized it a fraction of a second before my finger clicked SUBMIT, but the muscle command was already traveling down the nerves, too late!

Re:Naw, it's the Yalies

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't find the W's, can't find the WMD's. How did he ever find Washington?

Modifications to Mozilla/Firefox

[Bravo_Two_Zero]

Wouldn't it be just as logical that they may be adding additional firepower to the Mozilla/Firefox development at some point? I won't get rich on the quality of my predictions, but that would make a degree of sense. Or, at least, they might be developing some google-specific extensions intended to rock our world. Heck, if I was smart enough to know what those are, I'd be working at google!

Re:Modifications to Mozilla/Firefox

[angrykeyboarder]

I'd read previously (I believe here on /.) that some of Google's recent hires included former Microsoft employees who were involved in the development of IE.

That led me to conclude that if in fact Google is planning it's own browser, it would not be Gecko-based.

where is ...?

[didjit]

Gpr0n.com

Re:where is ...?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here? (WARNING! Not Work Safe! And honestly may not be very safe at all, depending on your preferences :)

Re:where is ...?

[Anonymous Coward]

Right here, dude. Enjoy...

If that's really what it means...

[Anonymous Coward]

there are no words to express my disappointment.

Man, if someone could figure out a way to use simple, useful ads to deliver pretty good bjs at no cost to the end-user, they would have a business method worth patenting.

VC Andrews

[RCulpepper]

Given how little it costs to register a domain name, one shouldn't be surprised that Google is shotgunning the DNS for names and products they never intend to market. Still, I don't know how in the loop we should assume Doerr is. His string theory parallel in TFA was pained and stupid. VCs are worse than marketroids at this stuff -- I've met my share, and if they didn't have the money to suck in entrepreneurs that actually know what they're doing, I suspect most of them would be in middle management. Schlock.

tf kind of record is this?

[Anonymous Coward]

woz:~$ whois google.com

Whois Server Version 1.3

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

GOOGLE.COM.SUCKS.FIND.CRACKZ.WITH. SEARCH.GULLI.COM
GOOGLE.COM.HAS.LESS.FREE.PORN.IN .ITS.SEARCH.ENGINE.THAN.SECZY.COM
GOOGLE.COM

T o single out one record, look it up with "xxx", where xxx is one of the
of the records displayed above. If the records are the same, look them up
with "=xxx" to receive a full display for each record.

>>> Last update of whois database: Wed, 6 Oct 2004 06:55:42 EDT <<<

NOTICE: The expiration date displayed in this record is the date the
registrar's sponsorship of the domain name registration in the registry is
currently set to expire. This date does not necessarily reflect the expiration
date of the domain name registrant's agreement with the sponsoring
registrar. Users may consult the sponsoring registrar's Whois database to
view the registrar's reported date of expiration for this registration.

TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois
database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and
automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or
modify existing registrations; the Data in VeriSign Global Registry
Services' ("VeriSign") Whois database is provided by VeriSign for
information purposes only, and to assist persons in obtaining information
about or related to a domain name registration record. VeriSign does not
guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a Whois query, you agree to abide
by the following terms of use: You agree that you may use this Data only
for lawful purposes and that under no circumstances will you use this Data
to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass
unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail, telephone,
or facsimile; or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes
that apply to VeriSign (or its computer systems). The compilation,
repackaging, dissemination or other use of this Data is expressly
prohibited without the prior written consent of VeriSign. You agree not to
use electronic processes that are automated and high-volume to access or
query the Whois database except as reasonably necessary to register
domain names or modify existing registrations. VeriSign reserves the right
to restrict your access to the Whois database in its sole discretion to ensure
operational stability. VeriSign may restrict or terminate your access to the
Whois database for failure to abide by these terms of use. VeriSign
reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.

The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and
Registrars.

Re:tf kind of record is this?

[AndroidCat]

Learn how things work. Your whois did a global search on "google.com" and some people just happened to have that string in the names of their name servers for some other domains.

Re:tf kind of record is this?

[aldoman]

WTF? I get that too.

Do it yourself if you don't believe him (us)!

Re:tf kind of record is this?

[nfsilkey]

You should "whois =google.com". It will return all the globals information as opposed to the choices you were presented.

Re:tf kind of record is this?

[Anonymous Coward]

Some of us understand how whois works and we really don't need too.

For those of you who are easily amused try whois microsoft.com

Re:tf kind of record is this?

[kundor]

Beyond the amusement of MICROSOFT.COM.SHOULD.GIVE.UP.BECAUSE.LINUXISGOD.CO M and MICROSOFT.COM.OHMYGODITBURNS.COM --
WTF?!? Microsoft registers through TUCOWS?!?

Why wouldn't they...

[gbickford]

use an anonymous registrar like: gmessenger.com?

Registrant:
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
15111 N Hayden Rd., Suite 160
PMB353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com
Domain Name: GMESSENGER.COM
Created on: 24-May-04
Expires on: 24-May-05
Last Updated on: 24-May-04

Administrative Contact:
Private, Registration GMESSENGER.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
15111 N Hayden Rd., Suite 160
PMB353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599 Fax --
Technical Contact:
Private, Registration GMESSENGER.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
15111 N Hayden Rd., Suite 160
PMB353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599 Fax --

Domain servers in listed order:
PARK9.SECURESERVER.NET
PARK10.SECURESERVER.NET

Re:Why wouldn't they...

[poohsuntzu]

Because that defeats the entire point of having contact information for troubleshooting, abuse reporting, and general ethics.

Browser? If I were Google

[nearl]

I do not think that Google is planning on building a browser either. If I were google I would build an office suite based on XUL or XAML that was compatible to word. Think about it how much would a company pay to not have to maintain updates on office applications. How much is it worth to have their employees to be able to logon and access all their files and applications from any computer aroun d the world. This is no small task but even if they just built in groupware function into gmail they would have something that companies would drool over. Just my 2 cents

Re:Browser? If I were Google

[Anonymous Coward]

Google also bought Trakken.
And several other interesting companies.

Re:Browser? If I were Google

[spacefrog]

"how much would a company pay" .... "access all their files and applications from any computer aroun d the world"

While useful to many, I'm sure, I think more of what a company would pay to *not* have their files and applications downloaded from any computer around the world.

Re:Browser? If I were Google

[kesuki]

been there done that...
One version of corel wordperfect was written entirely in java, and was completely cross-platform, and runnable in a browser via some simple configuration. It didn't get corel back into tghe word processing mainstream, despite being a very neat idea, it also laid the groundwork for the linux port of wordperfect, since once they had the enitire engine written in java... keeping an up to date version that ran on linux was pretty simple.
but since they moved away from that version of wordperfect, they have discontinued the linux version of wordperfect.
Linux simply has too many options, although I liked having a full featured commercial word processor like word perfect working on linux, the fact is, they couldn't make enough money selling it, because linux Still isn't a viabale desktop, it's a viable kiosk front end, and it's a viable server solution, and it's a viable geek os, where you're willing to live with emulation to play what games work with emulation etc.. and doom 3, if you've got the system capable of executing the linux doom 3 version... but as a real dektop platform it just can't compete... support for hardware is done after the hardware is released, with few exceptions... and very little comemrcial software is written with native support for linux. and in genenral the quality of commercial software requires a minimal level of 'completeness' in it's functionallity in order for the commercial software vendor to remain competitive. Open source projects can have grandiose plans, and only 1-2 features that only work if you edit the .config file so it compiles correctly... and still 'survive.' Ultimately this creates a vast mishmash which needs to be sifted through to find the application that acctually has the feature set, instead of just 'some' of the features. which is perfect for a geek, and a nightmare to a novice end user... imagine if there were 139 programs called essentially 'paint' and in fact, about 100 of them did little more than the feature set of a windows 3.11 paint, if that, and of the remaining 39, some of them had more complete feature sets, but many of them had obscure names that seem GIMPY to an end user.. and even once you find the full feature sets applications, virtually none of them work in a consistant style... and in fact the most full featured have the least coherent menuing systems. total nightmare for an end-user. and this is why linux is not a 'desktop' platform, there is no central design to menuing layouts etc.. despite certain efforts (gnome and kde come to mind) to make such a framework... If enough 'normal' people used linux, the problems would soon be solved, but the fact is, windows is too entrenched. I've queried numerous people i've built systems for if they'd like to try linux, that I could have it configured, and pre-loaded with the applications I've found to be the most effective... yet the general consensus I've gotten is nah, just put windows on it...
er... I wondered way far from the topic i was on lol...

Re:Browser? If I were Google

[cheekyboy]

Ive used linux since 94 actively, and mostly as a desktop in the old days, but now, im mostly windows on my desktop with an osx mix too. I still use linux for all server type goodies, but that is all.

1. if you have the money , then whats wrong with two machines, more redundancy.
2. I have more video/media needs which linux just wont do well or might have CLI only tools which are just so 80s, its not hard to code a gui so spend 3-4hrs and do it :-)
3. as many people have said, linux needs an easy to use 'update over the net' like windows update for components/drivers/tools/apps. Or do we mean redhat/suse ? since linux is just a kernel, everything else... is well NOT linux and can equally run well under freebsd kernel too

Re:Browser? If I were Google

[drinkypoo]

Another nice web application would be a wysiwyg HTML editor. It would probably be among the easier possible tasks, and it would always let you see in realtime just what a page would look like in the browser you're using. You'd probably have to do a split code/HTML view and always edit in the code pane in order to keep it snappy, but you could at least make selecting text and other objects in the HTML select objects in the code view. I'm surprised I haven't seen one of these already, actually. It would be an exceptionally handy widget for a web content management system.

It's too bad really

[TheGatekeeper]

I'm really kind of sorry to hear Google isn't making a browser. If they went ahead and made a Google-branded and oriented Gecko based browser (think Mozilla suite but replace Thunderbird with gmail, etc.) I think it'd add some more variety into the browser market, and also give Gecko-based browsers another head-up on proprietary solutions.

Granted I'd personally probably not use it over Firefox, but it'd be a nice semi-commercial, end-user target, corporate-driven alternative for the everyday Joe. Integration of information processing is becoming a big deal, and a single Google-branded suite that somehow managed to provide a single interface to all of Google's many services (search, news, mail, shopping, dmoz, etc.) would doubtless be highly successful.

Re:It's too bad really

[ezweave]

That would be nice, except I haven't heard any plans to make gmail available via POP3 or even "pluggable" into a mail client. Am I wrong? More to the point, taking interest in the domain name "gbrowser.com" may not only have nothing to do with a browser, but who says Google would call their browser "gbrowser" to begin with? Frankly that name sucks, it would be "gExplorer" and it would redirect you to ads or put a frame around the page you are vising... then someone would make a Yahoo toolbar...

There is no spoon

[wuice]

Now it makes you wonder why Google registered gbrowser.com

Just to keep you fuckers guessing.

flip flop

[Anonymous Coward]

So wait, first he says he's for the browser war, then he's against supporting the troops by providing the browser they need? Oh, wait...

Why did they register it?

[Gothic_Walrus]

There's only one reason that Google registered gbrowser.com, in my mind...

They like seeing their name and logo on Slashdot's front page. One URL has garnered them two stories.

It's some very cheap publicity, isn't it? Say hat you will, but it's worked for them. :)

Re:Why did they register it?

[Ford Prefect]

They like seeing their name and logo on Slashdot's front page.

Yup. With all this link-spamming of google.com, they're looking to increase their rankings in the search engines...

Re:Why did they register it?

[desplesda]

Say hat you will

Hat.

Re:Why did they register it?

[matthaney]

Say hat you will

Yoda? Is that really you?

Re:Why did they register it?

[rzbx]

This is actually a very good method of thinking outside the box for companies. They throw out some clue or some thoughts on some business idea, not too much. The public or some certain gourp of people tear apart the idea and the company/organization gets some good out of the box ideas from this group.
Whether this is true on their part, I'm not sure. It would only make sense to gather information that is easily available. Large companies spend a lot of money to both produce an image and to learn about the market. The internet has made this a lot cheaper and easier.

What's Next?

[tini1212]

First the Google browser. Then, they google OS! Before you know it we will be driving cars manufactered by Google and using Google toilet paper.

Google's USP

[andr0meda]

is 'nice'. It's just that. As soon as the majority of browsers are either feature and/or banner loaded, part of portals and distribution networks gallore, there is a market for google to push their own stuff, in their version of 'nice'. But just because they are good at nice NOW doesn't mean they are good at nice FOR EBVER.. just like that eternal guaranteed free email account that became a payed-for service 2 years ago. I don't thrust ANY company with their version of 'nice', because ultimately there is only one thing they exist for, which is making me pay them for whatever reason.

So for the sake of safety, I'm online under multiple aliasses which are unconnected to eachother. I'm sure they can be connected, but at least I don't depend on a single network to get to my online stuff. (mail / browser / chatclient / messenger / storage / ..)

It won't be a web browser per se...

[Anonymous Coward]

Imagine a web browser that ties directly into Google. Or imagine Google as a part of YOUR network.. This application will do MORE then browse... it will serve all kinds of data. And there will be subscriptions for certain classes of data.... and well, let's just say it will be the prelude to a virtual office environment. Think Sharepoint or similiar, but not really. Not as crappy either. Google is in a race with m$ on these things... that is why you are seeing DENY DENY DENY, but rest assured, all of it is coming. The things on the board:

1. Browsing
2. Extended Search
3. Subscription Feeds
4. "Office" like sharing (whiteboard, wiki stuff)
5. File keeper (and you thought 1 gig was cool)
6. Multimedia capability
7. Mail (you have gmail already)
8. Journal (you've seen something like this too)
9. Social Networking (Orkut is just a rough idea of what is to come here, but think rolodex on steroids, in your address book)

And much much more. You see... I know things. I know what Google is doing, and it both amazes me, excites me, and scares me.

Thank god for stock options.

Re:It won't be a web browser per se...

[Anonymous Coward]

You're a Google employee?

I sure hope you dont get caught breaking your NDA...

Re:It won't be a web browser per se...

[Anonymous Coward]

Catch me if you can...

Re:It won't be a web browser per se...

[Grizzlysmit]

Imagine a web browser that ties directly into Google.

<much_unsubstantiated_conjecture/>

And much much more. You see... I know things. I know what Google is doing, and it both amazes me, excites me, and scares me.

Thank god for stock options.

Hmmmm I know many things too, things I couldn't possibly know, I even have an inside track on what G. W Bush is thinking, but then my psychiatrist makes me take the drugs, and it all goes away. :'( ---- :-P

Take a hint mate, you reveal oh so much about yourself when you write crap like that. :-P

you know...

[Anonymous Coward]

i hate it when people don't know what gmail.com means. i tell them my email address and they think i'm some kind gang banging nigger.

browser hatching time

[Anonymous Coward]

How long would it take a group of programmers (say, even the really smart ones up at Google) to cook up a brand new web browser from scratch? It's a fairly big undertaking, isn't it? Apple went with KHTML...but I would SO love to see a Google homebrewed engine run wickedly faster than even Firefox.

G is for Gangsta'

[KrackHouse]

They've been working on a variant of the local search except it's for guns and weed.

Re:G is for Gangsta'

[Anonymous Coward]

I think that's BITCHES, guns, and weed.

OG browser

[Anonymous Coward]

Instantly Snoop Doggs all your web pages for you.

God spoke with me:
www.geocities.com/James_Sager_PA

doesnt make me wonder why Google registered

[night_flyer]

gbrowser.com... afterall, they failed to register gmail.com didnt they? maybe they are just protecting their interests, or maybe sometime in the future they MAY create a browser, and dont want to deal with a cybersquater

Google vs. Gnome && GTK

[Anonymous Coward]

I bet them Gnome and GTK guys are gonna be pissed with Google for using G at the beginning of all their products.

rumor mill

[Anonymous Coward]

Well actually my sister's friend's cousin's teacher's son's best friend's uncle's personal trainer's cousin's (twice removed) dog had a hang nail.

Oh and I heard that gbrowser.com is just used for strategic purposes.

Why they did it

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it was for this guy I know who works at Google named G. B. Rowser. He's cleans and polishes logos around the Google Building (www.gbuilding.com).

Math question

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

If you can devise a metric for "Public good will" and then chart the value representing Mircosofts amount it has, X, does there exist a non zero number n, such that X-n !=X ?

Be Prepared

[rootsrockrebel]

I think it's obvious that google registered gbrowser.com 'just in case' they wanted to enlist in the 'browser war'. Doesn't mean they will.

Sherlock

[brentodd]

I hope they're making a windows version of Sherlock. Or better yet - a Firefox plugin version of Sherlock.

Domain names

[tachyonflow]

Now it makes you wonder why Google registered gbrowser.com?

Because every business likes to keep its options open?

I think you're right on the money. I learned something important a long time ago:

If you ever think you may possibly want a domain name for some obscure reason at some unknown point in the future, then waste no time in registering it immediately. Even if you end up not using the domain, the $10 (or whatever) makes this a very minimal risk. You can always let it return to the pool of available domain names later, if you decide you definately don't need it.

I learned this the hard way -- back in 1997, I was thinking about registering the .com domain name of my town to make a web site, but I kept putting it off. When I finally got around to registering it, the registration failed because someone else had submitted a registration form for it minutes before I did. And the person who registered it lived hundreds of miles away, to boot!

I'm sure that even if some Google guys were just yapping about a browser over lunch, someone probably had the sense to register the domain... just in case.

Re:Domain names

[micromoog]

Some asshole in England is holding my (uncommon) last name's .com for ransom.

Re:Domain names

[Kirth Gersen]

Didn't it seem *suspicious* to you that somebody had registered it minutes before?

Many of the sites which claim to offer free domain name lookup services are *actually* in the business of *selling* your desired names to people who contract to grab domain names automagically based on certain rules. I'm guessing that when you checked the name a second time it triggered a grab. He probably paid about 50 cents to grab the name. What was the site you used to check/register your new domain?

Re:Domain names

[tachyonflow]

Didn't it seem *suspicious* to you that somebody had registered it minutes before? ... What was the site you used to check/register your new domain?

I didn't use a web site to check/register the domain. I used the command-line whois program to query the availability, and submitted a registration form to Network Solutions via email.

The people who registered my town's name seemed to have registered a ton of other city names as well. I suppose it's within the realm of possibility that Network Solutions could have been up to no good, but I doubt it. The Internet was a lot more innocent back in 1997.

Re:Domain names

[Kirth Gersen]

Network Solutions has a very bad reputation. 1997 is a long time ago but actually I remember having a very suspicious experience with a domain checking site (can't remember which) around 1996.

Here's a link to a discussion:
webhostingtalk.com

Apparently NetSol/Verisign is the same as SnapNames.

A quote: "Another good thing of late is they done a deal with NameZero and what NameZero are in the middle of doing is handing over the names to SnapNames customers (for a small fee) for any names that customers of there's have asked for but not yet paid for.. so that's some 1.2 million names as I understand it."

Gonna try this again

[Azureflare]

I've tried posting this multiple times and it always gets buried... hopefully other gkrellm users who use only gmail will take notice of this. So far this is my favorite monitoring method for gmail.

Here's a little hack I made for gkrellm. It works pretty well. I was working on creating a plugin for monitoring multiple gmail accounts. It has some bugs still, but it works pretty well (it's basically a hack of mailwatch, and I've added in the revolving penguin too!). I've stopped working on it since school started, and because there has been so little interest in it. I'm considering putting it up on sourceforge.net so someone can clear out the bugs for me. Note that this tutorial is oriented towards linux newbies; if you know a bit about linux you can skip over a lot of material.

Monitor a Gmail Account with gkrellm.

BTW The toolbar is pretty much meaningless in firefox; we've already got popup blocking and we also have the google search bar up by the address bar.

Re:Gonna try this again

[Abcd1234]

Not to mention a clone of the Google Toolbar for Firefox, which is as good, if not better than the "official" version.

Re:Gonna try this again

[drinkypoo]

Maybe you should ask roland piquepille to write about it in his blog and submit a story about it...

6 invites

[stud9920]

Meanwhile, I have 6 invites for the non-vaporware GMail.

Every reply explaining me how hard George W Bush sucks will get one.

If you're the sporty type, you will also get one if you explain me how he's not the most lousy president post WWII America has known.

Re:6 invites

[Anonymous Coward]

eat my dick

Re:6 invites

[Anonymous Coward]

Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and George W. Bush were set to face a firing squad in a small Central American country. Bill Clinton was the first one placed against the wall and just before the order was given he yelled out, "Earthquake!" The firing squad fell into a panic and Bill jumped over the wall and escaped in the confusion.

Al Gore was the second one placed against the wall. The squad was reassembled and Al pondered what he had just witnessed. Again before the order was given Al yelled out, "Tornado!" Again the squad fell apart and Al slipped over the wall.

The last person, George W. Bush, was placed against the wall. He was thinking, "I see the pattern here, just scream out something about a disaster and hop over the wall." He confidently refused the blindfold as the firing squad was reassembled. As the rifles were raised in his direction he grinned from ear to ear and yelled, "Fire!"

dgetzNO@SPAMtwcny.rr.com

Re:6 invites

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn, this person really annoys me! I fucking hate his over-emphasized patriotism. I get sick when I see those thousands of people applauding him for a bunch of lies.

http://la.indymedia.org/uploads/bushitler12k.jpg

drmorris@gmx.net

Re:6 invites

[Anonymous Coward]

Will post here for Gmail invite

(at least I ain't sh****ng you!)

cablouie7@IGNOREyahoo.com

Re:6 invites

[Anonymous Coward]

no bashing, no invite. Four to go.

Re:6 invites

[AngstAndGuitar]

For a GMail account(see parent(please avoid modding me down, it's for a friggin GMail invite!), Bush would have you believe that he's anti-abortion...
But that is just on the surface, he is also anti-any-program-that-deters-abortion, such as sex education, free birth control, or social programs that give people more options other than abortion.
The supreme court has ruled that abortion in some form must be legal, so Bush can't really push through legislation that would make it illegal, but he'll take away all other options, effectivly pushing women into having abortions.
Anyone else would create, rather than gut, programs that deter abortion, and bring the abortion rate down. (GMail invitation can be sent to
lunt AT ecst (dot) csuchico (dot) edu )

gbrowser = max picasa

[bad-badtz-maru]

The best theory I have seen concerning the gbrowser.com domain had to do with Picasa being Windows-only and the presence of a similar Mac-only product named "GBrowser".

maru

In other news, SCO...

[AndroidCat]

Seems to be moving into the oil business:

216.250.128.21:
SCO.COM
SCOXPETROCOM.
THESCOGROUP.COM

SCO Petro, it's so obvious! (And they're registered through Network Solutions for double evil!) Full serve, just drop'em and spread'em!

Distributed web indexing

[greg_barton]

If you want true distributed web indexing, the browser is the place to put it. On top of that, the indexing is demand based as it's biased to pages that are being visited...

Google browser

[Kjeks]

I'm not so very into browser development, but it would seem to me that Google already have the bulk part of a browser already finished.

After all, the Google spider robot is top of its class when it comes to parsing HTML. Just think of all the poorly written pages out there with nested/broken tags etc. which Google indexes every day.

After all, Google is already THE most used "browser" on the net if you think about it. It just doesn't have a GUI :-)

Re:Google browser

[Anonymous Coward]

After all, the Google spider robot is top of its class when it comes to parsing HTML.

What on earth makes you say that? About all Google does is find links in a page. That's not very demanding. They have a whole host of information available, like which parts of the page are more important (em, strong, h1-h6, etc), and they ignore it.

Just think of all the poorly written pages out there with nested/broken tags etc. which Google indexes every day.

All it really has to do is pull out every href=xxx that isn't in a comment. When you think about all the Javascript, CSS, etc that is involved in making real web pages work, the amount of work Google are doing is very small indeed.

After all, Google is already THE most used "browser" on the net if you think about it.

The technical term is user-agent, and I suspect Internet Explorer even beats Google.

Politician Says things....

[Anonymous Coward]

...and do something else. Now we see the same thing in corporations. First they clearly deny it then they go make their plans about how to get the same thing.

Dammit!

[WebCowboy]

Google is registering every word in the dictionary with the letter G prefixed! That must mean Google is part of some nefarious plan to achieve total world domination by its founders!

Where'd I put my tinfoil hat? I'm gonna need it to keep the "g"rays from scanning my brain and caching its contents in the grand "g"repository. It'll be a brave new "g"world...

WARNING! Parent contains

[Anonymous Coward]

whois information and not nslookup.

John Doeerrr

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't that the one on the receiving side of all the RIAA lawsuits ?

On no, wait, that's John Doe. Sorry.

OK, so they might not make a browser...

[Jugalator]

But how about a porn site?

www.ho.org

Google employees: 20% projects

[ndogg]

Google employees have these little side projects that they call 20% Projects. If there is going to be a browser, I'm betting it's going to one of these 20% Project based off of Mozilla/Gecko.

Or it could be the result of a new group that was formed at Google to address the issue of their OSS involvement. All I know about this is that they want to become more involved in various OSS projects to address the question of people asking "You use so much OSS, why don't you contribute much back?" Believe me, they're very grateful to the OSS community, and they do feel a large obligation to give back. It's just that many of the engineers/developers haven't had the time.

other google domains

[sadangel]

Google has also registered:

galbums.com
gbackup.com
gbeam.com
ggovernment .com
ggroups.com
ghomepage.com
ghomepages.com
ghoroscope.com
glistings.com
gschedule.com
gsen d.com
gtaxes.com

Go crazy with that if you want to. I particularly like ggovernment.com. Clearly google is planning on starting their own "ggovernment" to overthrow conventional governments and take over the world. They must be stopped!

Re:other google domains

[ndogg]

I'll bet the GNOME Foundation is a little upset. Now they'll have fewer names they can use.

Re:other google domains

[Gogo Dodo]

GNOME applications don't really follow the GFoobar method of naming stuff, unlike KDE where almost everything is KFoobar.

Re:other google domains

[bwy]

Sadly, everyone here apparently gets your point except for the editor who posted the story. It seems so common place to the rest of us (whether we've been in the business world or not) that google would register many, many variants of their name as a standard practice. Anybody who tries to read something more into this shit shouldn't have the ability to put stuff on the front page. It is like explaining stuff to a damn 5 year old sometimes, I swear...

Let's see

[Schnapple]

Google could put out another "wrapper around IE" like MyIE2 but that would defeat the purpose

They could put out a custom Mozilla but what would be the point?

Oh! I know! They could come out with a special browser, forked off of Mozilla, which could do all kinds of non-standard web stuff - like little squiggly lines in GMail when you misspell something. Bridge the ultimate gap between thin and thick apps. And make it crossplatform.

Of course then they would have to publish those non-HTML Standard things, so we'd have the Google Web Extensions. But then you would have to write to those non-standard extensions. And people would have to run GBrowser. So instead of two standards (IE, standards based) we would have three. Essentially this is what Microsoft did in the first place, which is why we have two standards to begin with.

Oh God, they must be stopped!

6 Invites to download gbrowser

[Anonymous Coward]

I have 6 invites for downloading the new gbrowser, the brand new google web browser!!!. God I love this viral marketing stuff!
the firsts 6 to explaing why IE sucks, win.

anonymouscoward at gmail . com

Conspiracy Theories Abound

[mcguyver]

While I cannot provide consipiracy theories or tinfoil hats, I can provide all URLs hosted under the same IP as google.com. Look at cashcarrier.net - maybe google wants to replace all US currency with 'Google Currency' or Gurrency!

http://www.1aad.info http://www.Googlie.com
http://www.466453.com http://www.Googlr.com
http://www.Anatsociety.com http://www.Goolge.com
http://www.Arnes.biz http://www.Gooogle.com
http://www.Basystem.net http://www.Gppgle.com
http://www.Beckers-erkelenz.com http://www.Gppglr.com
http://www.Bootboortz.com http://www.Guugle.org
http://www.Brucer.com http://www.Hakukone.com
http://www.Cashcarrier.net http://www.Hakukone.net
http://www.Cbfl.net http://www.Igoogle.com
http://www.Cheapbits.net http://www.Jamesallen.org
http://www.Clinilab.net http://www.Kedrowski.com
http://www.Cmbio.com http://www.Kvanderson.com
http://www.Davenorman.net http://www.Mendiboure.com
http://www.Encouragementtogo.com http://www.Minzhu.org
http://www.Europraca.net http://www.Mugenjyou.com
http://www.Foofle.com http://www.Mydejanews.com
http://www.Gewgle.com http://www.Nickel-tec.com
http://www.Gewgol.com http://www.Ogogle.com
http://www.Ggoogle.com http://www.Paracelsus.org
http://www.Godsc.com http://www.Parallelstorm.net
http://www.Gogle.com http://www.Partycat.us
http://www.Gogole.com http://www.Pclaninformatica.com
http://www.Googel.com http://www.Reinspiredinc.com
http://www.Googil.com http://www.Scandiq.com
http://www.Google.biz http://www.Securityf2.com
http://www.Google.com http://www.Signacon.net
http://www.Google.info http://www.Sinoweblog.com
http://www.Google.net http://www.Smartp

Re:Conspiracy Theories Abound

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm more interested in http://www.Googlevip.com.

Are Google planning a paid-for, "VIP" version of their search engine?

Re:Conspiracy Theories Abound

[Anonymous Coward]

They may have www.gooogle.com
but they sure missed www.goooogle.com

Re:Conspiracy Theories Abound

[Anonymous Coward]

Just think what sinister plan they might have in mind for. . . . http://www.Ho.org

Gbrowser Speculation

[PeekabooCaribou]

I believe Google is planning another web-based application, akin to their Gmail service: a web-based browser. This revolutionary product will allow users to view web pages from the convenience of their web browser, alongside other pages if desired.

Google Directory Interface

[bill_mcgonigle]

I'd love something like Apple's Finder column-view for searching Google's Directory.

Uh, they have

[Anonymous Coward]

https://update.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php ?id=33&vid=728

Registrations don't imply use

[rfc1394]

It is a standard practice for companies to register their name followed by "sucks" in order to prevent someone else from registering it as a protest site. Or some will register many combinations of their name in case they think up a business use or to prevent someone from developing a domain name of something similar to theirs.

2600 Magazine reported in an issue last year that in addition to "verizon.com" and "verizonsucks.com" and the domains relating to Verizon Wireless, that Verizon has registered more than 700 domains in order to keep someone else from registering them.

At one time I registered all 4 important versions of my full name (.COM, .NET, .ORG and .US) even though at the time I wasn't sure what I would do with them, because it only costs $9 each per year (or less). Even for an individual to register all 4 variations it's a once a year cost equivalent to one dinner at a good restaurant For a single domain in one TLD it's less than the cost of a DVD.

To put it simply, if you're thinking of doing anything on the 'net with commercial potential, domain registration is a (very) cheap form of insurance.

Other companies should do the same?

[42sd]

http://slashdotsucks.org

Doerr - Using Secrecy as Hype.

[whewtbing]

Remember the last time Doerr was associated with a Top Secret project?

By stealing a slice of the $300 billion-plus transportation industry, Doerr predicts, the Segway Co. will be the fastest outfit in history to reach $1 billion in sales.

Soon it will be rumored that the new GBrowser flies and is powered by an ultra efficient Striling engine. Every science kid will be out registering domain names like gbStrilingBrowser and gbPilots

In fact I am pretty sure the "g" is for Ginger.

lol, they forgot to register googlejapan.com

[Anonymous Coward]

among other sites; googlechina.com, googleindia.com. They might someday want those sites back.

Re:6 gmail invites

[kundor]

Since this discussion has been so whois-happy I thought I'd whois the real domain name of those links (nyud.info, incidentally.)

kundor@chade ~ $ whois nyud.info
Domain ID:D6264273-LRMS
Domain Name:NYUD.INFO
Created On:08-Sep-2004 05:53:52 UTC
Expiration Date:08-Sep-2005 05:53:52 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:R263-LRMS
Status:ACTIVE
Status:OK
Reg istrant ID:C5566088-LRMS
Registrant Name:Dong Bird
Registrant Organization:Gay Nigger Association of America
Registrant Street1:3750 Coit Rd.
Registrant City:Richardson
Registrant State/Province:TX
Registrant Postal Code:75080
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.9722342322
Registrant Email:lastmeasure@gmail.com
(Admin, Billing, and Tech the same.)
Name Server:NS1.DOMAINSITE.COM
Name Server:NS2.DOMAINSITE.COM
Name Server:NS3.DOMAINSITE.COM
Name Server:NS4.DOMAINSITE.COM

Steve!

[teknokracy]

Apple Computer owns mammals.org, but you dont see anyone speculating on an Apple branded Mammal any day soon. Or do you.... *curious glance*

Companies buy domains by the dozen. Even old Arnie registered his name as well as all the possible misspellings of his name so that everything would come back properly. And so that losers wouldnt prey on mistyped addresses with stupid "EASY WEB SEARCH TOOL NOW!" sites.

Nice sleuthing, Sherlock!

[Anonymous Coward]

You found me! Please don't hurt me!

How are you able to find my information like that??

Get it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it makes you wonder why Google registered gbrowser.com.

Prediction of things to come...

[comrade009]

Anybody ever notice how Google has registered googleporn.com?

Does this mean that they will be catering to the nerd fetish niche market? I guess it'll be huge at first, but that people will stop going there once they realize that those motherboards are SO airbrushed.

Re:6 gmail invites

[Anonymous Coward]

hahaha. Coit Road is the biggest road in Richardson. It literally intersects with itself in places. That's probably the address of a 7-11 or an empty lot. Good job of WHOISing and pasting an obvious fake.

Alternative file browser

[SlashDotAgent]

Let me correct you. Not everybody use the explorer windows file browser.
Check out Directory Opus. Highly recommended!

Re:Alternative file browser

[bcmm]

Thanks.
I stand corrected.

But I think it is fair to say that it is nothing like the alternative browser scene.

Re:Alternative file browser

[SlashDotAgent]

"If it's not broken - don't fix it."

Most people will only consider moving to something else if what they have doesn't work for them. For most people, Windows Explorer isn't "broken" enough (or at all) to look for alternatives.

Internet Explorer, however, has many flaws, much behind in standard compliance, and missing modern features, and therefore there is something going on in that field.

No, it doesn't

[drix]

Now it makes you wonder why Google registered gbrowser.com.

People: the cost of registering a domain name is $8 a year . If there is the slightest, faintest, remotely conceivable chance that Google might someday have some use for that name, it's stupid not to snap it up. Especially now that they have $20 zillion ka-gillion dollars in the bank.

I always get a kick out of those rumor sites who try to guess a whole new product line based on some feeler that Apple put on Monster, or a domain name by Google. It's kind of a truism in economics that true preferences aren't revealed unless the actors have some sort of financial/emotional stake in the matter. And $8 to a publicly-traded company does not a stake make.

Rumors..

[Nikker]

Find it ironic that it links back here??

DNE

[Anonymous Coward]

gbrowser dot com does not exist!

Ah well. I'll make a few g-something.com links.

g-altavista.com
g-dogpile.com
g-yahoo.com
g-l ycos.com ...

It's probably for the google search engine

[_Brazil_]

It's probably for the google search engine... it would help the search engine bot if sites had prepaired content for it when it indexes it.

But it's probably just an idea for right now for google, however, they would need to register the virtual browser before they could explore the idea.

Re:Browser? Just DFD?

[Herschel Cohen]

It is also possible to divert, frighten and disturb others into expending their energy in non-productive pursuits.

I may be wrong, but if I am: sell your google stock!

This is Slashdot

[sebol]

How about Sun ?

Uh... muy bueno, R2D2...

[IANAAC]

Now maybe you could repeat that little exercise in, say, Spanish, or better yet - how about your other second language?

they missed fuckgoogle.com

[afxgrin]

which just redirects to Mycity.com , which is YASE (Yet Another Search Engine).

Maybe it's a misspelling

[craXORjack]

It was supposed to be gbrouser.com as a part of a get out the vote for George Bush campaign. You know, to stir up excitement for George Bush. </tongue-in-cheek>

Web Back Button

[cryptoluddite]

Seems to me a gbrowser would be a way to browse google. In theory, Google works by taking your search term and returning the most linked sites that contain that term. But what if they flip it and instead when you are on a page gbrowser would show you links to that page, ranked by link-ed-ness or maybe filtered by search terms?

Think about it... everything on the web is forward. Google might be using their vast database of links to go backward. It would be a kind of pre-linking, a giant meta-back button for the web. You can sort of do this with the advanced search link:, but if they put it in a non-obtrusive sidebar it would be the shiznit!

Google Stock Browser...

[xRelisH]

might be their next scheme. I'm thinking this might be a stock browsing service much like Yahoo's.

I personally love the UI of Gmail, very convenient and clean. I'd love to see google take a stab at making a site where one can view their stock prices and such.

What does everyone else think?

Froogle and the world beyond Slashdot

[westlake]

How much did the Lindows lawsuit cost MS, both in terms of $$ and public good will?

Froogle returns 578 hits for Linspire,* 16 confirmed. 1,770,000 hits for Windows XP, 133,000 confirmed. This is where Linspire stands in public awareness and in the marketplace. Even Wal-Mart, with it's enormous purchasing power, seems to be losing confidence in Linspire/Linux as a populist alternative to Windows.

*Lindows returns 6,870 hits, 37 confirmed.

Google Seminar at IIT, Chicago

[krmpradeep]

The guys from Google came to our school IIT, Chicago for a seminar and at that time they were making it very clear that google spends to the tune of 20,000 dollars every now and then to buy and register new domain names..........the primary reason being to avoid cyber squatters.................

Browser War, Reloaded

[valmont]

Unleash the Fox and keep microsoft on its toes. Or something.

Desktop brobser?

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps it's a desktop browser? It could be used for finding links and pics etc. (even things like sets) for finding files on your own computer?

Just an idea...

c
c No Comment
c

Browser War, Schmowser War

[Anonymous Coward]

Who cares about the current browser war?

Microsoft is counting on getting DRM to a tolerable level (for copyright holders), bringing Hollywood and their ilk to their solutions. Of course, the other end of the delivery setup will also be MS, making John Doe stick to Windows for the next round of hardware upgrade, so he can watch movies online on his laptop while waiting for his flight (or whatever).

MS stays the money machine it is.

hmm

[c0p0n]

really wanna see google suckin' something?

They've registered all g*.com domains

[MMHere]

Why wouldn't google simply register every single .com domain name starting with 'g', out to say 50 characters or so?

Then whenever they want to launch new businesses in the future, they're guaranteed to have domain names like:

goffice.com
gim.com
gpaint.com
gschedule.com
gcalendar.com

Or even:

gdentist.com

Mod this up!

[Walkiry]

For crying out loud, someone with a biosense of humor give the lad some karma! :D