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Google Gets Away With What Microsoft Couldn't

Posted by Zonk on from the you-can-tell-a-book-by-its-cover dept.

FreshlyShornBalls writes "WebProNews is reporting that Google's new beta toolbar apparently sports an "AutoLink" feature which appends hyperlinks to existing content. These hyperlinks, of course, point to their services, such as maps for addresses, isdn numbers for books, etc. Sounds an awful lot like Microsoft's "Smart Tags"." Update by J : ... except that Microsoft's proposal was in the monopoly browser while Google's software is a third-party add-on, and Microsoft's was (originally) on by default while Google's is a button to click.

30 of 481 comments (clear)

  1. It is simple by odano · · Score: 5, Funny

    Microsoft is Evil
    Google is Not (yet!)

    1. Re:It is simple by ePhil_One · · Score: 5, Funny
      What defines evil?

      In the case of Twins, its usually a goatee.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
    2. Re:It is simple by njko · · Score: 2, Funny

      in the case of siamese twins, the left one it is the evil

      --
      \n.\n
    3. Re:It is simple by DGtlRift · · Score: 1, Funny

      Until MS buys them out - why reinvent the wheel when you can just buy it and bang it into a triagle?

      --
      How about a spell checker for slashdot, or even more impressive, a spell checker for strings in C-Code? Use lint! -DG
    4. Re:It is simple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      In the case of websites, it's usually goatse.

    5. Re:It is simple by coopaq · · Score: 2, Funny
      I noticed that GOatee is registered.
      Does that mean that Google's Oatee Beta will be ready soon?
      Is this the evil OS they've been hiding?
      Will Oatee be based on linux?

      When can I really start hating Google?

      They have all the nasty ingredients of big brother.
      Sure they were cute once, but now...
      Changing my web pages' contents?
      Next you tell me that their search results are paid for.

    6. Re:It is simple by tmhsiao · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'm more evil than Saucer people??

      Who would've guessed?

      --
      "My God...It's full of ads!" -Fry, about the Internet, Futurama
    7. Re:It is simple by jadenyk · · Score: 5, Funny
      You must be new here.

      To tell if a company is evil is pretty easy:

      • Does Bill Gates own it?
      • Are they called "Microsoft"
      • Can they be found on Google by entering Bastards

      I'm probably missing a few there, but you get the point.

    8. Re:It is simple by null-sRc · · Score: 3, Funny

      ... 10 seconds of thinking goatse is spelled wrong only to remember goatee is actually a word. :|

      --
      -judging another only defines yourself
    9. Re:It is simple by bburton · · Score: 2, Funny
      NAZIs -> Commies -> (terrorists ->) Chinese -> Saucer people likewise, IBM -> Microsoft -> Google -> ???
      Profit?
      --
      Slashdot = ((Technology + Politics) / Trolls) % Grammar Nazis
    10. Re:It is simple by mcc · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think we need to stop thinking of Sears and the Mafia as good vs. evil. They are both companies out to make a profit. Sears chooses to make a profit by buying clothing items in bulk and selling them individually at a higher price, while the Mafia chooses to make a profit by not burning down people's businesses in exchange for money. Neither is less or more evil than the other - they both answer to consumers when they screw up something, and since consumers control the almighty dollar, they are answerable to us. The problem is that most consumers can't agree on what color blue is, much less whether a company such as the Mafia is doing something that is too invasive or not.

      --
      Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
  2. maybe by dance2die · · Score: 3, Funny

    maybe, google toolbars are not "SMART" enough to be considered to be evil?(yet)?

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    buffering...
  3. In Soviet Seattle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    M$ Smart Tags You!!!

  4. Rather, they WOULD have gotten away with it... by BlueThunderArmy · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...if it weren't for that pesky Slashdot!

  5. Re:Not a monolopy ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    monolopy?

  6. That's deceptively complicated. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    See the truth is "Of course not."

    But I don't want to look like a hypocrite, or give up my dogma, so I've got to complicate everything by lying, and calling you a "M$FT fanboy, who's too stupid to know any better." Now stop trolling me with relevant questions.

  7. OMG!!! No! by eno2001 · · Score: 5, Funny

    What Google has done is completely different because it didn't come from Microsoft. Microsoft has been operating a sweatshop of coding gnomes. They pay them only in fractions of a farthing per month! Whereas Google employs a crack team of trained code sphinxes who test their search technology daily with vexing questions. Google pays their sphinxes well and because of that the sphinxes coded this new technology that is quite superior to Microsoft's magic links technology. So don't fear the sphinxes for they are your friends. Microsoft abuses gnomes. They are evil.

    Yes. Laugh... it's absurdist! ;P

    --
    -"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
  8. Re:Not a monolopy ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I think he's confused "monopoly" and "jackelope".

  9. Re:Books don't have ISDN numbers by temojen · · Score: 4, Funny

    You could try plugging an ISDN into a book, but I've never been able to find the socket.

  10. Re:OMG!!! No! by eno2001 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Whilst I appreciate being modded up as informative for the parent post, I find it scary that someone may have actually taken my post regarding sphinxes and gnomes to heart. After all, there is a major flaw in the previous post. I left out the most important detail that Bill Gates was an escapee from the Roswell UFO crash in the 40s. Hence his power to subjugate gnomes and corral giant trolls (Ballmer). :P Sorry for the oversight.

    --
    -"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
  11. Re:Not a monolopy ... by goofyspouse · · Score: 2, Funny

    I am effin in tears at the repeated use of "monolopy" in this post. Transposing the L and the P once is understandable, but doing it throughout the whole post is just plain hilarious.

  12. Scared by Bwana · · Score: 3, Funny

    Google scares me. Taking over the world one service at a time.

    --

    "Electric Relaxation" - ATCQ
    - Bwana
  13. Re:Easy Tiger! by bcmm · · Score: 2, Funny

    A controlled explosion?
    You were running IE under Wine then?

    --
    # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
    Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
  14. Re:Books don't have ISDN numbers by lpangelrob2 · · Score: 4, Funny
    We make up units all the time in /., so I don't see why books wouldn't have ISDN numbers.

    If your typical ISDN bandwidth is 128 Kbps, and I can read about... 8 words per second... and given that each word averages about 5 letters, and each letter is a byte... that gives us a relative bandwidth of 8 x 5 x 8 = 320 bits per second... or something like .0025 ISDN numbers.

    I don't really feel like calculating that in libraries of congress per fortnight, though. But I can tell you that number would also be really freaking small.

    --
    -Rob
    Marriage doesn't have to suck!
  15. Bargepole by BobPaul · · Score: 5, Funny

    It runs on IE, and the average /. reader won't touch that with a bargepole

    For those slashdot users who would touch IE if they had a barge pole:

    General Purpose 6-12 ft extension pole
    Avery Push Pole (for water use)

  16. Re:Not a monolopy ... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Funny
    I am effin in tears at the repeated use of "monolopy" in this post. Transposing the L and the P once is understandable, but doing it throughout the whole post is just plain hilarious.


    m'I sydlexic you nisensitive cold!!!

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  17. security through obscurity by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1, Funny

    Goateed siamese twin sisters should never leave the secret underground lair.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

  18. Re:Who cares? by Daedala · · Score: 4, Funny

    I am not hypothetical!

    Oh, wait, I'm female, and I'm on slashdot. I take that back. I am hypothetical.

    --
    What I say does not represent the views of my employers, my friends, my cats, or myself.
  19. in other news...... by frovingslosh · · Score: 4, Funny

    Mother Teresa gets away with things that Adolf Hitler couldn't, film at 11.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  20. Re:Books don't have ISDN numbers by Duhavid · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes, they do. I call my books all the time. Gets expensive, but it lets tham know I still care, even though I have not read them in a long time.

    --
    emt 377 emt 4