Google Gets Away With What Microsoft Couldn't

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.

Comments

Re:There are a few minor differences

[Osty]

SmartLink was intended to replace existing tags with links to places MS wanted you to go, and to add links that would only work if you happened to be running Windows.

This was modded informative? Man, I want some of that moderator crack. First off, I assume you're referring to Microsft's Smart Tags (no idea what "SmartLink" is). Second, it wasn't at all intended to replace existing links. It was in addition to any links on the pages (think similar to VibrantMedia's intellitext crap, but way less intrusive, and still under your control). Third, of course it would only work if you happen to be running Windows. The Google thing only works if you happen to be running Windows, IE, and the Google toolbar. So what? Fourth, Smart Tags were and are configurable. You could remove tags you didn't want, and install new ones you did. Perhaps there would've been security issues with the tags installing by themselves, but I never saw that (I used the IE 6 beta back in the day), and now it would only be speculation. You could write your own smart tags and distribute them completely independent of Microsoft, and most of the smart tags I've seen were useful, not advertisements (ie, a name gets tagged so you can look it up in your Outlook contact list, an address gets tagged so you can look it up on mappoint, etc).

People reacted poorly to Microsoft's Smart Tags because they were from Microsoft, not because they were inherently evil. That's also why people are not up in arms about Google doing it (they "Do no Evil," right?). At least in Microsoft's case the API to build your own smart tags was available (I don't know about Google's, since I don't run the Google toolbar and I've not looked into this deeper).