I think it's odd that people are surprised by this at all. Eric Schmidt flat out stated that only people with something to hide care about privacy. That is your beloved Google, folks.
It most certainly does, which is why it's under investigation by several governments in the world. Oh, sure, they claim they "accidentally" archived the data, but that suggests an absurd level of incompetence. Also, Google would never have told anyone about it if the German government hadn't probed for the information.
Also, I'd like to note that if any other company had done this, such as Microsoft, Slashdot would have torn their head off. Because it's Google, however, they got a lot of fan defense in the comments.
That's incorrect. Darwin is the most popular version of UNIX as of today and powers every iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Counting all Apple devices, iOS is the most popular mobile operating system in the world by a large margin, a fact that Apple trumpeted at WWDC this year.
The Apple variant of BSD is a dead end. All branches of linux are still alive and kicking, for example on Android phones - the most popular smartphone.
Android isn't a smartphone. It's an operating system. With iPods and iPads counted, the most popular mobile operating system is iOS by a large margin. Apple's Darwin foundation is the most popular UNIX in the world.
It's cute how Slashdotters think Linux is the center of the universe. Linux on the desktop is so statistically insignificant as to be practically non-existent, and platforms like Android are based on APIs that simply run onto of Linux but were written by commercial companies like Google (a proprietary search and advertising company, no less).
A corporation made the computer you used to type that. Your anti-business tirade is every generic, stereotypical dorm-room philosophy that's ever been written.
Or when someone points out a truth about your favorite product that you don't like. For a demonstration, just wander into any Google, Android, or Linux discussion on Slashdot and point out something negative.
Almost every "leak" is intentional. My favorite is when movie and game sites breathlessly report that some teaser trailer "leaked" and then was taken down. Companies do that on purpose to create the illusion that you're seeing something they don't want you to see, which creates hype. It also makes people host the video on their own sites so that the company doesn't even have to pay bandwidth costs to host it themselves.
Most people don't want to maintain a computer. The ambition of appliance computing has finally arrived. You think the little bubble you're living in represents the real world, but people like you who think that technical control is a top concern are a trivial niche, like a smug user of a manual transmission looking down on people who use automatic transmissions.
There's an irritating trend in Slashdot discussions to cite bogeymen to dismiss any news that may be negative toward some protagonist of the community, such as Google. "Oh, there's a statement from Florian Mueller, so the entire article is FUD even though the judge really did ask those questions in his letter. I'm not listening, la-la-la."
As sound as legal analysis from an anonymous poster on pro-Google Slashdot must be, I'm afraid you're not as persuasive as you think you are. What's happening is that the judge is pressuring both parties to reach a settlement, which is probably what's going to happen.
There is no "danger" for google in any form, nor did the judge imply it was plausible that google did anything.
Uh...
"In reading the Daubert briefing, it appears possible that early on Google recognized that it would infringe patents protecting at least part of Java, entered into negotiations with Sun [Microsystems] to obtain a license for use in Android, then abandoned the negotiations as too expensive, and pushed home with Android without any license at all," Alsup wrote in the letter filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California.
This is fascinating. All you did was post your personal opinion of Google+, and you got modded "-1 Flamebait." The positive replies that try to "correct" your personal opinion are modded up.
Slashdot is so fanatically pro-Google, it's sickening.
There is a lack of interest in Google+ among mainstream users, mainstream users being the 750 million users of Facebook who don't read tech blogs or follow Twitter feeds. Google+ is currently populated entirely by Google employees, celebrity bloggers, and tech personalities. These are the same people who breathlessly proclaimed in every news article that Google Wave was the next step in evolution after email.
Ah, the anonymous Google defenders are out in full force today. Google fanboys have become worse than Apple fanboys when it comes to slavish devotion.
No, they're field testing an unfinished product. It's the reason why it's hard to get an invite.
No, they're advertising a product by inviting the pro-Google tech press while keeping it invite-only to prevent mainstream users from being driven away by mistakes like this one. Google wants it both ways--the news coverage of a fully released product but without the responsibilities of a fully released product.
You're right, of course, but because this is Google, you're going to get defenders voting you down and justifying everything they do. Google wants it both ways. They want the positive press of Google-friendly tech enthusiasts (who make up the majority of the users right now and dutifully advertise everything Google does) but none of the negative press that mistakes would generate among mainstream users.
Here's an interesting article on the fact that Google Buzz also started out with "tens of millions of users" and then quickly died out. Quote:
[T]wo days after Buzz went live, Google posted a blog entry bragging that "tens of millions" of people had checked it out, and created more than 9 million posts and comments. At some point, interest died.
So far Google+ is filled with Googlers, reporters, and tech enthusiasts. They're posting a lot, enjoying the Hangouts feature, and driving traffic to tech news sites. But it's still way too early to know whether Google+ will get any traction with mainstream users -- the 750 million people who are on Facebook today.
Slashdot Mirror
I think it's odd that people are surprised by this at all. Eric Schmidt flat out stated that only people with something to hide care about privacy. That is your beloved Google, folks.
It most certainly does, which is why it's under investigation by several governments in the world. Oh, sure, they claim they "accidentally" archived the data, but that suggests an absurd level of incompetence. Also, Google would never have told anyone about it if the German government hadn't probed for the information.
Also, I'd like to note that if any other company had done this, such as Microsoft, Slashdot would have torn their head off. Because it's Google, however, they got a lot of fan defense in the comments.
Slashdot is the Aint't-It-Cool-News of tech journalism these days. Every story is days behind and has to be controversial or misleading.
That's incorrect. Darwin is the most popular version of UNIX as of today and powers every iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Counting all Apple devices, iOS is the most popular mobile operating system in the world by a large margin, a fact that Apple trumpeted at WWDC this year.
Darwin is free and open source. You most certainly can download and install it on your server. Do your research.
Android isn't a smartphone. It's an operating system. With iPods and iPads counted, the most popular mobile operating system is iOS by a large margin. Apple's Darwin foundation is the most popular UNIX in the world.
Apple hired FreeBSD's co-founder.
It's cute how Slashdotters think Linux is the center of the universe. Linux on the desktop is so statistically insignificant as to be practically non-existent, and platforms like Android are based on APIs that simply run onto of Linux but were written by commercial companies like Google (a proprietary search and advertising company, no less).
A corporation made the computer you used to type that. Your anti-business tirade is every generic, stereotypical dorm-room philosophy that's ever been written.
Or when someone points out a truth about your favorite product that you don't like. For a demonstration, just wander into any Google, Android, or Linux discussion on Slashdot and point out something negative.
Gee, how could anyone argue with your sample size of a whopping three people?
Almost every "leak" is intentional. My favorite is when movie and game sites breathlessly report that some teaser trailer "leaked" and then was taken down. Companies do that on purpose to create the illusion that you're seeing something they don't want you to see, which creates hype. It also makes people host the video on their own sites so that the company doesn't even have to pay bandwidth costs to host it themselves.
Most people don't want to maintain a computer. The ambition of appliance computing has finally arrived. You think the little bubble you're living in represents the real world, but people like you who think that technical control is a top concern are a trivial niche, like a smug user of a manual transmission looking down on people who use automatic transmissions.
On a related note, it's not mentioned in this article summary, but according to the figures in the reports, the PC market declined overall by 4-6%.
There's an irritating trend in Slashdot discussions to cite bogeymen to dismiss any news that may be negative toward some protagonist of the community, such as Google. "Oh, there's a statement from Florian Mueller, so the entire article is FUD even though the judge really did ask those questions in his letter. I'm not listening, la-la-la."
As sound as legal analysis from an anonymous poster on pro-Google Slashdot must be, I'm afraid you're not as persuasive as you think you are. What's happening is that the judge is pressuring both parties to reach a settlement, which is probably what's going to happen.
Well, shit, who needs a court system when "Barbara, not Barbie" of Slashdot has dismissed the case?
Uh...
"In reading the Daubert briefing, it appears possible that early on Google recognized that it would infringe patents protecting at least part of Java, entered into negotiations with Sun [Microsystems] to obtain a license for use in Android, then abandoned the negotiations as too expensive, and pushed home with Android without any license at all," Alsup wrote in the letter filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California.
It's not "just a number" to people who have to approve and test major new versions of software in an enterprise environment.
This is fascinating. All you did was post your personal opinion of Google+, and you got modded "-1 Flamebait." The positive replies that try to "correct" your personal opinion are modded up.
Slashdot is so fanatically pro-Google, it's sickening.
There is a lack of interest in Google+ among mainstream users, mainstream users being the 750 million users of Facebook who don't read tech blogs or follow Twitter feeds. Google+ is currently populated entirely by Google employees, celebrity bloggers, and tech personalities. These are the same people who breathlessly proclaimed in every news article that Google Wave was the next step in evolution after email.
Ah, the anonymous Google defenders are out in full force today. Google fanboys have become worse than Apple fanboys when it comes to slavish devotion.
No, they're advertising a product by inviting the pro-Google tech press while keeping it invite-only to prevent mainstream users from being driven away by mistakes like this one. Google wants it both ways--the news coverage of a fully released product but without the responsibilities of a fully released product.
What he's saying is that they cite its so-called prerelease status as justification for the existence of such mistakes.
You're right, of course, but because this is Google, you're going to get defenders voting you down and justifying everything they do. Google wants it both ways. They want the positive press of Google-friendly tech enthusiasts (who make up the majority of the users right now and dutifully advertise everything Google does) but none of the negative press that mistakes would generate among mainstream users.
Here's an interesting article on the fact that Google Buzz also started out with "tens of millions of users" and then quickly died out. Quote: