Google Earth.

Story: Google - What Have You Done For Us Lately?Total Replies: 9
Author Content
mvermeer

Oct 24, 2005
7:11 AM EDT
I suppose it's Yahoo then for me.
TxtEdMacs

Oct 24, 2005
9:54 AM EDT
Restrain yourself - Yahoo requires MSIE or Netscape to watch a movie previews. It recognized my use of the Firefox beta.
jimf

Oct 24, 2005
12:33 PM EDT
Google... a good search engine... all the rest is vaporware anyway.

You guys should know by now that these companies are only out for the $.
tadelste

Oct 24, 2005
1:19 PM EDT
Jim: I didn't know that. But, I know you're just kidding, right?
jimf

Oct 24, 2005
2:38 PM EDT
tadelste:

Well, I'm not very 'up' today, but yes, I'm absolutely serious... I have no use for anything else they have produced. Nor do I believe that Google is doing anything out of altruism. Perhaps their only attribute is that they are not MS.

On the other hand, a couple of days ago you would have been wise to invest in google... believe me (if I could afford it) I would have ;-)
dinotrac

Oct 24, 2005
6:15 PM EDT
But...Doesn't say something about the maturity of Free Software?

Google give something back by being Google and running on Linux.

I know, I know ... It's a cheap cop-out.

It's also true. Google makes a fortune by running Linux. Linux is making money by the boatload for Google.

Hey guys!! Boatloads of money being made...with Linux!

Did we remember to mention that you can make boatloads of money using Linux?

No dirty dealing required, though a little giving back might be nice.



tadelste

Oct 24, 2005
8:47 PM EDT
I'm using firefox, gmail and the personal web page functions. I like it.

I tried Opera with Google for a few days, but it doesn't work that well for me.

Jim: I was playing dumb - about they're only in it for the money. I don't know brin and page or schmidt, but I'm sure they're having fun with all that wealth.

I was once in "it" for the money. I liked all the stuff for a while. Without making a contribution, it wasn't fulfilling at all.

I wonder sometimes if one can sustain a life worth living where money is the nucleus of existence.
mvermeer

Oct 25, 2005
5:28 AM EDT
Yes, it would be nice, though not required, if Google gave something back. But that's not the point. It's about honesty.

Google makes a big deal about taking the moral high road. "Do No Evil". Yeah, sure. They currently have a monopoly status of sorts -- not as solid as Microsoft's, but still. I don't begrudge them their money; it's their power we should be apprehensive about.

There may be valid business or technical reasons for not offering, e.g., Google Earth for Linux; like, they bought the software from a third party who wrote it only for Windows; or whatever. "We do not currently plan to support Linux" is not a valid reason. It's the kind of answer from companies that have forgotten where they came from.

The lesson I seem to learn from this is that corps cannot be trusted -- especially not those that say "trust us".
helios

Oct 25, 2005
5:55 AM EDT
"There may be valid business or technical reasons for not offering, e.g., Google Earth for Linux"

That's the part that chaps my @$$...The original enterprise version was written for Linux only. The reason they offer only a Windows version has to be financially based. They see no profit in offering it to Linux.

Thank goodness for People That Develop For Linux.

http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/08/30/124023...

tadelste

Oct 25, 2005
10:37 AM EDT
I actually met the CTO of AOL when I spoke at a JBoss breakfast in Washington D.C. We got along pretty well. She was cordial and gracious to me.

I had heard that they got rid of all their SGI and Sun boxes and were running 100% Linux. I asked her if that was the truth and she said, proudly, yes it is true.

So, I asked her if she would make a Linux client for AOL. She said, I'll think about it.

All the AOL dial-up services are configured for Windows including disabling ICS. That's a business decision they made some time ago. They use a funky and tricky DNS service based on a proxy server, etc.

I think they want to offer an AOL client, but the numbers don't work. The cost:reward ratio isn't there and the way management by blinders works, they don't see the upside.

Pathetic bean counters.

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