[aklug] Re: Has anyone noticed ...

On 06/04/2011 10:50 AM, Greg Madden wrote:
>
>
> On Saturday 04 June 2011 02:29:49 am Bruce Hill wrote:
>> On Fri, Jun 03, 2011 at 11:46:00PM -0800, Jim Gribbin wrote:
>>> ... Google seems to be doing away with our specialized searches?
>>>
>>> http://www.google.com/linux now redirects to
>>> http://www.google.com/webhp, as does http://www.google.com/mac and
>>> probably the rest as well.
>>>
>>> This is also where http://www.google.com takes you to. I guess our
>>> specialized searches are going away.
>>>
>>> I, for one, am more than just a little irritated. I think at least 50%
>>> of my Google searched initiated from http://www.google.com/linux.
>>>
>>> Jim G
>>
>> I noticed the same thing recently, and started a thread at LQ about it.
>>
>> To me it looks as if Google has, and is, taking the best of Linux code and
>> using it to build their own products, which are proprietary and not FOSS.
>> They seem to be using the same business practices which Bill Gates used
>> starting Microsoft, and building his empire ... only Google has more
>> intelligent people doing the work.
>>
>> They take your code, they don't give credit, then they kill your product.
>>
>> Notice how Google requires cookies for everything; even Google Maps does
>> not function completely anymore without them. They didn't start doing
>> these things until they'd built up their "services".
>>
>> Bruce
>
> It is not just cookies.
>
> I noticed some features I use on Alaska Airlines site do not work without
> allowing 'googleapis' to run.

To bring some balance to the Google bashing: All the code components in
the Google API are open-source Javascript libraries:

http://code.google.com/apis/libraries/

These include free free user interface, jquery, and other tools. The
dynamic loader simply allows you to load all the the Javascript from
Google servers, but is not required.

Frankly, whether or not you like everything Google does, stamping Google
as the new Microsoft is cheap and unfair. What does Microsoft contribute
to open source? A few grudging lines of kernel code? And some mono
libraries everyone is afraid to use?

In contrast, I would be surprised if there is anyone on this list who
doesn't know at least two or three projects they love that haven't
benefited from Google summer of code or other Google participation. In
my case, I know that GSoC has been contributing to Gentoo development
for nearly a decade, and they are involved in the development of various
Haskell modules.

Anyway, if someone can list specific projects where Google is stealing
open source code and wrapping them in proprietary products, list them
out and I'll be glad to join you in condemning those efforts.

-- 
frigidcode.com
theologia.indicium.us
---------
To unsubscribe, send email to <aklug-request@aklug.org>
with 'unsubscribe' in the message body.