eWeek Maddening Ad and Even Wackier Analysis of Bing and Google
December 31, 2009
A big IBM ad plopped itself in the middle of my netbook’s 10 inch screen. The ad was in Adobe’s Flash technology and the whiz kids who crafted this dorky blob forced me to click around until I made it go away. Pretty annoying, and almost as annoying as the “slideshow” called “How Microsoft Bing Could Challenge Google in 2010”. The slides are little more than a series of facts and comments designed to generate page views. Clicking to advance the slideshow was maddening, but the argument was even wackier. There was no analysis. There were statements and facts about a supposition that Microsoft would hook up with News Corp in one more effort to kill Google. Won’t work. The battle does not exist. Here’s why:
- The fight is an unequal one. Google has nuclear bombs. Microsoft has dump trucks with fertilizer and diesel fuel.
- The users are habituated to a Google world. Changing habits is going to take time and money. Microsoft has money, but I am not so sure about time.
- Microsoft can team up with traditional media in the hope that a lack of “real journalism” will hobble Google. Wrong. Google can just hire people to write content exclusively for Google. When that happens, game over.
The Google is being more patient than I would be. I would create the Google Press and put an end to this baloney. I have four or five publishers. I love each. I would dump them in a heartbeat if Google offered to publish my next monograph and give me a slice of the revenue. Traditional publishers are in the blockbuster business. The blockbuster business if very risky. Google is in the information access business. If Google becomes a publisher of news, scholarly journals, and monographs, Google can “own” the rights. Where would people go to get information access? My answer: Googzilla.
My suggestion is find a way to generate money from Google and surf on the beast. Forcing Google to become a publisher is a death sentence for some outfits.
Stephen E. Arnold, December 31, 2009
I must disclose to the US Senate that I was not paid to write about the power of Google as a nation state. Once it becomes a publisher, Google may pass its own laws and issue Google bucks. Pretty interesting thought, right?
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