St. George UT PC Doctor

You may have seen the news today announcing new technology from Google called “Instant search”.  The blog post from Google announcing the development can be found here.

I’m always curious to see what’s behind emerging trends, especially when it’s something being pushed by Google.  So is Google Instant the greatest breakthrough in search this decade or not?

Only time will answer that question, but my initial review of the technology leaves me unmoved and more than just a little suspicious.

Google Instant certainly results in a visually appealing search experience, but at what cost to your privacy?  If the devil is in the details, here is the devil you should be aware of if you are going to use Google Instant.  From Google’s own FAQ regarding instant search:

“Please note, users on domains other than Google.com can only access Google Instant if they are signed in to a Google Account”

In other words, unless you are logged in to GMAIL, Google voice or other Google service, Instant Search will not work.  Of course if you are signed in, EVERYTHING you search for can be used to  uniquely identify the person behind the search query.  This should raise further privacy concerns from consumer watchdogs and I suspect it will in time.

For now I will take a wait and see attitude with regard to Google Instant, but I will also refrain from using it until more facts are known.

Tags: google, search, privacy

Great way to start out the week, with a HUGE belly laugh!  Some strong language.  Don't watch if easily offended!

Tags: chromeos, google, techcrunch

You're living in a cave if you haven't at least heard about G's intention to "build" a new computer Operating System based on their highly promoted and little used "Chrome" web browser.  Based on the reaction in the blogosphere, there doesn't seem to be a lot of "wait and see" attitude from the people actually paying attention to this stuff.   The Google fanboys and girls have soiled themselves in naivete` while the nay sayers are raising privacy concerns and question the motivation of such a plan.  Drudge went so far as to headline it as a "death blow" to Redmond, WA based Microsoft.   God knows Drudge has never been over the top.

I'm open minded enough to wait and see what ultimately comes out of Mountainview, but I for one am not holding my breath that this is going to be a "game changer" on a large scale.  Google conveniently omitted any real detail in the press release so one can only guess the new OS, in reality will be a shell or GUI running on top of Linux or other Open Source OS.  Not even the whiz kids can build a viable operating system from scratch and take it to market in the time frame announced.  If I am right, it won't be a true stand alone "Operating System", but rather akin to Windows 3.0 and 3.1 in that it will be a "Chrome" based GUI running on top of Linux, and we all know how painful that was.

Here is what I want to know:  Is Google really trying to build disruptive technology, or just trying to be disruptive?  Is this just a ploy to deflect the watchful eyes of Wall Street away from the sinking earnings reports and other failures?   Memo to Eric (Schmidt, CEO of Google), not EVERYONE has a stick up their ass for Bill Gates and Microsoft like you do.  Don't presume that the typical PC user sees Microsoft the same way you do.  Many of us are starting to see you as the new predatory and evil empire.

What's your take?

Tags: chrome, google, microsoft, os