Re: What will Google do next?

[theshz]

in reply to What will Google do next?

Probably nothing special. They used to do search well, now they are into everything, a pretty good indication that the results will be average. Their search certainly changed the web, but what have gmail, google maps, google earth, froogle, google talk, google news changed? I've tried all of them, very excited for a few days/weeks, then back to my old stuff. In other words, they revolutionized the web 5-6 years ago, made lots of money, created lots of cool stuff, but nothing revolutionary since.

[Roy Johnson]

They used to do search well

Are you suggesting that they got worse? That someone else does search better? If you are, I disagree.

They have dabbled in many areas, and I agree that most of them are at best novelties. I think Google News is a great resource. Not surprisingly, it's search-related, but also automatically compiles top stories under various headings, which makes a nice news page. They also have blog search, which has been handy for me a time or two.

I think they'll do best in their niche of searching through vast amounts of information to find what the user wants. They've explored just about every available avenue in that genre (and some that weren't available, as authors of copyrighted works were quick to protest), but maybe they'll come up with other useful areas to apply those technologies to.