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I used to like this website but this Google bashing is making me reconsider.

lego

_Which_ website? Google Blogoscoped, ABC, or Valleywag?

In case Lego means this blog; I'm trying to report things as I see them – neither in favor or disfavor of Google. In this specific case, the "spin" on satellite images I mentioned was painfully obvious IMO... paraphrasing:

Marissa "Back in 1999 we talked about ... satellite imagery" [Note: Google acquired Keyhole, the original maker of Google Earth, in 2004]
Reporter "Satellite imagery... now that it's there it seems like a no-brainer... 'why didn't somebody think of that sooner?' It seems so obvious"
Later, Marissa says "As recently as a year ago Google Earth didn't exist... now it's a standard that people expect when buying a home or planning a vacation... you know you have Google Earth and satellite imagery available... but that's reasonably recent."

Was Keyhole a standalone application, or was it a company with satellite imagery data? In other words, did Google create Google Earth using Keyhole's satellite imagery? Or did Google buy Keyhole and change the name of the Keyhole program to Google Earth?

"As recently as a year ago Google Earth didn't exist." – Huh ??

WTF is that about ?? For folksk who know-- John Henke worked the DOJ/USG before being declassifed and permit to move his little baby into the public world...

Earth existed for a long long time.. I wrote here about digitalglobe :)-

http://peterdawson.blogspot.com/2004/10/google-buys-keyhole.html

> Or did Google buy Keyhole and change
> the name of the Keyhole program to
> Google Earth?

Exactly. Also refer to Google's acquisition press release from 2004:
http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/keyhole.html

<<Google Inc. ... today announced it acquired Keyhole Corp., a Mountain View, Calif.-based digital mapping company. (...)
"With Keyhole, you can fly like a superhero from your computer at home to a street corner somewhere else in the world – or find a local hospital, map a road trip or measure the distance between two points (...) This acquisition gives Google users a powerful new search tool, enabling users to view 3D images of any place on earth">>

I saw the software first in 2003 at Kai Krause's Byteburg, long before Google rebranded it. This is not to say Google didn't do a lot to make the software much more popular, and I'm sure improve it in other ways – it's just that the image you'd get from watching that ABC video is a completely false one.

Lego writes:

"I used to like this website but this Google bashing is making me reconsider."

Bashing? You're kidding, right?

I think JP does a SMASHING job of presenting an unbiased look at the things Google does instead of wandering into fantasyland.

Google are not all sweetness and light and sunshine and roses pouring out of their asses. They do a LOT of things that suck; I think it's refreshing to see someone NOT fall all over themselves to kiss up and swoon over them.

She started with Google – June of 1999, three months after moving into their first Real New Offices.

   That was before Google became an influence.

It would have been nice to get some idea of her peceptions of the strengths & Weaknesses of the other Established Search Engines during that period...

Did She or Brin/Page actually * ONLY * use Google for Searching in its early days....

Also, what were the perceptions of Brin & Page about the competition. (they had attempted to Sell Google Technology to them in the late 90s)...

Imagine if Novel or Yahoo had purchased Google technology for $1 Mil when they had a chance.

http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2004/novdec/features/startingup.html

bashing? i dont get that. i thought the same thing. Google didn't event google earth, they just glommed onto keyhole. that was "conveniently" omitted from MM's interview. The MayerBot really didn't say much, just repeated that "organize all the info and make it accessible" thing.

"I saw the software first in 2003 at Kai Krause's Byteburg, long before Google rebranded it. This is not to say Google didn't do a lot to make the software much more popular, and I'm sure improve it in other ways – it's just that the image you'd get from watching that ABC video is a completely false one."

True or Marissa has to get the most updated spelled information herself.

I liked when they used "kicking everybodies butt"
But, I donät see it at all this way, I think Google Worked hard on developping and evangelizing their users Universe.

Yes THIS is 'bashing' considering Mr Lensen blog's used to be a quasi-official fanbois' one. Rats leave a sinking ship

What's sinking ship? Google? I don't think so :)

And Philipp just tries to be objective. I think it's natural. It's independent, personal blog, not official company blog, and Philipp should write just what he thinks.

If you look closely at the picture from Orkut homepage http://www.orkut.com , isn't the girl on the top right corner Marissa?

You are right, that *is* Marissa on Orkut! It's actually from this photo:
http://www.mediajunk.com/public/archives/images/mmayer.jpg

> Rats leave a sinking ship

Google is a "sinking ship"? Now who's bashing Google? :)

Many of us actually believe quite a few of Google's products are/ were superior to competition products (think Gmail vs Hotmail, or Google web search in 1999 vs AltaVista in 1999). But that's not because we dig the Google brand or believe what Google PR throws at us – we can judge the products as users, by using them. There are good and bad Google products, and there are good and bad Google management decisions. If bad products and decisions increase then so will the negative criticism in this blog. I'd be a rat leaving the ship if I *stopped* reporting as soon as I see negative things happening.

For me this last post where I don´t see the spin as being obvious. They thought about satellite imagery in 1999 and they bought a company later in the process to make their vision happen. Would it be much different if they had done the developments internally? She doesn't suggest that they developed it inhouse. It´s your blog and for me it has done a good job but this entry follows the entry for IE7 search default and Google complaining abou that. There I agree with some of those who left comments there that a market leader which distributes IE as default with their OS is guiding users further to their default search engine. If google makes a deal with a IE competitor to become the default search engine for that browser that for me is totally different from microsoft putting their search engine in IE7.

I did install IE7 Beta 2 and found that google was set as my default. Was very surprised actually and I am not sure if it was something that IE7 picked up from my IE6 install or what.

Lego

"I did install IE7 Beta 2 and found that google was set as my default. Was very surprised actually and I am not sure if it was something that IE7 picked up from my IE6 install or what."

Yep, it did the same for me.

But the programme certainly implies that Google developed revolutionary with Google Earth whereas in fact they just bought a company. In a few years Google may say the same about SKetchUp