[Foundation-l] In defence of Google

[Anthony]

On 1/19/07, George Herbert <george.herbert at gmail.com> wrote:
> You're giving several people the impression that you are trying to bag
> on several corporations.
>
I'm not even sure what it means "to bag on" a corporation, so I guess
I'll take your word on it.

> > > This is not the place for merely bagging on the corporations.  It's
> > > one of many places where real serious discussions could start on what
> > > to do next.
> > >
> > Well, this isn't the place for praising corporations either, then.
>
> It's not praising them to note that they're an integral part of how
> the Internet's typical user experience works, and how Wikipedia is
> being used by typical users.
>
It is praising Google to claim that "Google did a world of good to the
Open Content movement".

Google is in no way a part of the open content movement.  In fact,
much of what they do is directly opposed to the open content movement.
 APIs that can't be used without agreeing to a highly restrictive
terms of service, patents which inhibit others from building upon
their innovative approach to search, tons of content all Copyright (c)
Google with all rights reserved.  They even throw their watermarks and
copyright notices on public domain content trying to claim it as their
own.

Google runs a search engine that is smart enough to put Wikipedia
articles at the top of searches for which a Wikipedia article is one
of the most relevant results.  Whoop-de-do, that's not doing a world
of good to the Open Content movement, that's making a popular search
engine so you can sell lots of ads.

Anthony