[Foundation-l] In defence of Google

[Peter van Londen]

GerardM is not alone.

I do agree, with Gerards view.
Why this hostility to commerce, I don't understand?
Let's use them for our purposes in stead of renounce them!

Kind regards
Londenp

2007/1/20, Gerard Meijssen <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com>:
>
> Anthony schreef:
> > 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
> Hoi,
> The open content movement is not living in a vacuum. When you insists on
> everybody to behave like you would see the world and be overly negative
> about everyone that is not like that, you must live in a frustrating
> world. Google did and does a world of good. It is not an open source
> organisation but it has played a crucial role in making us what we are.
> It has contributed significantly to Open Source projects. One of their
> best policies is that they create their software in such a way that you
> can move away from Google if you so choose. If you want to reduce it to
> only "they did it for their own reason" fine, but you do not convince me.
>
> In the mean time, the WMF has a problem that is increasingly serious, we
> got a million and a bit out of our fund-raiser where we need a million
> and a half. Where we could use a million and one more. We predict that
> our growth is exponential. In my mind the biggest problem we have is a
> culture where other organisations, particular organisations that earn
> money are trash talked. Whoop-de-do that is just like it is baby;
> freedom of expression. And yes, but it is utterly irresponsible. In the
> case of Google, they made us and continue to make us as big as we are,
> and your aversion to selling ads does not detract one iota from that.
> They did not have to do such a thing. Were they in the pocket of the big
> content owners, they would not have done so and consequently we would
> not have been the big relevant movement that is changing the way people
> look at Open Content and licensing in the first place.
>
> I started this thread because to me it is essential to understand who
> our friends are. It is important to understand with whom we share
> values. It is important to understand for whom Open Content and Open
> Source can become more relevant and why. By engaging our friends and our
> could be friends, it is possible to increase the relevancy of what we
> do. We increase the potential for the WMF to realise its aims. It is sad
> that some choose to have such a narrow negative view on the world that
> they destroy opportunities. It is a fact of life that they are part of
> our community and it is for that reason that I feel it is necessary to
> repeat; Google has been good to us.
>
> Thanks,
>     GerardM
>
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