From: Chad Perrin <perrin@...>
Date: 2007-07-24T05:26:03+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby Editor

On Mon, Jul 23, 2007 at 10:33:32PM +0900, Alex Young wrote:
> Felix Windt wrote:
> >>
> >[snip]
> >>OK ... where does *Google's* money come from? The searches 
> >>are free, and most of their other "products" are as well.
> >>
> >
> >An incomplete list:
> >
> >- Charge advertisers for presenting online "banner" ads to users
> >- Collect marketing data on consumer habits, then selling the data or using
> >it for targeted advertising.
> 
> >- Charging websites to become listed
> >- Charging websites for better placement in lists
> I don't think they do these two, do they?

They have paid placement.  It's not mixed in with the normal search
rankings, though, which is probably what you were thinking.  They keep
the two separated (as far as I'm aware).


> 
> >- Charging websites to purchase keywords for themselves
> >- Charging other search engines to use their catalog
> >
> >AdSense is a huge, huge product.
> 
> I guess the point is that Google probably *could* be an open source 
> company if it wanted.  The value in Google is in the brand and the vast 
> infrastructure investment (in which I include all their hired brains).

It absolutely could.  It's kind of disappointing that:

  1. Google isn't an open source company (well, it uses some open source
  software, but you know what I mean).

  2. It doesn't support open source platforms with a lot of its
  "products".

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
Phillip J. Haack: "Productivity is not about speed. It's about velocity.
You can be fast, but if you're going in the wrong direction, you're not
helping anyone."