Devil's Advocate

Google Merchant Search: How Far is Too Far?

This is no great surprise. Google has made it clear for a very long time now that they want to "Organize the World's Information." And in the rush to ride on their financial coattails, many companies and content providers have gladly helped them realise this vision. The challenge comes down to when the parasite overpowers the host and, subsequently, trades places with them. I've often wondered how it is that GOOG and other search engines are able to promote themselves by using others' content without permission? Even in their natural search results, they've become so popular because they've done such a good job of appropriating information others have worked hard to assemble - but have never received permission to do so, and have never paid those sources for the use of this information - even though it's this information that has made GOOG so wildly popular in the first place. In the offline world, if I found a way to obtain for free many different bits of content that others produced, and used it to build my own business on their backs without ever paying them any royalties, how long do you think it would take before lawyers got involved with cease & desist orders?

Microsoft's Cashback: Changing the Internet Industry Forever

How is this different from sites like eBates, Upromise, FatWallet, MyPoints, and dozens of other loyalty sites that have existed and established strong consumer bases for years already? And how is it different from sites like Coupon Mountain, Coupon Cabin and others that have been helping price-savvy consumers for years? This offering by MSFT is nothing new, and will require not only a change of behavior in terms of consumers' Google usage, but also those who are already deeply entrenched in the sites that have existed for a long time.