Google Pack: where is Open Office?

From John Battelle's blog:

Google Pack strikes me as an obvious play for Google, the company has made no secret of its intention to poke Microsoft in the eye from time to time. And honestly, they are right - setting up and maintaining a PC is a right pain in the ass. I very much hope this thing works, and plan to try it out on a new PC Federated Media is buying this week.

I spoke to Marissa Mayer about Pack, and she had some fun stuff to say about it. I noticed no version of Open Office in the Pack, and she reminded me this is just the first version of the Pack, and since it updates itself automatically, why, there might be Open Office in an update shortly. They are in active discussions, I was told.

Pack, if it becomes popular, will bring a whole new set of users to Google, mainly because it includes Toolbar and Desktop, which of course means more searches, and more data, and more money for Google.

"We realize software distribution will have to become one of our core competencies," Mayer told me.

"Some of (the applications in Pack) will result in increased revenue to us," she also noted.

Well, I asked, might you ever include Microsoft products in a Google Pack? "If they are interested," the ever on her feet Mayer responded, "we'd be more than willing to discuss it with them." Over to you, Mr. Ballmer....

Let's see what's in the pack:

* Adobe Reader 7 - everybody would have downloaded anyway
* Ad-Aware - probably the default anti-spyware solution
* Norton Antivirus 2005 - 6 months subscription, just a trial version. There may be some money here, because Google could've chosen AVG Antivirus or Avast.
* RealPlayer - another money source from the good old friends at Real Networks
* Trillian - Google Talk is not ready for being considered a viable answer to Yahoo Messenger or MSN Messenger, so Google chose an all-in-one solution: Trillian. Gaim was considered too geeky.
* GalleryPlayer HD Images + Google Pack Screensaver - fun stuff to increase the coolness effect.
* Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar - what else?
* Google Toolbar (increase Google traffic), Google Desktop (let Google know more about you, Google outside the browser), Google Earth (splendid piece of work that will drive some traffic to Google), Google Talk (more traffic to GMail).

So where is money? Norton Antivirus, Real Player, Google Toolbar, Google Desktop.

What does Google Pack lack?
* a firewall (maybe Zone Alarm)
* media codecs (maybe DivX or ffdshow)
* office suite (OpenOffice)

And something else: who needs Google Updater? Google software can take care of its own updates (or auto-updates), Norton Antivirus, Real Player and Ad-Aware also have an update system. It seems pretty useless.

Google Video Store: rent video from Google

Google announced a service Friday that will let people rent or buy downloadable videos online, including classic and contemporary CBS television shows and NBA basketball games.

With Google Video Store, which the company said will be "available soon" at video.google.com consumers will pay $1.99 to download and view, for an unlimited time, episodes from last season's "Survivor" series, as well as episodes of 300 older TV programs like "I Love Lucy," said Peter Chane, senior business product manager for Google Video. The announcement was made in conjunction with a keynote address by Google co-founder Larry Page at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Also for $1.99, people will be able to rent, for 24 hours, recent episodes of popular TV series from CBS like "NCIS," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "The Amazing Race," Chane said. National Basketball Association games shown on TV can be downloaded for permanent purchase within one day of broadcast for $3.95, he said. Classic NBA games will also be available.

<> Video of Larry Page's keynote (9 minutes 8 seconds)



Also Friday, Google announced Google Pack, a software package that includes programs like Google Talk, Google Toolbar, Google Desktop, Google Alerts and Google Video Player for rented videos, Firefox browser, anti-spyware from LavaSoft, Adobe PDF Reader 7, Norton's antivirus program, Trillian Instant Messenger and RealPlayer. The cool thing is you can select to install only the software you want. Try Custom Google Pack.

Larry Page keynote at CES announcement

GOOGLE CO-FOUNDER TO KEYNOTE AT THE 2006 INTERNATIONAL CES

Arlington, Virginia - 11/15/2005

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced today that Larry Page, co-founder and president of products of Google, will deliver a keynote address at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Page's address is slated for Friday, January 6, 2006, at 4 p.m. in the Hilton Theater at the Las Vegas Hilton. The 2006 International CES, the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow, runs January 5-8 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

"Page has helped lead Google to become one of the world's most prolific brands and recognized as the world's largest Internet search engine. Google has been one of the most innovative companies of the past decade, moving beyond its search engine roots. With his entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to innovation, Page is a natural fit for CES. We are thrilled that he has come on board as a keynoter at the 2006 International CES," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA. "Page joins an outstanding keynote line-up that includes Microsoft's Bill Gates, Intel's Paul Otellini, Sony's Howard Stringer and Yahoo!'s Terry Semel".

Larry Page co-founded Google as the CEO in 1998 and grew the company to more than 200 employees and profitability before moving into his role as president of products in April 2001. He continues to share responsibility for Google's day-to-day operations and serve on Google's Board of Directors.

In 2002, Page was named a World Economic Forum Global Leader for Tomorrow. He is a member of the National Advisory Committee (NAC) of the University of Michigan College of Engineering, and together with co-founder Sergey Brin, he was honored with the Marconi Prize in 2004. He is a trustee on the board of the X PRIZE and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2004.

The 2006 International CES focuses on more than 30 product areas from more than 2,500 exhibitors spread throughout the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Sands Expo and Convention Center, the Las Vegas Hilton and the Alexis Park. For more news on CES before, during and after the show, including a detailed keynote schedule, visit www.CESweb.org, the interactive source for CES information.

Keynote Schedule


Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software
Architect, Microsoft Corp. 6:30 p.m.


Thursday, January 5, 2006
Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman and CEO, Sony Corp.
9 a.m.
Special address prior by Gary Shapiro, President and CEO, CEA


Paul Otellini
CEO, Intel Corp.
4:30 p.m.


Friday, January 6, 2006
Terry Semel
Chairman and CEO, Yahoo! Inc.
9 a.m.


Larry Page
Co-founder and President, Google Inc.
4 p.m.


All keynotes take place at the Las Vegas Hilton Theater

From http://www.cesweb.org/press/news/rd_release_detail.asp?id=10876.

Yahoo connects PC, TV and mobile phone

Yahoo launched at CES its Go initiative, a series of connected initiatives which exist outside the browser. Yahoo will present at go.connect.yahoo.com:

• Yahoo Go Mobile - apps for mobile devices that will organize your content on your phone and keep it automatically synched with your online account. Will include Yahoo Mail, Messenger, Photos, calendar, address book, Web and image search, news, sports and finance, and come with Nokia 60 series phones (Nokia N70 Nokia 6680 Nokia 6681 Nokia 6630 Nokia 6600 Nokia 7610 Nokia 6670 Nokia 6682 Nokia 6620) and available to Cingular and AT&T customers in 10 countries. In order to use Yahoo! Go, your phone requires:
  2 MB free on the phone’s internal memory and 8 MB free on a separate memory card.


• Yahoo Go TV - sends entertainment related services to a TV connected to a PC, like Windows Media Center does. Will include local and video search, access to content from CNN and MTV, movie trailers, and other info from My Yahoo. Will hit in April and be ad supported. Will have a program guide that combines TV listings with user-supplied ratings and reviews. Will work with any remote control.


• Yahoo Go Desktop - another name for Yahoo Widgets, or Konfabulator.

Google Pack free software bundle

Google Pack: a software package including pretty much everything but an operating system and productivity suite.

[It] will include the open-source Firefox Web browser, a version of Norton AntiVirus software from Symantec Corp., Adobe Systems Inc.’s Reader software, RealNetworks Inc.’s RealPlayer multimedia software, Trillian instant-messaging software from Cerulean Studios and Lavasoft ’s Ad-Aware antispyware software. Google Pack will also include Google’s own desktop search software, Google Earth satellite imaging and maps software, Picasa photo-management software, Google Talk instant-messaging program, its Toolbar add-on for Web browsers and screen saver software.

Dirson reports that you’ll be able to find it at http://pack.google.com/pack/pack_installer.html.

Google Pack, which could eventually come preinstalled when people buy some new personal computers, is one way for Google to promote alternatives to Microsoft. It doesn’t, however, appear to include productivity applications, such as word-processor software, that would compete more directly with Microsoft’s core software business.

Run Windows XP more securely

Four simple rules for keeping your Windows operating system secure from OSNews.com.

Rule 1. Use a limited user account for normal work, and for connection to the net. Never connect from an account with administration privileges.

Rule 2. Connect to Broadband via an ADSL Router, never just an ADSL modem. Either ask your provider to supply Broadband with an ADSL Router, or buy a combined modem/router yourself.

Rule 3. Only use secure software. First, don't use the chronically insecure Microsoft Explorer and Outlook; get (free) Mozilla Firefox (Web) and Mozilla Thunderbird (Email). Also get the Firefox Spoofstick plugin and Adblock to guard against phishing.

Rule 4. Keep as much personal information as possible off the machine, on paper.

New Google data center: Google Bigdaddy

Google has a new data center nicknamed Bigdaddy, as Googler Matt Cutts writes. Matt expects that Bigdaddy’s results, which are still experimental at this stage, will become the default for Google. Matt says, “[Bigdaddy] has some new infrastructure, not just better algorithms or different data. Most of the changes are under the hood, enough so that an average user might not even notice any difference in this iteration.”

"The changes on Bigdaddy are relatively subtle (less ranking changes and more infrastructure changes). Most of the changes are under the hood, and this infrastructure prepares the framework for future improvements throughout the year."

If you want to help test-drive the new results, you can do so by searching at 66.249.93.104 (recommended IP) or 64.233.179.104.

It looks like [sf giants] is a fine query to see if you’re hitting Bigdaddy. If you get giants.mlb.com at #1, you’re searching Bigdaddy. If you get www.sfgiants.com at #1 and an uncrawled url http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/sf/homepage/sf_homepage.jsp at #3, you’re hitting the older Google infrastructure.

If you don't like the new results, click “Dissatisfied? Help us improve” link at the bottom right of the page.

New Design for Google Search Results

Google tests new designs for the homepage and the search results. More exactly, they changed the way people switch between their many services.

Here are two of the ways Google's search results pages may look in a short while:


First screenshot is from Arjun Prabhu. The services moved to the left, alongside the search results, like a navigation system. But the problem is it shouldn't be a navigation system.


The second screenshot, from Philipp Lenssen, shows a simpler approach: Google services migrated to a combobox. Just like that. I think the problem with this approach is that people will click less to other services.

So I think both possible changes are bad. What if Google included more from their specialized search engines in their main search results? For instance, the first three image results on top, three news or blog results, Froogle for products, Wikipedia for facts in a column.

Many people use only Google Web search and may miss interesting results, so instead of letting the users make more choices, Google should mix the most important results, disregarding the source.

Google to sell PCs with Google Operating System

The Los Angeles Times reports we might be seeing a Google PC:

“Google will unveil its own low-price personal computer or other device that connects to the Internet.

Sources say Google has been in negotiations with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., among other retailers, to sell a Google PC. The machine would run an operating system created by Google, not Microsoft’s Windows, which is one reason it would be so cheap — perhaps as little as a couple of hundred dollars.

Larry Page will give a keynote address Friday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Analysts suspect that Page will use the opportunity either to show off a Google computing device or announce a partnership with a big retailer to sell such a machine.”

Google Operating System anyone?

Internet Maps

What the internet would look like if represented graphically into a tree structure.

Read more about Internet Mapping Project. The Internet Mapping Project was started at Bell Labs in the summer of 1998. Its goal is to acquire and save Internet topological data over a long period of time. This data has been used in the study of routing problems and changes, DDoS attacks, and graph theory.