Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Let's make the Google API an open standard. Back in 2002, Google took a bold first step to enable open architecture search engines, by creating an API that allowed developers to build applications on top of their search engine. However, there were severe limits on the capacity of these applications. So we got a good demo of what might be, now three years later, it's time for the real thing. 

NY Times: "CNN ousted its longtime prime-time anchor, Aaron Brown, today in favor of Anderson Cooper, who has received extensive media attention in the wake of his widely publicized coverage of Hurricane Katrina." Ouch. Saw this one coming. Newsnight was the only regular news show I would watch. Anderson Cooper is a putz.  

Brian Benzinger reviews FilmLoop. 

David Mercer on the sorry state of search APIs. 

Geek News Central says Yeah! to the proposal that the Google API be brought solidly into the 21st century. I'm surprised more people haven't pointed to the proposal yet. In some ways it's a Turing Test to see if there's any IQ points behind all the Web 2.0 hype. That is, if you think the web is a platform, and search is an important part of the web, why are we willing to settle for a mere demo of What Could Be in search APIs. Look at it another way. Google gives me 2GB for my mailbox. (BTW, thanks, no sarcasm.) Why not give me a measly million search queries over the Google API, so I can do more than entertain my friends and family? How about letting me build a (gasp) real application on top of search? How about it! 

Joel Spolsky: "The Marimba Phenomenon is what happens when you spend more on PR and marketing than on development. Result: everybody checks out your code, and it's not good yet. These people will be permanently convinced that your code is simple and inadequate, even if you improve it drastically later." 

An example of how Microsoft's positioning is confusing the media. "Microsoft has announced plans to offer an online version of its Windows operating software, going head-to-head with archrival Google in the field of cyber applications." I didn't hear anything about an online version of the Windows operating system, although it's certainly understandable that the press would say that's what it is because they called it Windows Live.  

From Frank Shaw, Microsoft spokesperson: "The wireless went down because of the connectivity issue that caused the problem for the demo, and was not brought back up because of concerns it would be repeated. Microsoft provided the wi-fi in the room because it was the right thing to do, regardless of what people were going to say during the presentations."  

As usual Mary Jo Foley gets the story. What is Office Live? It's not what you think it is. And what is Windows Live? Ditto. If you want an accurate positioning statement, the Live stuff is an early version of my.yahoo.com, with a very nice small business hosting site (that's all that Office Live appears to be) and a promise of open APIs that Windows supports. Some of the Windows Live features were pretty well buried in the demos, they should have been up front at the beginning, why they buried them is a mystery. And they really need a demo god at Microsoft. These guys can make exciting software seem really boring. They need a sense of razzle-dazzle. "How can they see with sequins in their eyes?" 

I have a three hour MP3 of the entire show, including outages, and spin. Is anyone interested in hearing it? I wonder how long it would take to upload. It's 124MB. (I'm uploading it now. Postscript: It crashed the server. Too big.) 

I just checked the Apple site for the status of my order, and it shipped yesterday. According to Fedex the packages have arrived in Sacramento. Now I have to get ready to move my data and apps over to the desktop and learn how to keep the laptop in synch.  

Michael Markman sent an email after I broadcast my Law & Order theory of Lewis Libby's predicament, suggesting that Libby would be pardoned, and that would solve the crisis for Cheney and Rove. Now Mickey Kaus publishes a revelation that gives credence to Markman's theory. Apparently Libby was the lawyer for Marc Rich, who was pardoned by President Clinton in the last days of his administration. I guess this says that he knows how pardons work? 

Mini-Microsoft on yesterday's announcements. 

If you didn't get a chance to hear yesterday's podcast, it recommends that Microsoft clone the Google API for search, without the keys, and without the limits. When a developer's application generates a lot of traffic, buy him a plane ticket and dinner, and ask how you both can make some money off their excellent booming application of search. This is something Google can't do, because search is their cash cow. That's why Microsoft should do it. And so should Yahoo. Also, there's no doubt Google will be competing with Apple soon, so they should be also thinking about ways to devalue Google's advantage.  

A page listing the most-read DaveNets. 

A change in the way the Scripting News archive works. The urls on the permalink used to point to dynamic pages on archive.scripting.com -- now they point to static pages on www.scripting.com. I've created redirects that map the old addresses to the new ones. The change went online around 10PM Pacific last night. Watch for breakage.