Posted on 11/06/2005 5:51:08 AM PST by summer
Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, often intimidates its competitors and suppliers. Makers of goods from diapers to DVD's must cater to its whims. But there is one company that even Wal-Mart eyes warily these days: Google, a seven-year-old business in a seemingly distant industry.
"We watch Google very closely at Wal-Mart," said Jim Breyer, a member of Wal-Mart's board.
In Google, Wal-Mart sees both a technology pioneer and the seed of a threat, said Mr. Breyer, who is also a partner in a venture capital firm. The worry is that by making information available everywhere, Google might soon be able to tell Wal-Mart shoppers if better bargains are available nearby.
Wal-Mart is scarcely alone in its concern. As Google increasingly becomes the starting point for finding information and buying products and services, companies that even a year ago did not see themselves as competing with Google are beginning to view the company with some angst - mixed with admiration.
Google's recent moves have stirred concern in industries from book publishing to telecommunications. Businesses already feeling the Google effect include advertising, software and the news media. Apart from retailing, Google's disruptive presence may soon be felt in real estate and auto sales...
...Such advances, predicts Esther Dyson, a technology consultant, will bring "a huge reduction in inefficiency everywhere." That, in turn, would be an unsettling force for all sorts of industries and workers. But it would also reward consumers with lower prices and open up opportunities for new companies.
Google, then, may turn out to have a more far-reaching impact than earlier Web winners like Amazon and eBay. "Google is the realization of everything that we thought the Internet was going to be about but really wasn't until Google," said David B. Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
That case was about forcing a provider to release the information, but in Google's case, the gmail subscriber has already given authorization for them to release information.
Earlier thread on Delaware Blogging case:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1462665/posts
Decision threads:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1497829/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1497858/posts
Another article on it:
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051006/NEWS/510060363/1006
Thanks for the ping.
You're welcome. Do you know if there's been follow-up on that? Have the "anonymous perps" commented?
I haven't checked that blog in a bit.
There were a lot of really torqued off people when that ruling came down. Not so much for the ruling itself, but because of the deep seeded animosity so many in that town, and on the blog have for the Mayor.......who they all claim was behind the comments. The councilman who initiated the court case leading to the ruling has been arrested twice since for mouthing off at his next door neighbor and family.....who just so happens to be said Mayor :)
Who ever would have thought that such a small town political soap opera would lead to a court ruling that may have bearing on bloggers and internet posters across the country?
Well I've got to go, John Kerry is coming over to my pad tonight and we are going to make a sandwich out of some girl. I told John she's got lots of money (but she really doesn't).
You make a lot of sense. Remember Netscape? It was going to be a Microsoft slayer. Remember Red Hat? It was going to be a Microsoft slayer. Remember Google? ...
I think it's great
Your photos are temporarily uploaded to a server that is shared and accessible by only the users you specify. Once you exit the program, the photos are deleted (not stored permanently there).
This is not a photo hosting service, but a photo sharing service that makes files instantly accessible at lightning speed.
Sailing, jailing and wailing in Smyrna
This is not the news paper on whose blog the postings occurred, but it is still a very good history of the issue.
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