Remiel
 

On Google's Web, the User is #1, Google is #0

A partnership with Adobe will make Flash objects search-indexable, but only by Google and Yahoo.

By participating in this exclusive program, Google implicitly sanctions an anti-user reality. This runs counter to their motto “Don’t Be Evil,” as well as the spirit of their stance on Net Neutrality. The Net Neutrality issue is typically framed as an indictment of broadband providers, but let’s be real, here: search has become nearly as fundamental to the internet experience as packet exchange. Google’s Net Neutrality page describes it as “the principle that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet.”

Sure, we’re all “free” to use other engines that can’t index SWF files. And if the federal highway system creates special lanes exclusively reserved for Ford cars, we’re all still “free” to buy Hondas. Granted, Adobe is a private company, not a government, and Google has its competitive edge to think about. But given their company motto and proclaimed stance on user rights, their participation here is hypocritical.

It’s possible that this is only temporary. Adobe probably wants to do whatever it can to make Flash organic to the web, and compete as effectively as possible with Microsoft’s new XML-happy and search-indexable SilverLight. I expect they’ll want to open up their new player to any and all search providers that could use it.

So maybe this is temporary. And maybe Google already knows it. If so, they should tell us! I want to think so, and I still generally like and support Google. But so far, Google seems perfectly happy to milk the exclusivity. A post to Google’s official blog essentially just says “our clever engineers have come up with a way to work with Adobe’s new Flash Player standard”:

Google has been developing a new algorithm for indexing textual content in Flash files of all kinds, from Flash menus, buttons and banners, to self-contained Flash websites. Recently, we’ve improved the performance of this Flash indexing algorithm by integrating Adobe’s Flash Player technology.

They link to Adobe’s press release, which announced:

Adobe is providing optimized Adobe Flash Player technology to Google and Yahoo! to enhance search engine indexing of the Flash file format (SWF) and uncover information that is currently undiscoverable by search engines.

(via Daring Fireball)

John Gruber pointed out: “It’s completely closed and opaque. Adobe is only providing the magic recipe to Google and Yahoo; all other search engines remain locked out.”

There’s another statement later in the press release that almost-but-not-quite suggests indexing will be rolled out to other search engines down the road:

We are initially working with Google and Yahoo! to significantly improve search of this rich content on the Web, and we intend to broaden the availability of this capability to benefit all content publishers, developers and end users.

The word “initially” is all we get. Parsing the rest of the statement carefully, there is, at best, only a non-committal implication that other search engines will be able to take advantage later. Google has the leverage here to tell Adobe that it will only participate if Flash files are ultimately indexable by any entity. If this is intended to be a long term or permanently exclusive arrangement, then Google should speak up, and refuse to participate.

Google’s stance on Net Neutrality is good for users. It’s also very good for Google. If broadband providers become content controllers, they could oust Google search from the user experience. So while Google’s position there is laudable, it is not brave or surprising.

That’s why this issue of Flash indexing is telling. If Google’s financial motives are truly balanced against its purported philosophy, then this situation tests the mettle of their integrity. If their engineers are so clever, then the company shouldn’t fear the ensuing competition following Adobe’s concession to allow other companies access.

Maybe it’s naive to think a multi-billion dollar company is capable of that kind of paradoxical behavior, and maybe Google really isn’t different at all.

If not, and the situation remains true for long (or permanently), then in addition to Google’s search result censorship in Germany and France, cooperation with China’s Great Firewall, and concessions to the demands of the Church of Scientology, we can add this latest development to an emerging practical doctrine at Google, that goes “What’s best for the user is what’s best for the web… but what’s best for Google trumps everything else.”

Netflix Says They're Sorry

I (and many others) received this email from Netflix today, subject line: “We’re sorry”:

Dear Gabriel,

As you may have heard, our shipping system was unexpectedly down for most of Monday. We should have shipped you a DVD but were unable to. Your DVD was shipped today, Tuesday, March 25th, instead.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. We will issue a 5% credit to your account in the next few days. You don’t need to do anything. The credit will be automatically applied to your next billing statement.

Again, we apologize for the delay and thank you for your understanding. If you need further assistance, please call us at 1(888)638-3549.

-The Netflix Team

When I used to wait tables, one thing I learned early on was that a small mistake by me or the kitchen was actually an opportunity for me to make more money. Customers were routinely far more impressed with a well-handled mistake (which they actively noticed) than with trouble-free service (which they took for granted). As far as my tips were concerned, it was better for a steak to be overcooked, replaced, and proactively taken off the bill than for it to come out perfectly the first time.

This phenomenon was so predictably true, I’d often alert customers to mistakes I’d noticed and remedied in the kitchen that they’d otherwise never have discovered, simply in order to collect on their gratitude.

The 5% refund Netflix is issuing for the one-day shipping glitch is a bargain price for the move they’ll enjoy out of the ad space on blogs and news sites, and into the editorial space, where they’ll be praised for “doing the right thing” by “taking proactive steps,” which “companies are now realizing is the only way to effectively address significant customer service problems in the digital age.”

Given the company’s web-savvy nature, I’d expect no less than this from them, and neither should you. The one thing that really did impress me about Netflix’s handling of this matter was the inclusion of a customer service phone number* right in the body of the email.

*UPDATE following comments: Regarding the inclusion of the phone number. The Amazon / Google / eBay / etc. cabal of uber-successful dot coms tend to act as though the telephone were an obsolete method of contact. Implicitly, their sites are just “that good.”

No doubt that by including the phone number in the email, Netflix has received many, many times the call volume regarding this issue than they otherwise would have, as they’ve all but prompted customers to pick up the phone. It’s the one aspect of their handling of the issue that goes beyond what should be regarded as the minimum threshold for proactive customer service by a company like Netflix.

The Top 22 Twitter Posts of February 2008

I favorited 373 tweets in February 2008. These are the top 6%, in no particular order:

in the case of the bucket of fetuses last night, a dream is not, in fact, a wish that my heart makes emilybrianna

Macys lady: Didn’t you find any nice purses? Me: They’re a bit mature for me. Her: What about Coach? Me: *points to robots on current purse* ShuffShuff

In this moment, no one in this mall would judge me if i domestically violenced my boyfriend. EffingBoring

I love it when you’re searching for X, Google says “Did you mean Y?”, and then gives you zero results. It’s very French. scottsimpson

Every time you sniff and say somebody has “too much free time,” the part of you that used to love making things for pure joy dies a little. hotdogsladies

Apparently it’s not ‘money’ to cry at a strip club. lonelysandwich

Havent had sex in sooooooo long. Its gotten to the point where i masturbate thinking of other times i masturbated. irc

.5(self-deprecation) + 1.5(nerd terminology) + 2(unspoken shared experience) = twitter success echuckles

Sticking post-it notes on people so I can remember who I would sleep with sober. DieLaughing

Sometimes my heart suddenly catches fire for the beauty of life. (Classified in the DSM IV as a “hypomanic” state of Bipolar II disorder.) serafaery

Today’s lunch special: “Jamaican me crazy! jerk chicken (or tofu)” Which I suppose is better than “miso solly! soup” jimray

Announcing that all major research projects from now on will now be referred to as “Bubblegum Wrappers” so as to lessen the terror involved. ShuffShuff

John: “The Shining is about a Daddy who likes to drink who pretends to write all day.” Jonas: “That movie is about us!” I hope he’s wrong. AmyJane

“Are you making fun of me?” “No.” “That’s your yes voice.” cleversimon

whats a @scobleizer? He just added me. Thats a silly name Makenna

Drove past a bus today whose destination was, according to its display, “Walmart’s”. Say, when does the bus for literate people come by? EffingBoring

Why is there a pinata in the den that looks like me? And why was it filled with printouts from my poetry blog and then beaten with a rake? fireland

I just recently got into Star Trek. It’s relaxing to watch and listen to people who are polite to each other and enjoy their jobs. eliohouse

Dear America Quilts Creatively, I disagree. magnetbox

Charlie was a chemist / But Charlie is no more / What Charlie thought was H₂O / Was H₂SO₄ cleversimon

I think you all should know I assign different voices to each of you when I read your tweets. apelad

In the future, Jelly Bellies will simply induce temporary synesthesia. al3x

Honorable mention (31-Jan):
Thankfully, there is no established symbol for The Force, or there’d be a lot of tragic ink out there. phylhrmnix