Google Buys Writely
It has been announced and confirmed that Google will buy Writely. Writely was the first “Web 2.0″ app that I wrote a review about. That review was linked to from many different sources, including the Writely blog.
Some have commented on how they think that Google is buying up more than they can chew. Thoughts that Google has “lost its way” are often expressed. However, anyone familiar with my previous post (or indeed, my tone towards Google in general) will know that there’s more to this purchase than a company that has lost its focus.
I don’t hide my opinion of Google despite how popular the company is. They still have a lot of fans, and some people have come right out and said that they trust Google with all of their personal information. I’m sure those people think that I’m nuts. As you might imagine, that feeling is mutual.
The fact is, however, is that it is Google’s business model to gather as much of our information as possible. They have plainly stated this. The services that they have started or have otherwise been buying up are not the actions of a company that has lots its direction, but rather they are strategic decisions to place the company into optimal positions to mine our data.
The most recent of these acquisitions is Writely. The purchase of Writely will allow Google to scan and archive documents that you and your colleagues compose when using that service. This will no doubt extend to the documents that you have uploaded to Writely, such as MS Word documents.
When it comes to Google you have zero expectation of privacy. Consider Google’s data mining behavior before you compose anything with Writely or upload any documents to their servers.
I should tack a note onto this post to say that I still think that the Writely service is a great service in and of it self. It’s simply very unfortunate that it’s now owned by the largest data mining corporation in the world.
~Steph
Topics: Waste Basket |
March 17th, 2006 at Mar 17, 06 | 3:42 pm
[…] Previously, I wrote an article about Google buying Writely, and noted to be careful about the type of documents that you create while using (and up load to) that service. As with everything else about Google, it is now a major privacy concern. […]