When millions of users will have Desktop.google.com installed, Google will simply release a new version in which the user can check a box and say “Share the files in my disk” (maybe only files in a certain directory). This will create in a second an enormous P2P (peer-to-peer) network, in which you can search for files directly on other users’ disks. What do you think? Make sense?
UPDATE: If I were Google, I let users choose also “share your files only with your friends on Orkut”. In this way Orkut would becoma a uber-useful network (now is a bit pointless), and Google Corporation will have all the worlds users for all the services. And increase what it knows.
Ramblings by Paolo on Web2.0, Wikipedia, Social Networking, Trust, Reputation, …
yes, i’m sure this would be a natural progression for google desktop.
-farez
It does make a lot of sense, although it remains to be seen whether Google is ready to face the inevitable accusation of helping piracy that would come a picosecond after that decision ;-)
Google is huge and has a wonderful reputation, but facing a campaign against the 600-lbs gorillas out there fighting everyday for stricter DRM tools and screaming for intellectual property would not be easy even for Google.
Let’s wait and see.
Google can limit the type of files they allow users to share: for example, no mp3, no ogg, no avi, no mpeg, …
Anyway the “Cached version” feature of Google (the one that offers you cached versions of webpages) is illegal. They cache everything without looking at the copyright of pages. Some page could say “You cannot cache this info”. And anyway I imagine that if I start making copies of every page on Cnn.com or whitehouse.gov, I hear from them pretty soon, while if Google does it, it is ok…
On the other hand Google can probably stop illegal files (since they know a low).
Google has some ideas about DRM at https://print.google.com/publisher/faq#copyright
You can always learn something from Google ;-)
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not until there will be a version for Mac and Linux too ;)
Sadly, the set of computer users \ (gnu/linux users and mac users) is still “enormous”. ;-(
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This would be really bad.
As I discuss here:
http://www.aquick.org/blog/index.php?p=45
it would likely put all of your desktop files under the orkut terms of service, which gives Google incredibly broad rights to make use of the contents.
I posted in Italian some consideration about your ipothesis Paolo. You can find it here -> http://www.onino.it/index.php?p=47
My intention was to trackback, but i’m unable to find here the adress to do it :)
Where is? :)
Onino, i exported the trackback url. Can you try if it works?
Some comments here and in the web say that Google will not risk fighting against the RIAA and MPAA … probably they are right. But, what if they can get an endorsement from RIAA and MPAA for legal, iper-controlled P2P? Maybe with some DRM (digital rights management) in it?
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Now it is clearly visible :)
But i tried three times to trackback and it doesn’t work. Probably the problem is mine, since i see others trackback sucessfully completed in your comments here (Alexis, American Digest and Mathemagenic).
For the same post i tackbacked also another post of another blogger and there it worked.
Or there is a big lag and so in few minutes there will be 3 OninO’s trackbacks here, or there is a problem i cannot retrieve.
Suggests?
no idea.
i don’t get many trackbacks, so it is not a very-high priority. it is also a decentralized system and hence difficult to debug. I’ll look around a bit.
Anyway technorati does the work usually
http://technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmoloko.itc.it%2Fpaoloblog%2Farchives%2F2004%2F10%2F15%2Fenormous_p2p_network_by_google.html
http://www.bloglines.com/citations?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmoloko.itc.it%2Fpaoloblog%2Farchives%2F2004%2F10%2F15%2Fenormous_p2p_network_by_google.html&submit=Search
With a little lag, but it seems to have worked now :)
A very simple proxy which allows access to Google Desktop is available here:
http://www.projectcomputing.com/resources/desktopProxy/
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