cruel to be kind

Right now, the AOL deal of Google seems like a very bad idea, yet I have not payed very closed attention. I am not very sure that it was for real or a photoshop trick I saw in one blogs the other day – but if those advertisements really will be non intrusive on the search results …

I was thinking the other day, what keeps me at Google search, if it was only the good search results or if there is something else. I switched from Fireball to Altavista when it got ugly on the website and I think I did go to Google because it had a cleaner layout than Altavista. I am a purist in those things.

Not a purist in the sense of “oh you are evil to display advertisement!” – and yes, i do click on advertisement at search results from time to time. But now this message of AOL / Google leaves me wondering, if I – despite what I did until now – will switch to another machine – not because of the search results but because the interface got ugly.

Problem is, I don’t like the interface of MSN. I can’t even put my finger on what it exactly is, but I don’t like them. Then again, I did not like Firefox for a veeeery long time; I was using Kmeleon instead.

But one day, I switched. Because there was something that bugged me so much, that I was willing, able and did it.

The one thing good out of the deal? As I said, I have not followed the news on this very close, but as Nico noticed correctly (rough translation):

Everybody knows how complicated it is to get IM networks talking to one another, but there is an easy way. You just invest a billion dollar!

And yes, I did miss this part: “Google Talk Instant Messaging Software to Communicate with AIM users”.

Which is great, because have no working client I can stand to use for AIM and I have a few AIM users I would like to talk to – on the rare occasion when I fire up GoogleTalk because I want to reach somebody I know who should be only. Which is less often when I start IRC.

Most of the times – when I have it on – I am at Skype. So you see, there is only a minimal thing I see as good out of this deal – but from Google’s point of view, they might loose me with this deal, if the advertisement for AOL content is not made smart.

And I somehow doubt they will play it smart. But, you might say, so what? They would (perhaps) loose you – perhaps because you still might go there because you find no better alternative. And they have all the normal people who will see the AOL stuff and that is what they really want!

In the short run, yes. But not in the long run. Because people like me take others with me. Because people like me are regarded as the weird kid who knows what to do from friends and relatives. And if I tell them to switch to Firefox, they’ll do. Grumpy perhaps, but they do. And if I start to tell them that Google has sold out and I don’t like the way they try to lure you into advertisement, they will listen to me.

If I where MS or Yahoo, I would pay very close attention to what the people are saying, both experienced users and normal users. And think really really hard, if not the model shown today by Google (clearly marked payed results etc) might be something people do like and trim back to that. And not make the mistake which it seems Google is about to make.

Users switch fast these days. And if you can’t beat your opponent, help him trip by himself …

Technorati Tags: Google, AOL, MSN Search, smart

Tags: cruel to be kind