Googles advantage is that they have a better search feature. Yahoo and AOL customers that sneak over to search on Google might stay if the features of the other sites are present at Google too. In the past month alone, I have noticed a huge increase of email addresses that have the gmail ending on them. This shows that people are already migrating over to Google.

Where will this lead? Microsoft’s Operating System dominates computers. This will never change. The fringe complains but the mostly computer illerate users of the world are happy to only have one choice. The same will eventually happen will Search. The biggest company will slowly wipe out everyone else. People won’t complain that Google is the only search engine as long as it is easy to use, comfortable and popular. Like everything in the consumer world, using what is popular is more important than using what is small and unknown.

Thanks, Sarah
http://www.googlization.com

PS
Why do I add AOL to the list of Yahoo and Google. I watch people. I am outside of the expert community (which gives me the advantage of not having preprogrammed opinions fed into me by whatever agenda I am representing). I just watch how people (family, friends, fellow students, etc…) use their computers and the Internet. Most of these people don’t even realize the difference between AOL and the Internet at large. Everything is done within the AOL universe. I see people typing domain names into the AOL search box and wondering why the site doesn’t show up, assuming that it doesn’t exist and then going to some other site with similar services. That’s power to control the flow of commerce. If Google can get these same people to stay in the Google universe, not only will Google eventually wipe out the other search engines and services, most people won’t understand that there is a difference between Google and the Internet. They will become one, syonymous. The googlization of the cyberworld will then be complete.

Alex

First, I am doubtful of Google’s ability to remain so “pure” after the IPO. They will have effectively lost control of the company and will, to a degree, be at the whims of Wall Street investors. Of course, they might do a class of preferred stock to let Larry and Sergey keep control but that’s not a heck of a succession strategy. Public companies are very different, as you well know. Sure, they try to balance long-term reputation with short-term gains. But few face the same kind of conflict in that area that Google faces. I respect Larry and Sergey for trying to do this. But I believe that many investors would not be so patient. Tanking stock affects a company in myriad ways, few of them good. Between the devil and the deep blue see, they’d have to take the devil or really risk losing control of the company.

Second, Yahoo! and MSN could not replicate this extension strategy easily. They have chosen another course and can’t go back. They try to keep the content on their own site and partner deals that way. To change that model wholesale would be excruciatingly painful. They would have to unwind vast numbers of deals and explain to partners that, in fact, the way that the partner had originally wanted to do it was a better idea.

Third, I disagree with your context assertion. The trouble with the Web is it provides so little context. Take Moviefone. The average user may or may not remember the name correctly. Or if they live in New York City they may run into the reality that a lot of cinemas there are not in the Moviefone system. Or they may punch movie times into Yahoo and see a bunch of stuff on the page but perhaps not realize they can simply enter their zip code in the top box for movie times. There are too many variables. What Google has done very well and others have not done is reduce variables to the greatest degree possible.

I do agree with what you say about Google trying to sell referals. I meant that more as a hypothetical and as a definite temptation. Their whole cachet to date is in not selling referrals or not “selling out”. Again, that will be harder to maintain when they go public. All IMHO.

The Fedex functionality, along with UPS and the USPS, is driven by those companies’ adoption of open Web-based APIs — for the primary benefit of the world’s online stores. Everyone, everyone, everyone can use them.

As for moviefone losing a page view, how is that different than every other online search? What I want to know is this: would my bookmarking of that page be a bad thing for moviefone?