Google Side Wiki - New Tool from Google

Google has introduced a controversial new tool that allows the public to comment about any web site in a side bar displayed in their browser. It is integrated in the latest version of Google Toolbar and works with both Firefox and Internet Explorer but ironically, not yet Google Chrome. To use Sidewiki, download the most recent version of the Google Toolbar and set it to enhanced.

There are pros and cons associated with every product. Here are few points:

It happens a lot of times that we come across some poorly written and misleading articles where we strongly disagree with the content or with the author's opinion. And even frustrating thing is, they do not allow any comments on their page!! May be this is an excellent alternative to express our opinion about those web sites or the quality of their articles.

The same point can be interpreted as:
Google has now forced a blog onto every web site on the Internet without asking the owners permission. They also have not even offered a way for the site owner to opt-out of inclusion. People may not like to be forced into something without their approval, especially when it pertains to their own property.

Another thing that comes to the mind is spamming. It's inevitable that we will see SPAM on here, this is the internet. I think this tool will open a wave of problems with spammers talking rubbish about great sites, there is also nothing stopping someone’s competitor using this tool for creating a hate campaign against its rivals. It totally decentralizes web authors' authority, anyone can now say anything about anything on your site, and all the world can see it. I think that Google's will have to work hard to bury spam etc. hopefully through user ratings and Googles "SPAM control" it won't be as bad as one might think

Although there are probably millions of people who have installed the toolbar, there are millions more who have NOT installed the toolbar, which means the overall impact of sidewiki will be somewhat limited.

It can be used to help others save time. For instance, if I searched through a site trying to figure out something specific about a product or topic on the site, and after spending much time I still never ended up discovering what I was looking for; I could post a short comment explaining that experience and possibly a link to a site where I found such info. This not only could help save time of future visitors, but could give feedback to the author of the site on how to better the site.

So it can be very helpful if used correctly. With crowd sourced monitoring it could turn out to be a super dynamic wiki. It will be interesting to see how things work out...!

Feel free to add on points ...

Google Enters the Browser Wars with Chrome Beta

Google has released the beta version of its new open-source Chrome Web browser.

The download is available now via http://www.google.com/chrome/ in 122 countries and 43 languages. It will run on Windows-based computers running XP or Vista, but Mac and Linux versions are still in the works.

News over Chrome broke Monday after Google inadvertently published a Web comic book with details about the browser.

Now the question is ---> Will Chrome encroach on IE territory? Google officials took pains to not even mention t's name during Tuesday's press event, though Google co-founder Sergey Brin did acknowledge when questioned that if "IE9 was much, much better as a consequence of Chrome, we would consider that a success."

Larry Page, Google's other co-founder, dismissed the idea that Chrome was a reaction to IE8. "We started this two years ago," he said. "I think having a world in which the main sort of code that you're using is open-sourced and people can improve it and there's a healthy eco-system, I think, is very important."

Chrome alone will not be a major moneymaker for Google but if Chrome can improve the user experience, that will encourage more Internet use and ultimately create more revenue for Google.

"If we make our site faster by 20 percent, we can get substantially more usage and that generate directly into revenues," Page said.

Now the question arises that where does this leave Mozilla and its open-source Firefox browser? Mozilla and Google have coordinated on several projects and the two companies recently extended their economic partnership until at least 2011.

Rather than crush Firefox, Chrome could actually help its expansion, suggested Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management at Google.

"Our hope is that by adding our voice, we expand the overall pie," Pichai said. "Our hope is that by adding our voice, more people realize there is a choice" in browsers.

"Firefox market share has been anything but static," Page said. "It has been increasing like crazy."

So why not continue collaborating with Mozilla?

"We did not want to impose our views on anyone else," Pichai said.

In a Tuesday morning blog post, Mozilla chief executive John Lilly wrote that Chrome's release will not significantly affect Mozilla's relationship with Google.

"Mozilla and Google have always been different organizations, with different missions, reasons for existing, and ways of doing things," he wrote.

Mitchell Baker, chairperson of the Mozilla Foundation, wrote in a separate blog post that Chrome will validate "once again the central idea that this tool we call the browser is fundamentally important."

Google's incentive for releasing Chrome is not to become the dominant browser provider, but to "take away the desktop ownership from Microsoft," McLeish said. "It's not a play into the browser market, but a building block for Google's other tools and services."

Mozilla should be worried about Chrome, which could see itself folded into the Google browser in future. "I think that what we will see is that Google will be able to take advantage of the 20 percent market share Firefox has gained."

For a quick look of chrome's features click here.