Do you agree with this? I tend to think that moving the Web toward faster load times and faster data transfer between services is a good thing in general, regardless of whether this benefits Google or not. - Louis Gray

Yes, I agree, especially as per the new programming language mentioned in the article, it will shift the spectrum to their advantage, not overnight but slowly and surely, in large part due to the fact that they own so the most popular domains/real estate out there so if you wanna be a player in the game you'll have to speak the language. And don't forget it's computer operating system coming out shortly. - sofarsoShawn

The anti-trust question will be whether it benefits Google to the detriment of its competitors, due to Google's market power. But of course the defense is that it's all open-source, so the playing field is level. - LogEx

I find it disturbing how the genuine interest of Google engineers to make the user experience on the internet better is construed as something that could be interpreted as 'evil'. Now even open sourcing an experimental programming language some interested engineers were toying with is interpreted as hint for evilness. - Henner Zeller

Henner, It has nothing to do with Google engineers and their genuine interests, it has to do with how Google will pay for said engineers. I've got no problem with faster load times, I'm just not sure it should be tied to page rank. If Google was non-profit we wouldn't be having this discussion!! - Chris Myles

sometimes technology evolves slowly or stagnates as no player on the market is able to push a change strong enough to do a difference. its quite great to see a example where good engineers propose a logical improvement for all with the power behind it to make it reality. - Marco Hennings

The idea is not whether Google is pure evil, but people need to start thinking about what they are doing. Creating "faster standards" and changing your search results rankings based on page load times is not a big deal, until you look at their search monopoly. Is it evil or possibly illegal? I am not sure, but they are definitely in a different position than they used to be. If we keep saying "but everyone benefits" we may just miss something important. Google is a for-profit company and is acting in their best interests, let's not forget that. - Rob Diana

Competition is always good :-) - Jesse Stay

Agree with Chris, not sure load time should be factoring in to page rank. That is the only thing in all these new initiatives that is a concern. It is biasing the game in favor of people who can afford the fastest infrastructure, not the people that put out the most interesting content. - Ed Millard

As a user, I would rather see slow quality than fast crap. Good things come to those that wait. As far as 2 pages with the same content, I'd rather see the one with the better reputation, the original source of the content, with all the comments, than a splog that happens to be hosted on the faster blogspot and loads fast because there are no comments. - April Russo (app103)

We don't like imperialistic governments, but hegemony from Google seems to be A-okay. Funny how nobody looks at the consequences for others, or longterm consequences for all, so long as their own immediate desires are satisfied. - Dawn

Dawn, then what is this discussion we're having here, right now? is it not exactly what you're saying nobody does? - Chris Heath

Okay, Chris, fair point. I just get very tired of reading all the "but, but, but's" thrown out for Google's sake. It's like a mother making endless excuses for her bullying brat. If it were Microsoft doing the things that Google has been trying to get away with (like grabbing all book and art "orphan works" for themselves, as just one example), there would be a much, much bigger outcry. The Tech world, including most tech bloggers, blindly protect Google like a favored son, no matter what they do. - Dawn

GASP! Dawn, do you almost agree with me? Seriously, I feel like the only person complaining about this right now. - Rob Diana

Henner said it right, they are trying to make things better, and we know that the current internet stack, from back-end languages to browsers, needs a major upgrade. Chris Myles, if Google was non-profit, uh, yeah -- we would def not be having this discussion. And for those who complain that speed should not factor into page-rank, I'm with you. - Christopher Galtenberg

Wait, I think that most of you complaining about Google's "hegemony" missed LogEx's point about Open Source, which is a huge point. Go and SPDY (assuming it's open source) shouldn't even enter your equations as enabling a Google monopoly because they're all open source and it doesn't benefit GOOG financially in the slightest for Microsoft or whomever to use them (which they could just go ahead and do). For the other issue (speed in PageRank), I personally think that speed should definitely be a factor in PageRank. No question. All other factors being equal, I would also rather see the faster of two pages. The real question is how high a priority it should be. - Chieze Okoye

Chieze, you're exactly correct - people do need to keep a watch on these types of things, but if you're getting all up in arms about Go and SPDY then you're not paying attention or worse, you're being disingenuous (i'm not directing this comment at anyone in particular, just pointing out the corollary to Dawn's point about blindly protecting... you can blindly attack too) - Chris Heath

and Dawn, didn't microsoft try to get into this book deal thing and then bail out from it? yeah they did... so where was the uproar back then? there wasn't any... people are in agreement that these orphan works and public domain works need to get into digital form for preservation. - Chris Heath

Chris, that is what I am trying to do, just pointing out what is happening and we need to be aware. - Rob Diana

Sure is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding in this thread. Let's take a look at a more technical perspective on SPDY, shall we? http://www.mnot.net/blog... Key paragraph is "In other words, they seem to be positioning this as input to the eventual design of HTTP/2.0, WAKA or whatever, rather than a browser-specific push to define a new protocol alone." - Jason Wehmhoener

Jason, I see. That's an informative post. - Chieze Okoye

I'm glad that Dawn and Rob have their eyes open too. I have been the lone voice crying that Google is dangerous for too long. Seriously dangerous. They have far too much power over what the masses can find and can't and eventually possibly what even the wise can find. Even worse they can decide which businesses thrive and which die. They are in a position to put any online business under the same way Wal-Mart eliminated small businesses in small communities across the country. "It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power." David Brin (1950 - ) - Internet Strategist

The caution about Google may or may not be justified, but there is a lot of confusion in this thread about the technology being discussed. If you want to discuss the social/poltical/economic issues in concert with the technical issues, then it is advisable to be clear on how the technology actually works. If that isn't something you want to do, then leave the technology out of it. - Jason Wehmhoener

"I have been the lone voice crying that Google is dangerous for too long." -- Please.... - Chris Heath

Yeah, no kidding, Melodramatic, much? - Chieze Okoye