Strange Multimedia Corporate Sprawl - Part 2: searching & messaging

Finally, it's time to look at the strange growth of corporate sprawl, and how it is affecting how we communicate, and how we find out about the world.

Google's image is slightly less great than it was. People still like and use it's search, but things like gmail have recieved a more mixed response. Whilst many love the free-nes massive capacity, accesibilty from anywhere in the world, and spam filtering, for many there is darker side. How can this be free? Well, the advertising of course! But this is no ordinary advertising. Building on the text adverts, google now search for keywords in your emails. The question is - is this Spyware? And if so, what else is?

All this kicks of though with the death of the browser industry, which is starting with the rise of firefox. Okay, internet explorer is still the leader by a massive margin, but I'm sure that all the parties realise that this market itself is not the great control it once was. Now, more important than the browser itself, are what is comming through the browser. Now is the time of the web-service.

So how do bussinesses get beyond the traditional email, blog etc. How can they get into your computer, and how can they ensure you use them and see their ads instead of someone elses?

One answer to this has long been given from MSN, Yahoo and AOL. The instant messenger. This sits on the users computer, and in the case of MSN shows 1 banner ad in the main window. But this isn't the main thing. Links from the messenger send you to their own searches, their own email etc. And the anti is always being upped. Skype offer voice services, so everyone else must be seen to be doing this too. Now google, afraid of being left out, has launched its own instant messenger and voice service. However, there is always a way of staying with seperate tools, hiding the ads, using a different search to messanger (I use google, but also MSN messanger - competitors).

The final piece of the puzzle, the one that really links things together, and changes things dramatically, is desktop search. This is where I stop, and think, hmm..., not sure I want this. Yes the tool appears, and probably is very useful. But this is where they tread very close to malware. Your searches for PC documents can now be used to target advertising to you. Nothing is secret from the corporations. Who knows what will happen to the data...

Interestingly, this pits companies against each other in a strange way. Now Apple battles not only Microsoft on its operating system, but also Google on its desktop search, and skype on its voice messaging. Strange indeed!

I think I will leave you now with a link to epic, the future of search...