In a noncommercial context, "search" and "advertising" are mutually exclusive.
An internet where all ordering of information is done via secret algorithms that are constantly being tweaked behind the scenes, optimised to prioritise popularity and other metrics useful to advertising.
Online advertising services companies formed from high traffic websites calling themselves "tech" companies.
In 1997, the founders announced Google in a paper where they vowed to offer a search engine that could be studied in the "academic realm".
But we soon learned Google lacks integrity. Say one thing, do another. Fast forward. Outside of Google, who actually studies the Google search engine. People without any university education, or at least no need for it, calling themselves "SEO consultants".
When Google publishes academic papers about their internal operations is this done to push search engine technology into the academic realm. No. It's purely commercial, a recruiting tactic; Google is "showing off".[1]
High traffic websites incorporated as so-called "tech" companies have sought to bury noncommercial websites beneath all the advertising-driven garbage and/or to discourage web exploration and development outside their walled gardens.
However, it's still possible to use the internet for noncommercial purposes. High web traffic or market cap does not give any single website the authority to define how the internet can be used.
Arguably it's easier to use the internet today than it ever has been.
The web is not the internet. And the internet is not a handful of gigantic websites calling themselves "tech" companies. In practice, the internet is reliant on non-binding cooperation. As such, no one can own the internet, and no one can control it.
One can try. And that's what large so-called "tech" companies have done. It may have worked in the past and it may continue to work, for now.
But things can change, they will change, and Google could become just like AltaVista.
Contrary to most stories people tell about the mid 90's, I actually liked AltaVista better than Google. When someone first showed me Google I was not interested and I did not switch immediately. I liked comprehensive searching, combing through large numbers of results. Google seemed antithetical to that, focusing only on the "top" results.
One difference between then and today is that no one back then was patiently and desperately waiting for something better to come along, publishing articles such as "The End of the AltaVistaverse". There are people today who really want to get past Google and on to something better. They have been waiting for years. Progress has really stallled.
An internet where all ordering of information is done via secret algorithms that are constantly being tweaked behind the scenes, optimised to prioritise popularity and other metrics useful to advertising.
Online advertising services companies formed from high traffic websites calling themselves "tech" companies.
In 1997, the founders announced Google in a paper where they vowed to offer a search engine that could be studied in the "academic realm".
http://infolab.stanford.edu/pub/papers/google.pdf
But we soon learned Google lacks integrity. Say one thing, do another. Fast forward. Outside of Google, who actually studies the Google search engine. People without any university education, or at least no need for it, calling themselves "SEO consultants".
When Google publishes academic papers about their internal operations is this done to push search engine technology into the academic realm. No. It's purely commercial, a recruiting tactic; Google is "showing off".[1]
1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37313826
High traffic websites incorporated as so-called "tech" companies have sought to bury noncommercial websites beneath all the advertising-driven garbage and/or to discourage web exploration and development outside their walled gardens.
However, it's still possible to use the internet for noncommercial purposes. High web traffic or market cap does not give any single website the authority to define how the internet can be used.
Arguably it's easier to use the internet today than it ever has been.
The web is not the internet. And the internet is not a handful of gigantic websites calling themselves "tech" companies. In practice, the internet is reliant on non-binding cooperation. As such, no one can own the internet, and no one can control it.
One can try. And that's what large so-called "tech" companies have done. It may have worked in the past and it may continue to work, for now.
But things can change, they will change, and Google could become just like AltaVista.
Contrary to most stories people tell about the mid 90's, I actually liked AltaVista better than Google. When someone first showed me Google I was not interested and I did not switch immediately. I liked comprehensive searching, combing through large numbers of results. Google seemed antithetical to that, focusing only on the "top" results.
One difference between then and today is that no one back then was patiently and desperately waiting for something better to come along, publishing articles such as "The End of the AltaVistaverse". There are people today who really want to get past Google and on to something better. They have been waiting for years. Progress has really stallled.