7 ms·

some of it actually makes sense. how is google going to make money from this?

TrevorJ 17y ago
Eyeballs. Couple that with data mining and targeted ads and you end up with something that doesn't really fall outside Google's tried-and-true business model.
sjs382 17y ago
By driving more eyeballs to the web and away from desktop apps.
- gaius 17y ago
  Really? So you'll be working away, on your document or your spreadsheet, or you'll be playing a game, and some ad will pop up, and off you go, zero attention span? Why would anyone want that? $50 on your Netbook isn't much if it means you hand your thesis in on time...
  - omnipresent1 17y ago
    It'll be worse than office assistant paper clip.
  - sjs382 17y ago
    No, not really. I doubt there will be ads in Docs & Spreadsheets. But there ARE and WILL BE ads in Gmail* and Google search results. The main idea is to keep you in Google's ecosystem and to make advertising on the web more valuable. Selling advertisings isn't about creating new places to put ads--it's about making advertising space more valuable. And that isn't as straightforward as you seem to think. :) * And adsense ads in apps that others create.
    - netsp 17y ago
      It still sounds pretty far removed. Release an OS that will drive traffic to your spreadsheet app that will drive traffic to your search engine where you can sell ads. *Gmail still doesn't really makes much money.
      - sjs382 17y ago
        Contextual advertising in an email client is VERY valuable. :)
        netsp 17y ago
        I disagree
      - andreyf 17y ago
        Release an OS that will drive traffic to your [...] search engine where you can sell ads. Not far removed at all. Google makes billions by selling ads. Even if they budget a couple of million $/year for this project (might be less, depending on how you structure the proejct), they'll be making crazy returns if this increases their ad revenue just by 0.001. Not to mention all the FUD it'll cause inside MS :)
        netsp 17y ago
        Release an OS that will send more people to the internet, where your (profitable) search engine is.
  - enomar 17y ago
    You should probably switch browsers if you're still getting pop-ups ;)
    - Elepsis 17y ago
      At this point you have to make an effort to download a browser that doesn't block popups by default. Even IE has been doing it since version 7.
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    lately youtube has been inserting overlays on top of playing videos, a highly annoying feature. If they ever do that to google docs there will be a mass exodus.
  - weavejester 17y ago
    Google isn't solely about advertising. In Google's other Linux-based OS, they make money off their app store.
dforbin 17y ago
I guess maybe 1)helping encourage widespread html 5 and better javascript support so more people can run google apps 2) deals with hardware vendors
blhack 17y ago
I know that I'm probably wrong. Sergey Brin and Larry Page are neeeerdddssss, not business school kids that decided to make a web app. There is a good chance that they're doing this just because it's really really cool, and because they can. I imagine that if I ever had the sort of cash that they have, I would be doing the same thing that I do on the weekends NOW, but on a larger scale: geekery. Building a linux distro is geekery of the highest order. Good for them. Google makes billions and billions of dollars from their other projects. This is one that they can figure out later. :). (or I can figure it out for them now: adsense, lots of it.) I understand that google is a publicly traded company; they have shareholders to answer to, but I imagine that all they have to do is point at their earnings and go "trust us, guys...trust us". If anything, this will drive more traffic to their moneymakers.
- endtime 17y ago
  I'm a CS grad student right now, and even I can see that'd be a pretty damn irresponsible way to run a business. Not that I think that's actually the motivation...
- Raphael_Amiard 17y ago
  There is probably some truth in what you say, albeit i wouldn't go so far to say that they're just nerds. They're business nerds, or they wouldn't be where they are today. Also, i'd really appreciate if people would stop calling it a "linux distro". It makes as much sense than to call OS X a "BSD Distro"
Tichy 17y ago
If you own the whole internet, as they would, surely there should be a way or another to make some money?
mixmax 17y ago
The goal is not to make money from the OS. IT was discussed here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=693861 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=693861 Disclaimer: my submission and my blogpost.
charlesju 17y ago
1. Google owns the internet; search makes money, e-mail makes money, reader makes money, any website that uses AdSense makes money. 2. If there is more internet usage, Google makes more money. ---- Additionally, Google has a bunch of cool things that it wants to do but it can't because Javascript is a gimp piece of junk at the moment. The more power Google gets, the harder it can push for its features.
greendestiny 17y ago
If they let Apple and Microsoft control how people connect to the internet one day they might see themselves superseded. This is a first move into making linux more acceptable to the consumer and maybe keeping the desktop the way they want it.
10ren 17y ago
No adblock
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
andreyf 17y ago
Simple: the more time people spend online, the more money Google makes off adsense, which is the vast majority of their profit.
joe_the_user 17y ago
Google can get some eyeballs out of the effort by having more Google-apps users so this effort be somewhat self-supporting but more importantly, it serves Google's strategic goals. Keep in mind that with the web constantly growing and constantly improving, Google doesn't need a new business model - being the entrance to the greatest show on earth will work for a long time now. Google today mostly needs to fend off outside monopolists who would aim to seize the whole thing by taking control of one or another choke-points. And having an OS to challenge MS is important here - even if the OS only takes minority share, keeping MS honest is important. Moreover, if all those other companies don't make monopoly profits, they won't have extra cash to throw at Google. To get to a Google prompt, a user needs: 1) A PC 2) An operating system 3) A web browser 4) An Internet Connection from an ISP The OS can potentially control search engine choice. Ditto with the browser and the ISP. Notice that Google has challenged monopolistic behavior in steps 2-4 by now (wireless venture, Chrome, Chrome OS). PC architecture is already mostly open so Google doesn't have to do anything there - but Google does build PCs!

Eyeballs. Couple that with data mining and targeted ads and you end up with something that doesn't really fall outside Google's tried-and-true business model.

sjs382 17y ago

By driving more eyeballs to the web and away from desktop apps.

gaius 17y ago
Really? So you'll be working away, on your document or your spreadsheet, or you'll be playing a game, and some ad will pop up, and off you go, zero attention span? Why would anyone want that? $50 on your Netbook isn't much if it means you hand your thesis in on time...
- omnipresent1 17y ago
  It'll be worse than office assistant paper clip.
- sjs382 17y ago
  No, not really. I doubt there will be ads in Docs & Spreadsheets. But there ARE and WILL BE ads in Gmail* and Google search results. The main idea is to keep you in Google's ecosystem and to make advertising on the web more valuable. Selling advertisings isn't about creating new places to put ads--it's about making advertising space more valuable. And that isn't as straightforward as you seem to think. :) * And adsense ads in apps that others create.
  - netsp 17y ago
    It still sounds pretty far removed. Release an OS that will drive traffic to your spreadsheet app that will drive traffic to your search engine where you can sell ads. *Gmail still doesn't really makes much money.
    - sjs382 17y ago
      Contextual advertising in an email client is VERY valuable. :)
      - netsp 17y ago
        I disagree
    - andreyf 17y ago
      Release an OS that will drive traffic to your [...] search engine where you can sell ads. Not far removed at all. Google makes billions by selling ads. Even if they budget a couple of million $/year for this project (might be less, depending on how you structure the proejct), they'll be making crazy returns if this increases their ad revenue just by 0.001. Not to mention all the FUD it'll cause inside MS :)
      - netsp 17y ago
        Release an OS that will send more people to the internet, where your (profitable) search engine is.
- enomar 17y ago
  You should probably switch browsers if you're still getting pop-ups ;)
  - Elepsis 17y ago
    At this point you have to make an effort to download a browser that doesn't block popups by default. Even IE has been doing it since version 7.
- jacquesm 17y ago
  lately youtube has been inserting overlays on top of playing videos, a highly annoying feature. If they ever do that to google docs there will be a mass exodus.
- weavejester 17y ago
  Google isn't solely about advertising. In Google's other Linux-based OS, they make money off their app store.

dforbin 17y ago

I guess maybe 1)helping encourage widespread html 5 and better javascript support so more people can run google apps 2) deals with hardware vendors

blhack 17y ago

I know that I'm probably wrong. Sergey Brin and Larry Page are neeeerdddssss, not business school kids that decided to make a web app. There is a good chance that they're doing this just because it's really really cool, and because they can. I imagine that if I ever had the sort of cash that they have, I would be doing the same thing that I do on the weekends NOW, but on a larger scale: geekery. Building a linux distro is geekery of the highest order. Good for them. Google makes billions and billions of dollars from their other projects. This is one that they can figure out later. :). (or I can figure it out for them now: adsense, lots of it.) I understand that google is a publicly traded company; they have shareholders to answer to, but I imagine that all they have to do is point at their earnings and go "trust us, guys...trust us". If anything, this will drive more traffic to their moneymakers.

endtime 17y ago
I'm a CS grad student right now, and even I can see that'd be a pretty damn irresponsible way to run a business. Not that I think that's actually the motivation...
Raphael_Amiard 17y ago
There is probably some truth in what you say, albeit i wouldn't go so far to say that they're just nerds. They're business nerds, or they wouldn't be where they are today. Also, i'd really appreciate if people would stop calling it a "linux distro". It makes as much sense than to call OS X a "BSD Distro"

Tichy 17y ago

If you own the whole internet, as they would, surely there should be a way or another to make some money?

mixmax 17y ago

The goal is not to make money from the OS. IT was discussed here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=693861 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=693861 Disclaimer: my submission and my blogpost.

charlesju 17y ago

1. Google owns the internet; search makes money, e-mail makes money, reader makes money, any website that uses AdSense makes money. 2. If there is more internet usage, Google makes more money. ---- Additionally, Google has a bunch of cool things that it wants to do but it can't because Javascript is a gimp piece of junk at the moment. The more power Google gets, the harder it can push for its features.

greendestiny 17y ago

If they let Apple and Microsoft control how people connect to the internet one day they might see themselves superseded. This is a first move into making linux more acceptable to the consumer and maybe keeping the desktop the way they want it.

10ren 17y ago

No adblock

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

andreyf 17y ago

Simple: the more time people spend online, the more money Google makes off adsense, which is the vast majority of their profit.

joe_the_user 17y ago

Google can get some eyeballs out of the effort by having more Google-apps users so this effort be somewhat self-supporting but more importantly, it serves Google's strategic goals. Keep in mind that with the web constantly growing and constantly improving, Google doesn't need a new business model - being the entrance to the greatest show on earth will work for a long time now. Google today mostly needs to fend off outside monopolists who would aim to seize the whole thing by taking control of one or another choke-points. And having an OS to challenge MS is important here - even if the OS only takes minority share, keeping MS honest is important. Moreover, if all those other companies don't make monopoly profits, they won't have extra cash to throw at Google. To get to a Google prompt, a user needs: 1) A PC 2) An operating system 3) A web browser 4) An Internet Connection from an ISP The OS can potentially control search engine choice. Ditto with the browser and the ISP. Notice that Google has challenged monopolistic behavior in steps 2-4 by now (wireless venture, Chrome, Chrome OS). PC architecture is already mostly open so Google doesn't have to do anything there - but Google does build PCs!