I don't see it that way. To me, this usage of sharing a math graph is just a Schelling Point.[1] Twenty years ago, residents had these huge paper phone books.

I don't see it that way. To me, this usage of sharing a math graph is just a Schelling Point.[1] Twenty years ago, residents had these huge paper phone books. It had the yellow pages listing businesses (the pre-internet version of Yahoo! directory pages). It also had blue pages in the front with all kinds of information: time-of-day phone number, first aid instructions for choking or ingesting poison (along with phone# for poison control center). In Florida, it also had maps with emergency evacuation routes in case of a hurricane. When the phone books expired at the end of the year, they could be repurposed as cheap door stops or booster chairs to feed toddlers. The phone books were something universal that everybody had shared knowledge about. Maybe it seemed like the phone company had a monopoly on disseminating non-phone related information but those books were yesterday's Schelling Point. Society has moved away from them. I think this method of sharing a url from google is another harmless Schelling Point but I can be convinced otherwise. Monetizing people's curiosity about "x sin(y)" doesn't seem to be much of a threat. Wikipedia and Youtube are other Schelling Points. If I'm curious about an obscure music track; I just go to youtube.com because I'm conditioned to think that somebody somewhere already uploaded it. Not sure what people expect the alternative should be. Should users who want to share graphs alternate URLs between google.com and wolframalpha.com?[1] To me, the real threat from Google Inc isn't the Shelling Point aspect but the mountains of behavioral data they collect on users from search + Android location data + Gmail that can be used against them. The data can be misused to discriminate employment to job seekers or deny health insurance for the sick. Google says they don't want to be evil but the temptation to monetize that valuable data seems impossible to resist. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_point_(game_theory) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_point_(game_theory) [2] https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x*sin%28y%29 https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=x*sin%28y%29