Wasn't it enough that the original debunked post was on the front page for almost two days that we now have outraged people upvoting this yet again? Skype checks http URLs too and only does a HTTP HEAD, not GET, so what are they snooping on?
On the other hand, I am wary of posting anything that can be construed as pro-Microsoft here.
This looks like something that someone went overboard with trying to be Steve Jobs and thought too much out-of-the-box. Wasn't it Einstein that said that keep your mind open, but not so open that it falls out?
I suspect the sudden change to XMPP was because Google was going to lose ad revenue because of Microsoft adding support for Gtalk in Outlook.com.
Google is most effectient at showing relevant ads if they can track people across all their PCs and devices. Gmail is perhaps used as a "loss leader" to make people sign in into Google, so that cookies can be set and your search keywords and activities can be tracked across your home/work machines/laptop/desktop etc. No wonder the first page that Chrome shows is asing you to sign into Google.
Now, if people who use Gtalk to talk to their friends switch to Outlook.com but sign in to Gtalk there instead of into Gmail, Google cannot set a cookie for Google.com under your Google account, defeating the tracking needed to for proper monetization.
Solution? Hold users' social graph hostage and make it more difficult for them to switch by dropping XMPP support, the OSS clients be screwed. Instead of trying to lock-in people by holding their own data hostage in the GOOGOLCLOUD I wish they would just improve their offering compared to Outlook.com. The new compose in Gmail is atrocious while Outlook has a fresh new look.
Also, I have an unfounded suspicion that Andy Rubin might have been the "open" guy at Google and might have left or forced to leave a few months because all these changes don't come in a day(Andy was the guy behind the famous "open = build src" tweet, and now that Vic Gundotra has even more power, he's bound to do even more such things. See how Chromebooks are locked out, and flipping the developer switch is much more of a pain(flipping it erases the ROM and you need to press Ctrl-D or wait 30 seconds looking at scary warning every single time you boot in dev mode) than even turning off UEFI secure boot. They're closing the door behind them that they entered through, i.e through Chrome on Windows which is more "open" by comparison, making sure that Firefox and other browsers can't run on stock Chromebooks and keeping out all native apps except heavily sandboxed network apps.
Well, at least they are closed upfront about Chromebooks, instead of acting open and getting people's social graph into Gtalk and then locking it up in a proprietary protocol as hostage to artificially erect barriers prevent people switching away from Gmail. Atleast MSN, Yahoo, Skype were upfront they weren't really tolerant of third pary apps.
When Google killed reader and a lot of folks where whining about not trusting Google APIs, I thought there were just paranoid, but it looks like it's all slowly falling into place. Google isn't "open" anymore and they're coming really close to doing evil, if not already there.
As a side note, have you looked at Google VP's Vic Gundotra's profile? There might be a clue about where all these lock in tacting are coming from.
Vivek "Vic" Gundotra[1] is the Senior Vice President, Engineering for Google[2] and was previously the Senior Vice-President of Social Business for the same company. Before joining Google, he was a general manager at Microsoft.[3] He joined Microsoft in 1991 and eventually became General Manager of Platform Evangelism. His duties included promoting Microsoft's APIs and platforms to independent developers and helping to develop a strategy for Windows Live online services to compete with Google's web-based software applications.[4] Gundotra joined Google in June 2007, after taking a one-year delay working on charitable endeavors[which?] due to a Microsoft employee non-compete agreement.
His responsibilities as Vice-President of Engineering include Google's mobile phone applications, and its developer efforts, including OpenSocial, Google Gadgets, Google Gears, and the more than 40 product APIs Google exposes. It was reported on Gigaom that he is considered to be Google's Social Czar. He is apparently known to be the man behind Google+,[5] and is responsible for the controversial removal of social features from Google Reader.[6]
If Microsoft is paying recoiledsnake a billion dollars to make that post, does it change any of the facts in it? No? Then why whinge about possible or probably astroturfing instead of just addressing the facts in their post?
Unless you want HN to do a full background check on every poster here, it's hard to identify Google/Apple/Microsoft fans/haters/employees/shareholders. You have the option to remain silent, vote and move on if you're not interested in a post.
Okay let me explain it. Microsoft wanted to point out that Gmail scans the contents of email while Outlook.com doesn't in the Scroogled campaign.
And now Google is trying legal tactics with a C&D to takedown to prevent Windows Phone users from getting a very popular smartphone app, YouTube, so they're smearing themselves here and helping the scroogled compaign paint them as evil.
Well, I submitted this story to see what the reaction of HN posters is. Well, almost no one here is commenting on topic because they seem to be squirming and are instead going on complete tangents by commenting about commenters and everyone else and then the submission gets flagged off the front page like every story on this Google C&D and you're accusing me of personal attacks? Really? How about some basic ethics, integrity and consistency from the other posters instead of trying to pretend that Google can do wrong and trying to derail and flag the story?
What kind of subs exactly? The ones critical of Google?
How about just skipping the story/comments and moving to the next instead of trying to bury real news for everyone by flagging?
From the HN guidelines:
If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.)
No, they got tired of begging Google for a Youtube app for close to three years for Windows Phone, so they went ahead and made one so that Windows Phone users will finally have a good app instead of getting frustrated by Google's deliberate strategy to make Windows Phone less attractive.
And Google wants to pull away that app from WP users by using legal bullying tactics.
I like how the Google fans and Microsoft haters on this story so far are commenting about the commenters instead of commenting on the story about Google using its influence to block a popular smartphone app from Windows Phone.
Great job guys,you should apply at Google PR if you already don't work there or own their stock.
Edit: Ninja delete but I caught it in time! Here's the post before he/she deleted it:
weareconvo 0 minutes ago | link | parent | flag
Kinda like CloudNine, the person who submitted this article, is a Microsoft employee.
Okay, let us assume that he does, so what? A lot of people work for Microsoft, Google and Apple and post on HN.
I didn't see a sign up message on HN stating that only Google and Apple employees/fans are allowed to post here.
Nice job at trying to derail the discussion. Now care tell us what do you think of the topic of this story instead of trying to go ad hominem on a tangent about some HN commenter's posting history which has nothing to do with anything really?
Edit: What in cooldeal's HN profile makes you think he works for Microsoft?
Just last quarter, Windows Phone shipped on 6 million phones and Windows 8 sold total 100 million licensees. Someone who likes them is the "only one" and is "far, far out of the mainstream?".
Also what's up with people launching ad hominem attacks on people liking Windows instead of commenting on the topic on hand? What has your post got to do with Google blocking and refusing to make a YouTube app for Windows Phone?
>Also, what if I was him/her? Whats your problem, really
Well, looking at his previous postings he seems quite the dedicated Google fan and Microsoft hater. Nothing wrong with that, really but my best guess is that he has nothing to say about Google's evil power grab to hurt Windows Phone here or Google's hypocritical bogus Mission Statement, so he's doing the next best thing at damage control for Google by trying to draw a red herring by going ad hominem and accusing HN commenters of being MS astroturfers or something. Search me, I am puzzled as well as how your account age is related to this story.
On the other hand, I am wary of posting anything that can be construed as pro-Microsoft here.
https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=recoiledsnake