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View all posts by Robert Scoble
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47 thoughts on “There’s a whole lot of copying going on…Yahoo copies Google”
I see little point in writing a new post on this, as well as leaving the same point in Matt’s comments AND updating the original post on your blog with the same point.
Do you believe your readers to be so impossibly dense that they cannot absorb the fundamental point that he who lives in a glass house shouldn’t throw stones?
I see little point in writing a new post on this, as well as leaving the same point in Matt’s comments AND updating the original post on your blog with the same point.
Do you believe your readers to be so impossibly dense that they cannot absorb the fundamental point that he who lives in a glass house shouldn’t throw stones?
Stealing good UI is different than stealing good art design.
In the case of the IE7 splash page, the art design was lifted. In the case of the sponsored links, it’s possible that what was being lifted from Google was UI — user interface and how it relates to usability — rather than art design choices. This is fundamentally different for a number of reasons. For one, “originality” isn’t really a positive attribute for UI. UI’s don’t strive to be original; only functional. And as new insights are made in UI, they evolve across the industry, with the best UI winning out and becoming more commonplace, while the bad stuff disappears (hopefully).
Now, I don’t know enough about the Sponsored Links thing to tell whether or not the design changes were for usability or just for the sake of art-design; I’m just pointing out the possibility. As for the IE7 page: folks, don’t blame “Google”, blame a designer who works at Google. People make mistakes all the time.
Stealing good UI is different than stealing good art design.
In the case of the IE7 splash page, the art design was lifted. In the case of the sponsored links, it’s possible that what was being lifted from Google was UI — user interface and how it relates to usability — rather than art design choices. This is fundamentally different for a number of reasons. For one, “originality” isn’t really a positive attribute for UI. UI’s don’t strive to be original; only functional. And as new insights are made in UI, they evolve across the industry, with the best UI winning out and becoming more commonplace, while the bad stuff disappears (hopefully).
Now, I don’t know enough about the Sponsored Links thing to tell whether or not the design changes were for usability or just for the sake of art-design; I’m just pointing out the possibility. As for the IE7 page: folks, don’t blame “Google”, blame a designer who works at Google. People make mistakes all the time.
Jermy & Matt sound like a coupla kids fighting over crap. I mean as though Jermy’s posting itself wasn’t enough, Matt had to reply back with something similar. Shame on both of them.
Jermy & Matt sound like a coupla kids fighting over crap. I mean as though Jermy’s posting itself wasn’t enough, Matt had to reply back with something similar. Shame on both of them.
Seems Matt Cutts raises a fair point about Yahoo copying Google’s ad style. However, it seems like a weak appology to come out and say “we’re kinda sorry but they did it too”. They might’ve been better off not appologizing.
Seems Matt Cutts raises a fair point about Yahoo copying Google’s ad style. However, it seems like a weak appology to come out and say “we’re kinda sorry but they did it too”. They might’ve been better off not appologizing.
Trivial, but fun. Google should have taken your excellent advice and taken the Yahoo designers to a very fancy lunch and a movie. 100x ROI on THAT tiny investment in PR. Now it’s just throwing pixels around in the sandbox. Jeremy and Matt are both great sports so hopefully they’ll whip this into a silly blog frenzy.
Trivial, but fun. Google should have taken your excellent advice and taken the Yahoo designers to a very fancy lunch and a movie. 100x ROI on THAT tiny investment in PR. Now it’s just throwing pixels around in the sandbox. Jeremy and Matt are both great sports so hopefully they’ll whip this into a silly blog frenzy.
I read your book Naked Conversations, when I was in India. It was a good read, however, a bit redudant. Anyways, I would be using blogging as a tool to communicate with consumers of my company. Although, this is no hi-tech company, it will be interesting to see if over a period of time I can do communicative marketing as you like to say.
ps – In case if the primary and elementary education scene and use of spirituality in the same interests you at all log on to my blog http://www.kidsdevelopment.blogspot.com
I read your book Naked Conversations, when I was in India. It was a good read, however, a bit redudant. Anyways, I would be using blogging as a tool to communicate with consumers of my company. Although, this is no hi-tech company, it will be interesting to see if over a period of time I can do communicative marketing as you like to say.
ps – In case if the primary and elementary education scene and use of spirituality in the same interests you at all log on to my blog http://www.kidsdevelopment.blogspot.com
Clearly whoever made the google page saw (and copied) the Yahoo! page, but it’s possible whoever approved it to go live hadn’t (for example, while I’d heard about the Yahoo page I’d not seen it – last time I tried you couldn’t from a Mac). It’s always safer to not assume the worst.
Same goes for the Microsoft page – someone copied the icon, but presumably whoever approved that for publishing didn’t know the source.
As to Matt’s post… no need for people to get so worked up about it.
Clearly whoever made the google page saw (and copied) the Yahoo! page, but it’s possible whoever approved it to go live hadn’t (for example, while I’d heard about the Yahoo page I’d not seen it – last time I tried you couldn’t from a Mac). It’s always safer to not assume the worst.
Same goes for the Microsoft page – someone copied the icon, but presumably whoever approved that for publishing didn’t know the source.
As to Matt’s post… no need for people to get so worked up about it.
Scobleizer 
Of course, both IE7 pages look remarkably similar to the ones used by Mozilla for their projects, but who’s looking… 😉
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Of course, both IE7 pages look remarkably similar to the ones used by Mozilla for their projects, but who’s looking… 😉
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I see little point in writing a new post on this, as well as leaving the same point in Matt’s comments AND updating the original post on your blog with the same point.
Do you believe your readers to be so impossibly dense that they cannot absorb the fundamental point that he who lives in a glass house shouldn’t throw stones?
LikeLike
I see little point in writing a new post on this, as well as leaving the same point in Matt’s comments AND updating the original post on your blog with the same point.
Do you believe your readers to be so impossibly dense that they cannot absorb the fundamental point that he who lives in a glass house shouldn’t throw stones?
LikeLike
Stealing good UI is different than stealing good art design.
In the case of the IE7 splash page, the art design was lifted. In the case of the sponsored links, it’s possible that what was being lifted from Google was UI — user interface and how it relates to usability — rather than art design choices. This is fundamentally different for a number of reasons. For one, “originality” isn’t really a positive attribute for UI. UI’s don’t strive to be original; only functional. And as new insights are made in UI, they evolve across the industry, with the best UI winning out and becoming more commonplace, while the bad stuff disappears (hopefully).
Now, I don’t know enough about the Sponsored Links thing to tell whether or not the design changes were for usability or just for the sake of art-design; I’m just pointing out the possibility. As for the IE7 page: folks, don’t blame “Google”, blame a designer who works at Google. People make mistakes all the time.
It kind of reminds me of this:
http://commercial-archive.com/508.php
(no, I’m not trying to invoke Godwin’s law)
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Stealing good UI is different than stealing good art design.
In the case of the IE7 splash page, the art design was lifted. In the case of the sponsored links, it’s possible that what was being lifted from Google was UI — user interface and how it relates to usability — rather than art design choices. This is fundamentally different for a number of reasons. For one, “originality” isn’t really a positive attribute for UI. UI’s don’t strive to be original; only functional. And as new insights are made in UI, they evolve across the industry, with the best UI winning out and becoming more commonplace, while the bad stuff disappears (hopefully).
Now, I don’t know enough about the Sponsored Links thing to tell whether or not the design changes were for usability or just for the sake of art-design; I’m just pointing out the possibility. As for the IE7 page: folks, don’t blame “Google”, blame a designer who works at Google. People make mistakes all the time.
It kind of reminds me of this:
http://commercial-archive.com/508.php
(no, I’m not trying to invoke Godwin’s law)
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Jermy & Matt sound like a coupla kids fighting over crap. I mean as though Jermy’s posting itself wasn’t enough, Matt had to reply back with something similar. Shame on both of them.
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Jermy & Matt sound like a coupla kids fighting over crap. I mean as though Jermy’s posting itself wasn’t enough, Matt had to reply back with something similar. Shame on both of them.
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Google getting fed-up with all this controversy
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Google getting fed-up with all this controversy
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Seems Matt Cutts raises a fair point about Yahoo copying Google’s ad style. However, it seems like a weak appology to come out and say “we’re kinda sorry but they did it too”. They might’ve been better off not appologizing.
LikeLike
Seems Matt Cutts raises a fair point about Yahoo copying Google’s ad style. However, it seems like a weak appology to come out and say “we’re kinda sorry but they did it too”. They might’ve been better off not appologizing.
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Camero vs Firebird need we say more.
Way of Life in the design circles.
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Camero vs Firebird need we say more.
Way of Life in the design circles.
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Must be international copying day, because in addition to this story on page two of digg, the following two are on the front page:
Nokia steals iTunes logo
http://europe.nokia.com/A4162309
Microsoft gives up and blatantly starts copying
http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/11/microsoft-gives-up-trying-and-starts-blatantly-copying/
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Must be international copying day, because in addition to this story on page two of digg, the following two are on the front page:
Nokia steals iTunes logo
http://europe.nokia.com/A4162309
Microsoft gives up and blatantly starts copying
http://theappleblog.com/2006/12/11/microsoft-gives-up-trying-and-starts-blatantly-copying/
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Speaking of copying….
Microsoft stole an icon from Apple and then silently changed it. Were they hoping that nobody would notice?
There copying, and then there’s outright stealing. If Microsoft innocently copied – why couldn’t they just admit it?
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Speaking of copying….
Microsoft stole an icon from Apple and then silently changed it. Were they hoping that nobody would notice?
There copying, and then there’s outright stealing. If Microsoft innocently copied – why couldn’t they just admit it?
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Interesting… Boss Melnitz beat me by one minute! Apologies for, um, copying your post. 🙂 Hey, at least I can admit it. LOL….
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Interesting… Boss Melnitz beat me by one minute! Apologies for, um, copying your post. 🙂 Hey, at least I can admit it. LOL….
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RDBMS vendors played copy-leapfrog all through the 90s
ok, I know, back to blogging about Oracle
kevinclosson.wordpress.com
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RDBMS vendors played copy-leapfrog all through the 90s
ok, I know, back to blogging about Oracle
kevinclosson.wordpress.com
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Can open, Worm’s everywhere… I love it.
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Can open, Worm’s everywhere… I love it.
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I was just going to point out that Daring Fireball busted Microsoft ripping off Apple’s Workgroup Manager icon, but dave beat me to it.
So yeah, it’s pretty endemic I’d say.
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I was just going to point out that Daring Fireball busted Microsoft ripping off Apple’s Workgroup Manager icon, but dave beat me to it.
So yeah, it’s pretty endemic I’d say.
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If the big players are doing some copycat work, how will the small guy survive?
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If the big players are doing some copycat work, how will the small guy survive?
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Trivial, but fun. Google should have taken your excellent advice and taken the Yahoo designers to a very fancy lunch and a movie. 100x ROI on THAT tiny investment in PR. Now it’s just throwing pixels around in the sandbox. Jeremy and Matt are both great sports so hopefully they’ll whip this into a silly blog frenzy.
LikeLike
Trivial, but fun. Google should have taken your excellent advice and taken the Yahoo designers to a very fancy lunch and a movie. 100x ROI on THAT tiny investment in PR. Now it’s just throwing pixels around in the sandbox. Jeremy and Matt are both great sports so hopefully they’ll whip this into a silly blog frenzy.
LikeLike
I read your book Naked Conversations, when I was in India. It was a good read, however, a bit redudant. Anyways, I would be using blogging as a tool to communicate with consumers of my company. Although, this is no hi-tech company, it will be interesting to see if over a period of time I can do communicative marketing as you like to say.
Thanks,
Tarun
http://www.buildingblocks.in
ps – In case if the primary and elementary education scene and use of spirituality in the same interests you at all log on to my blog http://www.kidsdevelopment.blogspot.com
LikeLike
I read your book Naked Conversations, when I was in India. It was a good read, however, a bit redudant. Anyways, I would be using blogging as a tool to communicate with consumers of my company. Although, this is no hi-tech company, it will be interesting to see if over a period of time I can do communicative marketing as you like to say.
Thanks,
Tarun
http://www.buildingblocks.in
ps – In case if the primary and elementary education scene and use of spirituality in the same interests you at all log on to my blog http://www.kidsdevelopment.blogspot.com
LikeLike
Clearly whoever made the google page saw (and copied) the Yahoo! page, but it’s possible whoever approved it to go live hadn’t (for example, while I’d heard about the Yahoo page I’d not seen it – last time I tried you couldn’t from a Mac). It’s always safer to not assume the worst.
Same goes for the Microsoft page – someone copied the icon, but presumably whoever approved that for publishing didn’t know the source.
As to Matt’s post… no need for people to get so worked up about it.
LikeLike
Clearly whoever made the google page saw (and copied) the Yahoo! page, but it’s possible whoever approved it to go live hadn’t (for example, while I’d heard about the Yahoo page I’d not seen it – last time I tried you couldn’t from a Mac). It’s always safer to not assume the worst.
Same goes for the Microsoft page – someone copied the icon, but presumably whoever approved that for publishing didn’t know the source.
As to Matt’s post… no need for people to get so worked up about it.
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Since google is the subject, can anyone answer why some of the google ads on some sites have those extra ooo’s in them? goooogle?
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Since google is the subject, can anyone answer why some of the google ads on some sites have those extra ooo’s in them? goooogle?
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James: those are test ads. Temporary.
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James: those are test ads. Temporary.
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Matt Cutts should have restricted his apology to just that. Resorting to ‘they did this before we did that’ is plain childish.
Not to mention the fundemental difference between cloning design styles and wholesale plaigiarism…
C’mon Matt, be grown up about it and make an unreserved apology.
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Matt Cutts should have restricted his apology to just that. Resorting to ‘they did this before we did that’ is plain childish.
Not to mention the fundemental difference between cloning design styles and wholesale plaigiarism…
C’mon Matt, be grown up about it and make an unreserved apology.
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“those are test ads. Temporary.”
Thanks, Always wondered about that
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“those are test ads. Temporary.”
Thanks, Always wondered about that
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Ian, my deeper apology is at http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/ie7-promo-page/#comment-91559
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Ian, my deeper apology is at http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/ie7-promo-page/#comment-91559
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