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Google Chrome OS – Why We Need Another Operating System?

Dotcom Note — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:24:18 +0000

We already have one and it is called Windows. Then there is Apple OS but it only comes with Apple hardware The Linux thingy has so many variations that your head will start spinning if you try to learn each of them.

Today’s bombshell is Google’s announcement of launching an operating system called Chromoe? What? Chrome was the browser that Google launced a year and half ago. Now they want to launch an OS with the name.

Google did an informal sutvey on the street of Manhattan about Chrome browesr and it is rally hilarious. People don’t have any idea what the heck is a browser, let alone what is Chrome broser. And now if you think they will understand what is this Chrome OS is?

“Can it run my favorite program?”, that is the question people will be asking when the Best Buy associate tells them that the tiny-sized screen laptop, called netbook, has Chrome operating system.

Hey, that tiny thingy cannot run any thing fast why do you expect to run your favorite application anyway.

Now, will the price of a laptop drop because of this chromy thingy? I think no. MS is already heavily discounting for OEM partners based on their volumes.

But, it is going to be open source. Pooh!. I don’t want to mess with my OS. I want it to work and work when I need it. I don’t want to search the net for hours to find simple solutions to my problem.

My verdict? Chrome will occupy a small niche among all the Linux variations that are there today.

bayHoo! – The Merger of eBay and Yahoo!

Dotcom Note — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:30:49 +0000

Microsoft’s offer to purchase Yahoo! for $45B to overcome Google’s growing influence on the web is not going away soon. Microsoft will do every thing in its power to acquire Yahoo! because Microsoft is trailing far behind Google and Yahoo in search and ad revenue. Eliminating Yahoo! will kill one competitor instantly. What can Yahoo! do? It has the fiduciary responsibility to share holders that outweighs the desires to thwart the monopolistic ambitions of Microsoft. The solution lies in the merger of eBay and Yahoo!

The market capitalization of eBay and Yahoo! are almost the same. eBay has hordes of cash without any debt but eBay’s earning per share (EPS) is one-half of yahoo’s EPS. These two web-pioneering companies need each other to move forward for increasing investors’ confidence and returns on investment.

As a merged company how can they improve their combined performance? First, they can keep their independent brands that are widely known and very valuable by forming a parent company called bayHoo! An acquisition by Microsoft will lead to Yahoo!’s brand erosion. Microsft is hell-bent to acquire Yahoo! not to preserve Yahoo! brand. Microsoft does not like to have Yahoo! as a household name in the future.

Yahoo! properties attract the highest web traffic. eBay will leverage this traffic through out Yahoo! properties and charge premium fees to eBay sellers for advertising their listings. eBay does not have an integrated listing advertsing service right now. eBay sellers will get more exposure to their products and services.

The eBay store will merge with the Yahoo! store and bayHoo! will eliminate all duplicate costs involved in maintaining two different merchant solutions that may essentially offer the same services. bayHoo! will use this money to offer more features to bayHoo! store owners.

The generation Y grew up with The Yahoo! Messenger and it is in their every day vocabulary. bayYahoo! will integrate eBay’s Skype VoIP service for video chat in to Yahoo! Messenger and charge users for this service.

eBay’s PayPal is there for conducting all trqansactions. PayPal can leverage web’s most visited finacial site, Yahoo! Finance, to offer more services. With creative thinking, it is possible for bayHoo! to become a very successful online company.

It is the time for Jerry Wang and Pierre Omidyar start talking.

2 Billionth Photo in Flickr is Not “Sexy Girl”

Dotcom Note — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:44:41 +0000

It is the boring 2 billionth photo uploaded by “yukesmooks” to Flickr. What is it? A tree stump? No, it is a gum tree. Check out a page full of gum trees in Flickr. The post has already received more than 80 comments. yukesmooks is delighted, “Wow!!! I didn’t even know! I’ve never received so many comments before. Thank you!!!!”

Two billion is a lot of photos. The sheer size is a challenge for Microsoft to reproduce it. And Microsoft is always late in the game. They just watch others success and try to emulate them. They think they were successful once (Windows and Office), so they would be successful again by proving a better mouse trap. We will see.

Image credit: Picture 098

Three to five million photos are uploaded to Flickr everyday. You can find pictures of just about anything on earth. I typed “statue of liberty” and there were 58,00 results. How about “sexy girl”? You will find more than 60,000 results.

Image credit: Untitled

Facebook claims to have more than 4 billion photos and more than eight million photos are uploaded daily. But I don’t think you can find pictures of every thing under the sun in Facebook.

Google Makes a Masseuse a Multimillionaire

Dotcom Note — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 02:52:09 +0000

A $450 a week job and a pile of stock options made Bonnie Brown a multimillionaire. You can read her story in the soon to be published book “Giigle: How I Got Lucky Massaging Google”

More than 1,000 people have already become millionaire using Google’s stock grants and stock options.

YouTube to Offer Premium Subscription

Dotcom Note — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 02:39:47 +0000

e-consluntancy did some interesting math based on the IBM’s end of advertising survey and concluded that YouTube could generate an additional $100m annually by offering a premium service at $24.99 per year.

May be Google will hire e-consultancy for developing a business model for YouTube based on preimum services.