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Microsoft and Yahoo! bitch and moan about Google Buzz
Clearly Google has Microsoft and Yahoo! shaking in their boots right now. While more often than not companies try not to bring attention to what their competitors are working on, fear can drive them to speak out when they might otherwise more wisely hold their tongue.
Google's announcement yesterday of a new social networking feature called Buzz that is integrated into Gmail prompted Yahoo! to comment on their Twitter account (how's that for irony?) "Two years after #Yahoo! launched #Buzz, Google follows suit. Check out the original: http://buzz.yahoo.com/"
Similarly, Microsoft aired their sour grapes with the following statement about Google Buzz:
Busy people don't want another social network, what they want is the convenience of aggregation. We've done that. Hotmail customers have benefited from Microsoft working with Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and 75 other partners since 2008.
You'd think Microsoft could point to something better than (shudder) Hotmail when trying to claim supremacy over Google.
No word about Buzz from Facebook yet, but that just shows that they're more -- let's use the word "confident" -- about their place in the social networking space than Microsoft or Yahoo! are.
Comments
12
Subscribe to commentsEndejasFeb 10th 2010 4:30PM
Unfortunately, Google Buzz seems to be about as riveting and exciting as another Twitter clone. While closer to the Facebook Wall in features, it's got nothing to add besides the location/map overlay.
Not to mention that the aggregation of different accounts (Twitter, Flickr, etc.) only goes one way. While it might be able to pull my different accounts into one, I can't post anything to them, unless I'm not seeing it.
Then there's the problem of people actually switching over. Because it doesn't post TO my accounts, Buzz needs to be used by all people to work. While a lot of people I know use Gmail, just like GTalk, Buzz seems to fall flat in actually enticing people to make a move for it. It isn't a tool to make things better, but it's own network, something that I'm sure most people don't need.
Does it really matter that Yahoo and Microsoft did this before? Not really. Buzz is nothing exciting, at least in terms of Google Wave (which seems to be dying off the limelight). This is all anecdotal of course; I use Google for a variety of my services (including Android), but this service just doesn't seem to be well thought out.
burnblueFeb 10th 2010 4:35PM
Microsoft is not pointing at Hotmail, they're pointing at Windows Live.. home.live.com lets you pull aggregate from Facebook, Flickr and many such other web content. He's saying Hotmail customers have access to that, which is an awkward way to put it
ButtersFeb 10th 2010 7:10PM
But that is nothing like Google Buzz, that is like iGoogle...
TheGMFeb 10th 2010 4:36PM
Yahoo knows that Google Buzz is completely different from their Digg-like Yahoo Buzz! feature, right? The only thing similar is the name.
rollinginsanityFeb 10th 2010 5:22PM
Ha, about the only thing my hotmail is used for is collecting spam.
Annoying PosterFeb 10th 2010 5:34PM
umm jason clarke if you did your job you would know microsoft is completely right in their comment, and this is not sour grapes. microsoft's solution has been around for years and has far more integrations than google's, including facebook. the problem is that live home is hidden away while google's is right in Gmail next to the inbox.
i am not a fanboy of either tech but right now i am definitely liking buzz over live 's due to the aforementioned ease of use and integration with reader.
mr clarke, just know that smugness is not a good quality to have when reporting tech news, it screams elitist douchebag
Lee MathewsFeb 10th 2010 5:35PM
Yeah! Kind of like using a salutation without actual respect when posting a sideways jab at someone...
MichaelFeb 10th 2010 4:45PM
And as pointed out yesterday on the podcast, CNet had the Buzz Report and Buzz Out Loud years before Yahoo! They really don't have room to complain about name-stealing.
RichFeb 10th 2010 5:42PM
Yawn is about the way to describe the reaction from my friends over G-Buzz. Most of them turned it off or unfollowed everyone.
JackFeb 10th 2010 6:29PM
I actually don't like Google Buzz at all. I use my Gmail for one thing only - and that is for email. I don't want it to be integrated with a social community. I use POP, and I don't want every Buzz going to my inbox. Plus, with POP, you can't reply directly to them so its pointless.
I have raised some other issues why I don't like it in my blog http://www.jackcola.org/blog/66-so-i-just-got-goole-buzz-i-dont-think-it-will-replace-facebook
nikescarFeb 10th 2010 8:31PM
I don't know how you could shudder to Hotmail. It's easily my favorite mail service. I love the Windows Live Mail dedicated program, the real time mailbox search and, best of all, the near perfect spam filter.
AustinFeb 10th 2010 9:54PM
Personally I turned off Buzz as soon as I could
1. I have plenty of friends using plenty of social networks that aren't Google's
2. Wave has been totally lackluster
3. I don't like Twitter, I don't like that Facebook is becoming more like Twitter, and I don't need Twitter-ish in my email box