Google’s AutoText vs. Microsoft’s SmartTags

Scoble has been ranting about how evil Google’s new AutoText feature in the new version of its toolbar is. I think he’s way off base on this one, and here’s why (I posted the following as a comment in one of his posts about the matter):

SmartTags were, in fact, evil – not because of what they did, but because the user had no real choice in the matter. They were to be a pre-installed “feature” of the pre-installed browser on the most common operating system on the planet. Microsoft was proven in court to have been evil in its approach to the browser wars; SmartTags was an extension of that mindset.

AutoText, while not my preference, is in no way evil. Why? Because I don’t have to do anything to avoid being affected by it. I simply don’t install Google’s toolbar.

It’s simply the whole opt-in, opt-out argument. Opt-in is fine; opt-out is evil.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 28th, 2005 at . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

One Response to “Google’s AutoText vs. Microsoft’s SmartTags”

  • Steve Says:
    February 28th, 2005 at

    So its not evil to the customer, but this can and very well will hurt publishers. When it comes down to it, its nothing more than stealing.

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