[governance] iGoogle Users Irate About Portal's Changes

[Jeffrey A. Williams]

All,

  Previews of more coming attractions, brought to you by
your Googol provider?  Seem not to Google users.  Again
is this the Internet we want?  How does this fit in with an
Internet Bill of Rights?  Or again, does it?

  Of course, as most of you already know, I am a not
always a fan of Googles business practices and oppose
their TOS.  But still I recognize Google as a significant
inovator.

See:

in an InformationWeek report on a
http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/google/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=211201740
recent unannounced change in the iGoogle portal. Quoting: "Google
insists that its revised iGoogle personalized home page generates better
'happiness metrics' than the old design, but a vocal group of users 
isn't happy about the changes." The recent change introduces what Google 
refers to as "canvas view," which the
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/whats-new-with-igoogle.html
Official Google Blog claims "... makes iGoogle a more useful homepage
and a better platform for developers." Unlike the last major change made
to Gmail, there is no option to revert to the old version of iGoogle.
iGoogle users are reporting that widgets and themes are broken, Gmail
attachments don't work, and valuable screen space is wasted. The
http://groups.google.com/group/Google_Web_Search_Help-Personalizing/topics
Personalizing Google section of Google Groups is full of
thousands of complaints about this sudden and unannounced change. Many
posters have have stated that they are using the Canadian or UK version
of iGoogle or even moving to NetVibes.com to get their preferred layout
back. It seems that Google and Yahoo are moving in lockstep in springing
 http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/19/017209&tid=237 forced
changes that users hate.

Regards,

Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 281k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Obedience of the law is the greatest freedom" -
   Abraham Lincoln

"Credit should go with the performance of duty and not with what is
very often the accident of glory" - Theodore Roosevelt

"If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B;
liability depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by
P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
United States v. Carroll Towing  (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947]
===============================================================
Updated 1/26/04
CSO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security IDNS.
div. of Information Network Eng.  INEG. INC.
ABA member in good standing member ID 01257402 E-Mail
jwkckid1 at ix.netcom.com
My Phone: 214-244-4827

In an InformationWeek report on a [1]recent unannounced
change in the iGoogle portal. Quoting: "Google insists that its revised
iGoogle personalized home page generates better 'happiness metrics' than

the old design, but a vocal group of users isn't happy about the
changes." The recent change introduces what Google refers to as "canvas
view," which the [2]Official Google Blog claims "... makes iGoogle a
more
useful homepage and a better platform for developers." Unlike the last
major change made to Gmail, there is no option to revert to the old
version of iGoogle. iGoogle users are reporting that widgets and themes
are broken, Gmail attachments don't work, and valuable screen space is
wasted. The [3]Personalizing Google section of Google Groups is full of
thousands of complaints about this sudden and unannounced change. Many
posters have have stated that they are using the Canadian or UK version
of iGoogle or even moving to NetVibes.com to get their preferred layout
back. It seems that Google and Yahoo are moving in lockstep in springing

[4]forced changes that users hate.
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