GOOG API policies and my "bait and switch" feelings
Zdravko Gligic
This is the biggest "bait and switch" that has happened to me ever.
You have always had a policy of supporting deprecated services for up
to 3 years. In case of translations API, you have shortened it to six
months. In case of transliteration, for now you claim that you will
apply your old rules (at least until you change your mind just like on
translations). However, in case of transliteration you are playing
with words and calling something a deprecation (which is usually what
you have been calling something that gets replaced) when in reality
you are totally eliminating it without a newer version nor anything
that is even remotely similar.
"Bait and switch" is definitely not something that I would have ever
anticipated from GOOG, whom I have always looked upon as being a first
class organization. While I have no problems accepting the fact that
there were abusers who have caused you "substantial economic burden",
there is all kinds of ways of solving these problems without painting
everyone with the same brush. Many of us would gladly cover the costs
of someone taking a look at what we are doing because applying across
the board ridiculous quotas like 100,000 characters worth of
translations per day is simply too silly to be taken seriously. The
fact that you are applying it across all internet users of the same
applications is quite laughable. The fact that you offer a system for
increasing the quotas and the fact that I have yet to find a human
being who ever got a reply, that my friends places it on the
borderline between unethical and criminal.
I wish you all the luck in the world but more and more you are
starting to remind me of everything that I hate about Microsoft.
Sincerely,
Zdravko Gligic
On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 6:55 PM, Jeremy Geerdes <jrge...@gmail.com> wrote:
> You'll want to check out the Google Code blog. They just deprecated the Image, Blog, Video, Patent, and Books Search APIs.
>
> http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2011/05/spring-cleaning-for-some-of-our-apis.html
>
> If I had known about this yesterday, I would have given the heads up.
>
> Also deprecated are the v1 Language APIs, including Translate and Transliterate.
>
> Happy day, friends.
>
> Jeremy R. Geerdes
> Generally Cool Guy
> Des Moines, IA
>
> For more information or a project quote:
> jrge...@gmail.com
>
> If you're in the Des Moines, IA, area, check out Debra Heights Wesleyan Church!
>
> On May 26, 2011, at 11:59 AM, Joshua Pilkington wrote:
>
>> The intermixed results issue has been fixed. Each search is now
>> limited to one engine at a time. I have also added the proper
>> 'powered by' attribution to the Google logos.
>>
>> Here are some updated images:
>> http://www.joshuapilkington.com/Fixed1.Search.Engine.html
>>
>> If anyone happens to spot anything that violates the TOS, feel free to
>> let me know.
>>
>> Thank you for giving me insight into this, since this change resulted
>> in an "incompatible upgrade," which would have been a nightmare if
>> this project were in the beta testing phase -- which it will be
>> shortly.
>>
>>
>> Off topic:
>>
>> The hardest part, believe it or not, was actually supporting radio
>> buttons that have a transparent background. Windows is apparently too
>> stupid to draw radio buttons without a background (when using the
>> "Explorer" class), forcing me to design my own radio button graphics
>> and making the buttons 'owner-drawn', along with all the other coding
>> to make them behave like radio buttons. (End rant). Doesn't matter,
>> I still managed to make it work.
>>
>> On May 25, 6:23 pm, Joshua Pilkington <joshua.pilking...@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>> Thank you for your quick reply.
>>>
>>> I will definitely add the 'Powered by:' text above the logos thoughout
>>> the program. As far as the intermixing goes, I may simply add
>>> separate dropdowns that will allow the user to choose between search
>>> results from each engine.
>>>
>>> Also, if the user happens to select a search as their
>>> 'wallpaper' (instead of a search result), the order the wallpapers
>>> appear from search engines is completely random. If that is against
>>> the TOS, I may have to do a bit of coding to make sure search result
>>> wallpapers appear in order, and aren't mixed with any other results.
>>> There is also a 'collage' mode, and images from those will appear
>>> scattered thoughout the screen.. I'm not sure how to enforce order on
>>> that.
>>>
>>> I'll do some digging to find a Google legal expert. In the mean time,
>>> the 'intermixing' view on the GUI can easily be fixed.
>>>
>>> On May 25, 6:12 pm, Jeremy Geerdes <jrgeer...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Whenever you deal with TOS issues, it's best to have a legal expert in the mix. I am not one of these, and I don't know anyone on the group who is. So if you have any doubt about any of the advice that you receive here, you will want to consult someone who is.
>>>
>>>> That said, I see a couple of issues with your use of the Google Image Search API.
>>>
>>>> First, you mentioned that the search functionality itself is free, but users will be expected to pay for the managing portion of the app. I don't think this is going to be a problem, BUT you will need to make absolutely clear what the users are paying for.
>>>
>>>> Second, the TOS require very specific branding - "powered by Google" - to be displayed in proximity to any Google results. Simply displaying the logo could be construed as insufficient.
>>>
>>>> And finally, the one show-stopper, so to speak. Section 1.4 of the Image Search API TOS explicitly prohibit changing the result order, intermixing of Google search results with results obtained from other sources, or even intermixing other generic content with Google search results such that this extra content appears to be part of Google's results. In other words, if you're going to search multiple engines, you will need to separate at least the Google results out from all the rest.
>>>
>>>> These are just three issues that jumped out at me from your screenshots. There may be others if we were allowed to dig into the code and UI. You will definitely want to address these issues, and probably consult a legal expert to ensure compliance with other terms.
>>>
>>>> Jeremy R. Geerdes
>>>> Generally Cool Guy
>>>> Des Moines, IA
>>>
>>>> For more information or a project quote:
>>>> jrgeer...@gmail.com
>>>
>>>> If you're in the Des Moines, IA, area, check out Debra Heights Wesleyan Church!
>>>
>>>> On May 25, 2011, at 4:32 PM, Joshua Pilkington wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Hello,
>>>
>>>>> I am developing an application for Windows that is a wallpaper manager/
>>>>> changer. I plan on making this a for-profit commercial application.
>>>
>>>>> One of the (out of many) features it has is that it can find images
>>>>> from Google/Yahoo/Bing/Flickr. I have API keys from each engine and
>>>>> use them in coordination.
>>>
>>>>> I need to have some clarification on the branding/commercial use
>>>>> requirements from Google.
>>>
>>>>> The implementation of the search (obtaining images) will be free -
>>>>> however the features of my product (wallpaper management, etc.) will
>>>>> require a license.
>>>
>>>>> As far as branding goes, here are some screenshots of the search
>>>>> engine:
>>>>> http://www.joshuapilkington.com/Search.Engine.html
>>>
>>>>> The search results in the two second views are mixed with those of
>>>>> other sources (Yahoo/Bing/Flickr).
>>>
>>>>> Please let me know of any changes that I need to make, as the TOS is
>>>>> pretty vague and seems to change frequently. I need to make sure when
>>>>> I release this product that it isn't breaking any rules.
>>>
>>>>> --
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>>
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>>
>
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