Screaming Penguin

I am not sure how the misinformation about base.google.com being a "classified ads" venture got started, but it sure has made the rounds on the net and is now also being misreported in mainstream media (imagine that). Google Base - when the page was up just for a little while - looked simply like a content server. I dont mean its not a huge deal when I say simply, I just mean thats part of the potential, I think. My thoughts about it were that it looked like you could define a content "entity" and then start storing them on Google Base, where they would be indexed and taggable and searchable, etc. Sure this *could* be used to sell stuff, but its much much more profound than that, that would only be one facet. (I think Google Auctions are on the way too, there has been some hype - and a lot of hope, potentially internally making use of something like Google Base, but thats another thing altogether) I hate to say the words "paradigm shift", but this sure could be one in the making. Imagine the accessibility and reliability of Google as your content repository for whatever content you want to put there. There are inumerable opportunities and ideas that come to mind if such an open and rock solid user controlled/defined repository existed (and yes many concerns too - anything built on it would be permanently bound to Google and technically out of the control of the user). That could change the entire landscape of the web (and hopefully other companies besides Google might catch on and make their own - maybe compatible - open content repositories). I think this is potentially a lot more than Google is letting on, and a completely different thing than news sources seem to be interpreting it as - and frankly if its not it damn well should be.