BeeDeeDubbleU - 11:37 am on Feb 4, 2009 (gmt 0)

could put analytics companies (including me) out of business overnight

True, but Google have been putting people out of business for years without batting an eyelid. Think of all the free services they offer that we once had to buy from third parties. How many people lost jobs or went out of business because of them offering free stuff like Google Earth, Google Maps, Blogger, Calendar, Gmail, Translate, Picasa and Docs. What will happen to all of we web designers if they start to really promote Google sites, their free website builder?

Sounds harsh I know, but I am afraid that in the greater scheme of things the problems of analytics companies are nothing when compared to all of the above. The problem we have is that they owe us nothing and that is a major problem. But then that's the business we have chosen to be in. :(