martinibuster - 6:53 am on Oct 3, 2005 (gmt 0)

What I find of interest is how search engines are getting away from indexing websites.

With Google's initiative, and now the Open Content Alliance's Initiative [webmasterworld.com], you will eventually be able to surf the web without ever browsing a website.

Something like this has a greater chance of gathering momentum, and has an interesting potential for changing the information we receive on the internet.

Instead of showing websites, the engines can present truly authoritative information. This can potentially bump up against the traditional webmaster who is creating websites with the aim of selling something along with the information. Search engines can conceivably cut out the middleman (website operators) and show ads on the free information they display.

Otoh, I'm not sure if this will impact the marketer affing hotel rooms to beach resorts.

[edited by: martinibuster at 8:32 am (utc) on Oct. 3, 2005]