Josefu - 10:45 am on Nov 2, 2005 (gmt 0)

Much of this thread's comments seem biased. I suggest that all drop the notion, other than for formulating predictions about a company's future actions, or as a global judgement of the company itself, that the "global good" (or bad) of a company itself can somehow "balance" its individual actions. Each and every plan must be judged separately for what it is and what it intends to do.

Exactly what work does Google propose to put "for free" online? Recent works, or "public domain"? Google says that the former/latter ratio will be 2/5 (or 80% public domain) - but what will that 20% of "under copyright" work be? If it is indeed work that is widely available through bookstores, what would Google's goal in publishing copyrighted material for free be?

All this is still, read through both Google's statements and the press (not to mention the wording of the lawsuits themselves), rather vague.