Google Like Walmart?

Link to Wired article on why Google is like Walmart

[webconnoisseur]

Saw this on wired and thought it was interesting:
[wired.com...]

I feel Google is very different from Walmart, but I found some of the Google tidbits interesting.

[vik_c]

A very interesting point of view. Yet, it took Google far less time compared to Walmart to attain that size in market cap.

Lots of people make an issue about long lasting cookie size. Coming from tech writers particularly, it seems odd. A cookie remains intact only so long as a user doen't format his hard disk. If a survey is done, we'll probably find an average user has to format his hard disk atleast once a year thanks to viruses, crashes, spyware etc. Even more often if you use Windows. So a cookie can be set for upto 3000 AD and it wouldn't make a difference.

[webconnoisseur]

I think people clear out their cookies far more often than that - heck it's even an option: in IE, simply click Tools > Internet Options > Clear Cookies, plus many programs can do this for you.

[gamb]

"Google: Accounts for almost four out of five internet searches"

huh?

What about Yahoo and MSN? Is he saying those two AND all others account for a total of 20%?

[bbcarter]

Speaking of cookies, I've noticed that google sometimes hangs on a search request if my cookies are old, but doesn't if I clear the cookies. Is that a punishment, or a delay while they record or analyze me?

Plus, I've seen different results come up for same searches done by different people.

Not the kind of wrinkle in results some of us like.

[rfgdxm1]

>Lots of people make an issue about long lasting cookie size. Coming from tech writers particularly, it seems odd. A cookie remains intact only so long as a user doen't format his hard disk. If a survey is done, we'll probably find an average user has to format his hard disk atleast once a year thanks to viruses, crashes, spyware etc. Even more often if you use Windows. So a cookie can be set for upto 3000 AD and it wouldn't make a difference.

Incorrect, at least in a universal sense. I always keep the cookie jar recently backed up in the event that I do have to reformat. For me, losing my cookie jar would be a Real Bad Thing. What I don't understand is why people are so scared of cookies? All common browsers allow blocking cookies. If someone is spooked by the Google cookie, then just block it.

[lgn1]

The article claims, that they pay sysadmins only $35,000 a year. I find that hard to believe.

[webconnoisseur]

This article just came out on cookie deletions: [emarketer.com...]

Here's what was reported:
10% delete cookies daily
17% delete weekly
12% delete monthly