Google Blocks YouTube App On Windows Phone (Again) 629
dhavleak writes "From Gizmodo: Earlier today, the Microsoft-built YouTube app for Windows Phone was unceremoniously disabled by Google. These kind of little inter-corporate kerfuffles happen from time to time, and usually resolve themselves without screwing too many users. But boy, Microsoft didn't take it quietly."
Man I'm sick of Google (Score:2, Interesting)
Man there's a lot of Google fan boys on Slashdot. Google is screwing over MS and yeah MS if fun to pick on but look around Google is quickly becoming "the man". We should all be giving them both barrels over this. Cutting MS out for the 2nd time and trying to close off access to youtube is ridiculous. If youtube was a separate company no way in hell would they want turn away an additional user base like this.
I'm one of those windows phone users and the original app that just wrapped the web version stunk. These last two revisions with a real native app are great (well were great yesterday, it doesn't work today) and you'd think they'd want users to have a good experience on however it's done.
Re:Stick to your values Google (Score:4, Interesting)
based on HTML5 would be technically difficult and time consuming, which is why we assume YouTube has not yet made the conversion for its iPhone and Android apps.
For this reason, we made a decision this week to publish our non-HTML5 app while committing to work with Google long-term on an app based on HTML5.
Which I'm reading as "fuck it, too hard, let's just release what we've done and see what happens". Now they complain.
Bingo. Typical MS arrogance at work. (Score:4, Interesting)
Lets backtrack a bit to the MS post when they released the new youtube app [winsupersite.com].
Note the parts in bold. MS lied, they didn't address it. So Google saw MS thumbing their nose, went WTF, got pissed off and blocked it [engadget.com] .
MS gets slapped with its hand caught in the cookie jar and then admits that its 'new' app did not comply with Google's request that it be in HTML5 :-
Note that the new app was pushed out without Google's approval, unlike what they implied. Typical MS arrogance and lies at work. I feel sorry for any Winph8 users caught in the crossfire, but MS does not deserve any sympathy in this matter.
Re:Embrace? check. Extend? Ah, there's the problem (Score:4, Interesting)
It is a valid question - why does the app have to be in HTML5, especially when no other platform has a full-featured YouTube app - by Google or anyone else - written in HTML5?
this kind of metadata ? (Score:5, Interesting)
Is the metadata hidden by Google a metadata like "this ad is from content owner" or "this ad is from us", preventing MS to replace Google's ads by their own ads as they don't know which ads can be removed without getting content owners angry ?
The meaning of open (Score:5, Interesting)
It's curious to see Google pull this.
From http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/meaning-of-open.html [blogspot.com]
"At Google we believe that open systems win. They lead to more innovation, value, and freedom of choice for consumers, and a vibrant, profitable, and competitive ecosystem for businesses. Many companies will claim roughly the same thing since they know that declaring themselves to be open is both good for their brand and completely without risk. After all, in our industry there is no clear definition of what open really means. It is a Rashomon-like term: highly subjective and vitally important." .. ... ... expensive too. Either way, a well-managed closed system can deliver plenty of profits. They can also deliver well-designed products in the short run — the iPod and iPhone being the obvious examples — but eventually innovation in a closed system tends towards being incremental at best (is a four blade razor really that much better than a three blade one?) because the whole point is to preserve the status quo. Complacency is the hallmark of any closed system. If you don't have to work that hard to keep your customers, you won't." ...
"To understand our position in more detail, it helps to start with the assertion that open systems win. This is counter-intuitive to the traditionally trained MBA who is taught to generate a sustainable competitive advantage by creating a closed system, making it popular, then milking it through the product life cycle. The conventional wisdom goes that companies should lock in customers to lock out competitors."
"To understand our position in more detail, it helps to start with the assertion that open systems win. This is counter-intuitive to the traditionally trained MBA who is taught to generate a sustainable competitive advantage by creating a closed system, making it popular, then milking it through the product life cycle. The conventional wisdom goes that companies should lock in customers to lock out competitors. There are different tactical approaches — razor companies make the razor cheap and the blades expensive, while the old IBM made the mainframes expensive and the software
"In other words, Google's future depends on the Internet staying an open system, and our advocacy of open will grow the web for everyone - including Google."
The entire thing is a good read.
Re:Only relevant line (Score:2, Interesting)
Google can determine the rules. What MS objects to is they are setting rules, deliberately preventing MS from following them, then saying "aha, you didn't follow the rules" and blocking MS. And if Google isn't careful, they are going to end up in court, that's the kind of activity that gets big companies in trouble.