Comments on: Google's flub: Do we have a Web monoculture too?

Search giant had a rough weekend, with human error causing it to list the entire Web as malware for an hour or so. The screw-up raises issues about the risk of having a monoculture dependent on any one tech supplier.

[PhaseDMA]

Hello. Anyone home? You can click through the warning.

People that couldn't figure out the issue shouldn't have been using their computers in the first place. I mean really. Then throw in the people that click through these things every time they see it and was the internet really "broken"?

Did any of the people moaning actually virtually have no internet because of this? No. Their all smart people. Techy people. What percentage of the internet users were effected for 1 hour that didn't know something was messed up? I doubt it was a very large number.

[sharmajunior]

FYI....some of us couldn't get past the warning. It took us into an endless loop from a search result to Google's home page over and over and over and over.......

[vidanuevatx]

If you think people who can't figure out a particular error should not be using computers, then you badly misunderstand people or computers or both. There's no need for you to be so proud. I could point out each of your grammatical or spelling errors and say that you shouldn't write, but that would be no more true than your statement that others should not use computers.

[king_geore]

Took about a minute to realize it was a Google issue so I switched to MS Live Search. If anyone else could not figure that out then they should not have a computer on the WEB.

[sting7k]

It wouldn't let me click through the warnings. However LIVE search was working just fine and I got by for the hour without my world crashing down around me.

[PhaseDMA]

Yep. That's right. I shouldn't write. Thanks for being so insightful.

I suppose I don't actually care to do anything beyond get my point across. I must have forgot I was writing a article for the NY Times. My mistake. I thought I was posting a comment on a website.

[c4s2k3]

For the record, the pages Google returned to me during that time did not include a link I could use to "click through" as you put it. I know enough to copy and paste the address provided in the Google warning page but there was no "link" to anything other than pages about various security related data. Yes, I knew there was a screw up, and yes, I knew how to get around it, but none of that negates the point this article makes regarding the general public's growing dependence on a single source for access to information on the internet, and the implications of that dependence.

[Kesteral]

I disagree. A Monoculture implies that you are tied exclusively to one system, and it would be very difficult to change to another system should the Monoculture come under attack. This is not the case with internet search. Should Google be attacked and shut down for an extended time, it is a very easy thing to switch over to another internet search site. They may not be a good as Google, but they are more than good enough to get the job done.

[john55440]

Ditto for being overly dependent on Google's Cloud.

I want my application software on my computer; for privacy, security, performance, reliability, and control reasons. In addition, at a time when personal computers have massive amounts of computing power, it's silly to use them as Dumb Internet Terminals.

[PSCSmoke]

WOW, the real question is, "Is CNET too dependant on Google?" Everybody is chiming in on this one like one-trick ponies. There are many other monocultures/competition outside of biGevil, M$. I didn't even experience a search problem, and for a lot of browsers out there, the search bar searches multiple sources...and as stated higher up, if you maintain standards and backup your data moving to a new internet monoservice isn't that big of a deal.

[divide_by_zero]

Hmmm, I was always afraid to Google 'Google.' Visions of an infinite loop that tore apart the very fabric of space-time plagued my mind as my cursor hovered over the search button.

[jonytk]

To all the noobs who can't type hotmail.com and have to google hotmail and click the link to actually read the mail. You deserve it, i wish this were all the weekend!!
L0L

[t8]

Google may dominate search but people can change whenever they want. It is much harder to do than Microsoft Windows which you get given to you when you buy a PC.

People choose Google and people are forced to use Windows. That says a lot to me.

[spacydog]

Oh please. People choose Windows just like they choose Google. Macs are being preferred these days in some respects due to their coolness factor and ease of use. Linux isn't because they never really produced a cool and usable desktop OS. People choose Windows because it works with millions of applications so overall leads as a practical OS to have.

[t8]

Ha ha. You answered it for me. People choose Windows because it works with millions of applications so overall leads as a practical OS to have. You don't need Google because millions of aps run off Google. You can switch Google in less than 5 seconds, yet people increasingly use them.