Blake Ross, “one of the key people behind the Firefox browser” has an axe to grind with Google. From Ross’ blog:

Google is now displaying “tips” that point searchers to Google Calendar, Blogger and Picasa for any search phrase that includes “calendar” (e.g. Yahoo calendar), “blog” and “photo sharing,” respectively. This is clearly bad for competitors, and it’s also a bad sign for Google.

Ross thinks these tips are bad for users. Why?

The tips are different–and bad for users–because the services they recommend are not the best in their class. If Google wants to make it faster and easier for users to manage events, create a blog or share photos, it could do what it does when you search GOOG: link to the best services.

According to their own web search, Picasa is not the best service for photo sharing. What do you think? After being so loved for so long, has Google finally managed to mess up with “tips”? Does it bother you that they’re shilling their crap? Or is this ok? —MEGHANN MARCO

Tip: Trust is Hard to Gain, Easy To Lose [Blake Ross via The Inquirer]

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