I've heard Google called many a different things since its inception. 'Greatest browser ever', 'Emperor of the Internet', are just a couple of descriptions I've heard given to the search giant.

Something I've never heard Google called is, vampire. That's exactly the descriptor used by Dow Jones Chief Executive Les Hinton during his keynote speech at a large Media Outlook conference. Here's Hinton's exact words,

"There is a charitable view of the history of Google,” said Mr. Hinton, who is also publisher of The Wall Street Journal. “[It] didn’t actually begin life in a cave as a digital vampire per se. The charitable view of Google is that the news business itself fed Google’s taste for this kind of blood."

I had to read that twice to make sure the words were real. I mean really? I don't want to say that Hinton is stupid, but he and many newspaper CEOs are ignorant. The difference is that I truly believe they just don't understand how Google news works, or how aggregators work in general. I think if someone would teach them, their comprehension would show that services like Google news helps their business.

I'd gurantee that most of you reading this receive their news from Google news, or the like. Instead of trying to start some kind of feud with Google, why not find better ways to partner with them? Seems like a much better business arrangement.

I only write for blogs, and newsletters though...so what would I know? ;)

The ideas presented in the WebProWorld newsletter editor's note do not reflect the thoughts, and ideas of the WebProWorld community.

| JohnnyV |