Seems only logical they would move in this direction…

There may or may not be rain tomorrow. There is a 50-50 chance that there will be traffic on 101 in either the north or southbound direction. My coffee may or may not taste like crap depending on how attentive the hot little barista is tomorrow afternoon. There is a chance that MSFT will be declared dead if this Google announcement does or does not happen. This might be news or it might be nonsense. Please note that we are at Web 2.0 Hype Alert Level “Yahoo Red” - please report any underperforming banner adspace to the nearest authorities.
(This won’t make it past the filter but I had to get it down….)

You call this a major announcement?

Or maybe Google is selling YouTube to Viacom.

i have it from a good source that sergey brin wears women’s underwear.

Michael - what is the point of posting one man rumors? Do you just want to prove that you have the “connections in the industry”. If that is the case, might as well be explicit about it. In your job, you need to have the connections - but I don’t think you should depict it with such trash news… errrrr rumors. Also, if you really have the connections, you would have surely been able to check with other sources before posting it here.

It is very likely that Google will make an announcement, but I don’t see the point of posting a rumor today, unless it is only done to boost your ego.

With that kind of money…he can wear whatever he wants!

Google employees may think of something like “more ability in an office program” as major…yawn…

I’d like to see some major innovation that makes us bloggers a little bit more than 0.13 cents every two days.

Or allows us to seamlessly post to any blog platform…on the fly…from my mobile…using voice to text…and be able to insert images via voice as well…
Now that would be a MAJOR announcement!

…and whats with you dolts not leaving a link to your splogs?

lol - another rumor story from mike

for the love of god, just stick to the typical tech startup launch stories - or better yet, deadpool stories

this rumor/speculation stuff, either true or false, is just hurting your overall credibility

Looks like a lot of people don’t like Michael Arrington. Everytime I visit the comment section of a specific post by Arrington, there are more negative than positive ones.

Major Announcement - Google is hiring Michael as the next CEO

The one man that Michael heard it from - Himself

Why didn’t Jonathan Rochelle announce it today? - Quite obvious - he doesn’t know about it. In fact, no one at Google knows about it

Why will Google Apps bite the dust if Michael takes over as CEO? Because Michael has no idea that the current version of Google Apps for your Domain does not compete with Microsoft Office!!Only the future version that is integrated with Google Docs and spreadsheet will compete with MS Office.

How has Michael shielded himself? By stating the following “As I said, this is a single source rumor and single source rumors have a tendency to fail to materialize”

Why is Michael’s claim not a major announcement for tomorrow? Because unoficially, Google has already said that they are going to integrate Docs and Spreadsheets and offer it to enterprises for a fee. So the official announcement is only a formality - not a major announcement.

The announcement is their deal(s) with Coke and GE for enterprise applications.

Actually, its Pixar that they are tying up with.

Would be nice to see Google continue to integrate their products more tightly.

Very good points, Akash. Google does hire smart people (Akash might be Akash Nanavati, who works at Google).

I don’t understand why they would be announcing “bundling Docs & Spreadsheets with Google Apps for Your Domain into a single hosted offering.” They already do that. I get all of those things bundled together on my Gapps and have for quite some time.

Furthermore, I’ll echo Akash’s sentiment here: What’s the point of this? “Look, it prolly aint true, kids. But just in case it is, you heard it here first.”

Akash is just my nickname at home. My real name is Ajay. Nope, I don’t work at Google.

I dont get it … you people undermine Mike yet visit his blog every day.

i love reading the news that is posted here and if he has heard a rumour and posted it, let him post it. Obviously it has some creditworthiness.

Sorry Mike on behalf of the other bloggers out there that wish they came up with Techcrunch.

This is what techcrunch has always done and it is what made it famous. Mike has said many times that startups is what he loves, but the readers want big company gossip.

See: http://www.techcrunch.com/2006.....ube-rumor/

And by the way, read the comments to that post. They are exactly the same as the ones above.

Is it really that big of a deal? Every other week these companies have some announcements to make.Do you remember the announcements yahoo made in the last few weeks? How about ebay? They have some alliances/arrangements all the time going on.

I know you are looking for the sentence for your next report like “As we speculated here before here….”.

As you have realized from the comments, every time you try to speculate something like this, folks really do not like it.Why waste energy there - when you do not get credit anyways.

I love techcrunch - its my homepage - and I love it so much that I want it to be perfect. I am very disappointed when Michael posts trash news- it might not be trash to you, but it is trash to me, and I am voicing my opinion by passing a sarcastic remark - something that I rarely do. In fact, Michael can vouch for me - I hardly ever post any comments.

Akash/Ajay/whoever you are, with friends like you…

Velioncho - with regard to your last paragraph - you are mistakingly assuming that a few (tens?) mostly anonymous comments are a statistically relevant sample and reflective of the opinions of our entire readership. I’ve been through this. Many times. People love rumors because it’s the topic of conversation around silicon valley and other tech circles. I started posting them because they are extremely popular, and sometimes factual. One of the comments above points to our original posting of the YouTube/Google acquisition rumor, which was subsequently cited by the WSJ and NYT and others. If you read the comments to that post, they are virtually identical in their attacks.

This rumor is nothing compared to the YouTube acquisition. but when Google whispers the whole valley shudders. This stuff is relevant.

“Community” breaks down when it reaches a certain point size-wise and the haters start to take over. Look at Digg comments on just about any front page story, for example. But the vocal trolls don’t get to set the agenda for this or any other blog, except their own if they choose to go to the effort of writing one. I built this blog from the first reader to the 200,000th based on my instincts. That isn’t going to change now based on some anonymous comments.

Mike you are falling into this people trap. What they are trying to do is to get to comment about their comments. Since they cannot get you to write about their startups ( although they may have good products ) the next best thing is your comments. Believe it, when your next post goes live, they will read it right away and start all over again. It is probably nothing personnel> I would actually suggest that they are big fans, just a bite sarcastik and immature.

How can a rumour consist of ONE person saying it? I thought a rumour per definition involves more than ONE person.

I hope they are going to announce that they’re reimbursing all of my thousands of dollars in wasted AdWords. If it’s anything else, I couldn’t care less.

Mike - well explained, I agree obviously. Should go with your instincts. Just voicing my opinion.But this no means of saying TC is bad, TC is the place I check every hour, as others have mentioned we love it so much that we demand more.

M - thanks, although I think TC has leaned too much towards daysofourlivescrunch I still appreciate your reporting. How else would us guys in Indiana get our SV fix?

–joey

Maybe Gmail will finally be out of Beta

I never quite understood the “hater mentality”, honestly. I don’t even nearly as many readers or visitor as this blog, and I even face the same nonsense. It seems success automatically comes with hate or something, I don’t get it.

If any of us had a blog with the audience of TechCrunch (and the monthly ad revenue), I seriously doubt anyone would be making irrelevant and childish comments. It’s one thing to be envious, but it’s something entirely different to be an ass.

If you don’t like something, don’t use/view it. It’s really that simple.

I do know that Tim Armstrong VP of Ad Sales will be having a Q&A at the BofA Tech Conference tomorrow so more than likely something is in the pipeline.

From what I’ve heard, it involves a lot of partners implementing Google Apps in their various offerings. The only one I know of for sure is DirectPointe bundling them in with their Small Office Solution, which is a managed IT network for small businesses. I’m curious to see who/what else Google has lined up.

“It seems success automatically comes with hate or something, I don’t get it.”

i would really love to see more articles on the subject. like community building strategies and tips and advice on how to control haters. thanks.

Time out guys!

What is going on here? Michael and crew, you guys are making a ton of money off of us reading your blog so please respect our opinions. The fundamental of Web 2.0 is user generated content, now you are criticizing us for expressing ourselves? Having said that, we appreciate your work and we love reading it.

Be grown ups and take our constructive criticism and improve so you can attract more users and make more $$

Your news piece was just lame, why don’t you just admit it and move on. We love to read your blog and continue to do so. We just want to keep the quality high; what is wrong with that? It is not “hater mentality” Ronald, it is caring.

he was right folks.. http://www.informationweek.com.....=197007903

The cat is out of the bag Google Apps Premier Editon at $50:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02.....mp;emc=rss

http://online.wsj.com/article_.....15603.html

I’ll just say that Mike has rarely disappointed me. Here’s the top of the news item from the prior comment.
—
Google Targets Microsoft With Launch Of Business Applications

The search engine giant adopts a subscription model with its corporate software bundle to counter Microsoft Office and Windows Live.

By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek

Feb 22, 2007 **12:01 AM**
—

** emphasis mine **

The Google Apps for your Domain site is updated. A new premier edition is available for $50/account/year. More email storage and premium support. Docs, Spreadsheets and Document Management is all in there.

A free trial of premier edition is available until the end of April.

The cat is now out of the bag. Looks like InformationWeek was under embargo.

I just checked my Standard Edition Google Apps account, and they’ve refreshed the UI as well. This looks like a sign of things to come for the future direction of Google UIs:

http://www.google.com/a/help/i.....tour1.html

Pay us $50/head to get rid of our ads,

Seriously though, I think most small businesses attracted to Gapps will stay with the free plan. It does give them a starting point to offer more features.

its on the wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/.....ts_news_us

Google Inc. today is marching further into Microsoft Corp.’s core turf with a bundle of services targeted at corporations, including Web-based word-processing and spreadsheet applications.

The offering is the latest package of its services that Google, Mountain View, Calif., has created for organizations. In August, the company launched a free bundle of online applications, such as email and calendar services, which it says is now used by more than 100,000 small businesses. Google says test users of its new Google Apps Premier Edition include blue-chip companies like General Electric Co.

The new higher-end version of its application offerings for businesses costs $50 per user annually and includes more email storage and support for companies’ technology staff, as well as guarantees that the email service will be available virtually all of the time. Google says it expects to add other services to the bundles, possibly including its Blogger tool for creating Web logs, by year end.

Digg it!

http://gspy.blogspot.com/2007/.....-live.html

Ummm, I hope #41 isn’t trying to mask my identity.

what a pointless article.

stop loving yourself and get back to work

Haters will always hate. Bloggers will always blog.

Wow

To everyone who has complained thus far: You are reading and commenting on Michaels blog because you obviously enjoy it. If you didnt enjoy it, you wouldnt be here.

For the most part, his “rumors” are on point and I for one enjoy hearing them. In fact, I think that it gives him MORE credibility. How could it give him less? He obviously has connections and that is certainly NOT a requirement of being a blogger - successful or not. The fact that he makes such blog posts about things that concern a great majority of TC readers is wonderful. If it doesnt concern you, fine - move on to the next post. No need to jump down his throat. Grow up!

I think #45 Michael Vu makes a good point - “Haters will always hate. Bloggers will always blog.”

Mike - keep up the good work.

#46 dude everybody needs to relax, they are not really rumors. Most of the “rumors” are stories already delivered under embargo to be pubished everywhere on a certain date. I would have thought that is obvious but….

I heard Google, Yahoo, AOL are bidding for parnership with 411ForTravel . I saw the site. It looks like a big business move for the winner. And a great looking site .