BN overrides Autolink? Not really.

Michael Gartenberg | March 02, 2005, 11:55 AM

There's been some news of how the folks at Barnes and Noble were able to override the AutoLink feature of the Google toolbar. Well, they really haven't. All they did was add links of their own to the ISBN numbers so invoking AutoLink doesn't do anything. The Google folks were very careful with the details here. Nothing happens automatically, it's all user invoked and it totally respects the links already in existence. Even though I wrote about this initially with some concern, the more I use the product and see how it's implemented, the more I think that Google will keep this feature intact despite the protestations of a few. There's no slippery slope here. Are there ways to create toolbars that could create havoc with content? of course. Google hasn't done that though and it's really no different than if I cut and pasted the data myself to take me to one of those sites (which is exactly what I'm doing as a user). The debate can rage on for a while but it's getting tired and so far no one's been able to make a real compelling argument about the Google implementation.

There's going to be a lot more discussion on the role of the browser (and the toolbars that co-opt it) and the interrelationship between things like browsing, media, RSS, local search and the like. This is just the beginning of where the new platforms are going and the implications for the consumer.