Ed Whitacre Again Shows Off His Mastery Of The Gibberish

What's With France's Google Insecurities?

from the let-it-go... dept

Fri, Jun 23rd 2006 2:54pm — Mike Masnick

It really seems like the French government has a ton of insecurities around Google. Last year, they decided to do their own book scanning project out of a fear that Google's was somehow a threat to French culture. Then, there's the French version of a search engine, which many believe is really just a way to get money out of the government. The latest is that they've created their own version of Google Earth. It sort of makes you wonder why they feel the need to mimic every Google move -- all with government money. Why not just let private industry build what's needed if there's demand for it? The rationale for the French version of Google Earth makes almost no sense, saying that it's important for French people to know this info. That's true, but that doesn't explain what's wrong with the privately built offerings that are already out there.

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75 Comments

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Mark, 23 Jun 2006 @ 4:03pm

Viva la France
It's France. Almost the entire raison d'etre of the French government is to provide -- or sponsor businesses that provide -- native French alternatives to virtually everything that exists in the English-speaking world. The irony is that this is usually justified by reference to the unique value of French language, history, and culture, but such activities actually show a high degree of insecurity about the value of those elements in the modern world.
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- Joe Hastings, 24 Jun 2006 @ 9:11am
  
  Re: Viva la France
  The phrase is "Vive la France". If a learned person like you can't get even that right, who can find fault with them for being insecure about their language and culture.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 24 Jun 2006 @ 10:52pm
    
    Re: Re: Viva la France
    I didn't realize Hastings was a French name, mister picknitter.....
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Thirqual, 23 Jun 2006 @ 4:03pm

French google earth
I'm french and must say the IGN (National Geographic Institute) project is years old in fact. They begin with data about roads, altitude and waterbodies, but the aim was also to provide paying services to other institutions, for example about the exact place and dimension of every building in a city (wihch is usally kept on huge maps called "cadastre").

Another difference with googlearth is the source of the data. There it would be the aerial shoots taken, for a much higher resolution, if they do their jobs right, and with a refreshing of 20% of the surface every year.
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- Dan, 24 Jun 2006 @ 11:02am
  
  Re: French google earth
  Good info... now it makes sense. Now, if only they could get the info on Google earth it would make even more sense.
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Dave, 23 Jun 2006 @ 4:12pm

It's the french!
The French are so insecure about everything! Sheesh, maybe if you guys won a war once you would stop freaking out of over everything. They should just embrace it like the rest of the world has done. No need to spend tax-payers money on building something that is already built.
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- french guy, 26 Jun 2006 @ 5:02am
  
  Re: It's the french!
  yope, won a war. something like.... oh yeah, helped US be independent. oh and actualy owed 3/4th of africa before letting it go. well... can also count peace ops in africa... and lost vietnam (eventhough at the time wasn't called nam).
  
  OK, kidding, the real reason is that if it is of use to everybody, then it should be available to everybody, not just through a privat copr that will serve its own interests and not those of society and its individuals. economic / industrial / corporate imperialism is still something france fitghts against, based on the idea that a country is made for the people that live in it, not for the companies that make money in it.
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Whateva, 23 Jun 2006 @ 4:26pm

It's because...
...they have small penises. Poor French women.
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- steph, 23 Jun 2006 @ 9:09pm
  
  Re: It's because...
  actually, french women are among the most satisfied in the world. dumbass.
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- Anonymous Coward, 24 Jun 2006 @ 8:26am
  
  Re: It's because...
  its so true. also the reason they cant win any wars
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- Taylor, 25 Jun 2006 @ 2:36am
  
  Re: It's because...
  Yeah, our superior capitalistic system provides for great industry, so why not use it? lol.
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- MiniDevil, 25 Jun 2006 @ 5:58pm
  
  Re: It's because...
  lmao
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DV Henkel-Wallace, 23 Jun 2006 @ 5:14pm

And this is different how?
The US government stopped buying Lenovo PCs when they became a "chinese" (whatever that means) company -- though the factory and design centers were the same as when they were owned by IBM. Any concern the USG might have had is no different from the concern a French government might have. Both cases are dumb, I think...except that the French government is correct in that there isn't any significant European competition, so is trying to be it. Which is consistent with a whole other group of French government decisions not reported in the US.
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- Erstazi, 23 Jun 2006 @ 5:51pm
  
  Re: And this is different how?
  I agree with DV Henkel-Wallace. Europe doesn't have a "real" competitor. Competition drives the free market.
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- common sense, 23 Jun 2006 @ 6:05pm
  
  Re: And this is different how?
  Of course they stopped buying Lenovo PCs. How would you like US tax dollars going towards Chinese GDP? It's a simple matter of economics. I don't see how the french government wasting valuable resources to provide the same resource is in anyway equivalent to the US/Lenovo matter.
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  - DV Henkel-Wallace, 24 Jun 2006 @ 2:08pm
    
    Re: Re: And this is different how?
    Of course they stopped buying Lenovo PCs. How would you like US tax dollars going towards Chinese GDP? It's a simple matter of economics. I don't see how the french government wasting valuable resources to provide the same resource is in anyway equivalent to the US/Lenovo matter.
    Hey commonsense, actually the money was going to the Chinese GDP either way since all the factories and even much of the design work were already in China when the stuff was sold under the IBM brand. In fact the corporation Lenovo purchased those assets from IBM and gave IBM a huge chunk of equity....and moved the Lenovo HQ to New York! These days Lenovo probably has proportionately as many US shareholders as IBM! Any risk of Chinese government involvement is unchanged by this transaction -- the CG could have influenced the plant just as easily beforehand. As they could with any other PC (HP, Dell, Apple, Gateway etc) all of which are made in China too.
    
    The real reason for the USG to refuse Lenovo as a supplier was as a cheap shot. Oh, and use tax dollars to reduce the competitive pressure on some other corporations. Is that any different from what the French government is doing?
    
    By the way, if you can read French, read the newspapers or talk to some French people. I think you'd find people there feel more scorn for their government than Americans do. Hell, given that the US has 6x the population of France, I would be there are more pro-French-government people in the USA (in absolute terms) than there are in France!
    
    (But it's true that most French people think France is better than the USA....and really, should that be a surprise?)
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I, for one, 23 Jun 2006 @ 5:54pm

Don't knock the French (too much)
Well, I'm not French so I really don't really know what I'm talking about, but they seem to have a good track record on doing state initiatives that really work. Ever hear of mini-tel? Tim B Lee and Al Gore were still taking college classes when they had that one working, it wasn't exactly an "internet" but talk about foresight..

From what I can make out they're not the crazy socialist lefties they're painted as here and over the pond, just bureaucratic and into centralisation. Damn thing is, it works. Go to France and take a TGV train, they run on time to the second. They're also fierecly independent. Which is sort of a good thing because they don't like to rely on other countries and are actually rather more "secure" than "insecure". They were in the first three nuclear nations with bomb along with USA and us. They started their own space program with Arianne, now usurped into ESA. And you know, the irony is that we could learn a lot from the French as British and American people, when they don't like what their government is doing they kick off, bigtime, and get what they want because they're politically savvy and active. Their wines are the best in the world. French food is amazing. And their countryside is beautiful. But, wtf, I'm English, so I fart in your general direction garlic munching, cheese eating surrender monkeys;)

Seriously though Mr Henkel-Wallace of #5 has it, they are really being rather sensible implementing a backup plan, it's not as if they are mandating this and there's no choice.
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- Chris Miller, 23 Jun 2006 @ 6:34pm
  
  Re: Don't knock the French (too much)
  OK, I won't kick them too hard. But don't forget about some of the wine in other places around the world. The Aussies have great wine and so do us yanks in California. If you think the french have the best you have not sampled other places recently. Even Chili's wine is damn good.
  
  The french are very clever, but their resentment towrd the US and British go back to when the pretended to help the US fight the brits. They really wanted to shame the brits because the brits had shamed them so many times. Then they were going to turn their guns on the US. Of course that never happened.
  
  I just don't bother with them anymore unless I absolutely have to.
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  - I, for one, 23 Jun 2006 @ 7:34pm
    
    Re: Re: Don't knock the French (too much)
    I have to disagree on the Australian, unless you have a recommendation, personally I wouldn't cook with it. But yes, your stuff is top drawer, Mondavi, Zinfandel(sp?) is very refreshing indeed and goes for $15 a bottle over here and worth every penny.
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    - demonsun, 25 Jun 2006 @ 1:50pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Don't knock the French (too much)
      Just read some wine magazines, Australia wines are some of the best in the world, and a good one is grange, by penfolds.
      
      And god am I sick and tired of hearing endless rants why french wines are the best in the world. For chrissakes people, there are excellent wines all over the world, tere is no need to restrict yourself based on your own narrow knowledge. I suggest you seek out a good mine store and attend some taskings.
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  - Erik, 24 Jun 2006 @ 4:10am
    
    Re: Re: Don't knock the French (too much)
    Sorry Chris but that is just ignorant. There are good wines from other places, that's for sure, but the French actually happen to have the best of the best in almost every category. Now, if you want to discuss best value for your dollars, French wine usually isn't it.
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- Joey, 24 Jun 2006 @ 9:27am
  
  Re: Don't knock the French (too much)
  The politically savvy comment sort of got to me. While im not one for French bashing (though it is pretty easy), their political environment is very out of whack at least to my eyes. The French (youth mainly but they have some older instigators) protest all the time and expect the government to instantly cave to their demands (which they have done repeatedly so why wouldnt the protestors think it will work?). On any given weekend car burnings and rioting are regular events. They have over 10% without jobs (is it near 12% by now?) because of both very high minimum wages and very cushy unemployment benefits. In my humble opinion they need drastic overhauls politically and economically but they have little to no chance of going through because of these "polically savvy" activists who are almost just resistent to the notion of change. Im not saying the US doesn't have its issues, but even in NYC its still a relatively rare thing to come outside and find your car overturned and set ablaze.
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  - taylor, 25 Jun 2006 @ 2:48am
    
    Re: Re: Don't knock the French (too much)
    Yeah, well, with minimum wage around $5.50 for most states in the U.S., it's mighty hard to survive, espeically if you have a family. The welfare system just doensn't provide enough either. Housing prices have gone up drastically, espeically in U.S. suburban areas, but minimum wage has hardly risen.
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    - tychism, 25 Jun 2006 @ 7:39am
      
      Wages and housing--
      Did you happen to take a look at the minimum wages in the states where this growth is most prevelent? Oregon or California for example? Value is determined by the price someone will pay, not necessarily actual worth.
      
      Also, just because a minimum wage is set forth does not mean you have to settle for it. Hence minimum. Throw some ambition in there, you may be suprised.
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- taylor, 25 Jun 2006 @ 2:38am
  
  Re: Don't knock the French (too much)
  lmfao!!!!
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Chris Miller, 23 Jun 2006 @ 6:17pm

French Resentment
The reality is that the french just cannot accept the fact that they are has beens. I don't know who the next superpower will be (probably china) but it won't be the french. They are a complete joke the way they resent America for being the number one exporter of culture. I once saw an interview on BBC where someone asked a French Universy Prof. why the English language was gaining so much more popularity then the french language. She said it was because English was a crude and simplistic language that any uneducated and intellectually lazy third wourld person can understand. This backward thinking is exactly why they are wathing the world pass them by.
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- Anonymous Coward, 24 Jun 2006 @ 10:31pm
  
  Re: French Resentment
  Its comments like that that promote the stereotype that the French are a bunch of snooty bastards...
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- DataChaucer, 25 Jun 2006 @ 4:36am
  
  Re: French Resentment
  "They are a complete joke the way they resent America for being the number one exporter of culture"
  now don't make me laugh too hard... BigMac instant gratification for obese idiots, if that is the superior culture, then Bush is a Saint.
  Ha, I am amazed that the average American even knows where France is... somewhere sort of East of Berlin??
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mrG, 23 Jun 2006 @ 6:52pm

why do the french hate monopolies?
Well, y'know, it's a long story why the French are highly suspicious of big money aristocrats making glowing promises of fairness to all. This is not to say the current stewards of Google are in any way less than impeccable, nor that they won't ever be as the corporation outlives the founders and moves through the politics of big money aristocratic life. It's just that, well, they been burned, bad, and that makes them a tad touchy on the subject of who owns the engines of power.

It's remarkable that you don't already know this, but just as a refresher in key moments in unamerican history, you might want to try this Wikipedia page and move on from there.

Besides, I thought Americans were all about consumer choice and unfettered alternatives and let the free markets decide ...
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Cleetus, 23 Jun 2006 @ 7:30pm

The revolting french
Because they are tiny brained wipers of other people's bottoms! Come back and I will taunt you some more!
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- Anonymous Coward, 24 Jun 2006 @ 10:35pm
  
  Re: The revolting french
  "Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries..."
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Frink, 23 Jun 2006 @ 10:16pm

If they keep trying sooner or later they just might win a battle against someone. This could be the time - Google isn't shooting at them yet.
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Ooo la la, 23 Jun 2006 @ 10:18pm

A glaring omission
The French women are the most satisfied in the world because they derive their satisfaction from...
other women.
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- Anonymous Coward, 24 Jun 2006 @ 10:51pm
  
  Re: A glaring omission
  Salut!
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Dr John, 23 Jun 2006 @ 10:30pm

Ah! Yes! The French
Where is the "Big Asparagus" when you need him?
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Jean Thibaudeau, 24 Jun 2006 @ 12:30am

NIH
I lived in France for a year and I can say that this country is heavily plagued by the NIH syndrome. Not Invented Here. Everything that's not French is bullshit for them, so they have to reinvent to the wheel all the time.

http://collaborativemarketing.blogspot.com/
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Gugume, 24 Jun 2006 @ 3:10am

Eventhough this service really seems like google earth's one, and it's sponsored by the state, offers extra stuff:

the website is the visible part of the iceberg.

The whole projects includes features like :
Extra detailled maps
Public information services :show where road work will take place, real time information on traffic jam, things like this. ( Infectious warnings, radioactivity warning zone ....) basically anything you can do with a map. and that is why it's state financed... because it's of public utility!

So for now, the sat map service is a, i agree, a copy of google earth and is state sponsored, so bouhh,
but when we'll have the whole stuff online, google earth will still have its eyes in order to cry because a corporate shouldn't be publishing these informations, it's the role of a state.

A french who has worked on that projet.
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- Lady Me, 25 Jun 2006 @ 11:33am
  
  Re: France's Google
  Sounds like most of the comments are "Bash the French". I agree with #19. This system will be much more than just a Google Earth. I don't see the short sided Americans doing anything like the French are undertaking. The U.S. is to busy bashing. Just remember who has the A380 and who built the Concord and yes the min-tel was way ahead of the internet by some10 years.
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yat cat, 24 Jun 2006 @ 4:28am

Like Google knows best?
Why would the French trust google to manage cultural content? Why let google control information? I don't trust google to remain non-partisan, and neither should the French, and neither should you.
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- Just me, 24 Jun 2006 @ 10:19am
  
  Re: Like Google knows best?
  To some extent, I agree with the comment made about not trusting Google, or any search engine for that matter.
  
  However, one has to admit that there is little that can be done at this point in time to really compete with a company such as Google.
  
  In other words, MS has been trying to gain some of the market share for a while now and it is quite obvious that they have failed in achieving anything.
  
  Now that is a company that has been in this business even before Google came on the scene, and let's not forget Yahoo's efforts as well.
  
  The point I am trying to make here is very simple...and that is, whoever made the decision to spend French people's money to compete with Google is simply an idiot.
  
  There are other ways to ensure that they get what they want out of google if try and make a deal with them....like the deal China made with Google, MSN, Yahoo...etc.
  
  That would be a cheaper solution and they would be able to get best value for money from people who have done it already...and not rely on some French companies that have a lot to prove when it comes to producing software...as i don't personally know any that has produced something of value.
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- heidekonijn, 24 Jun 2006 @ 10:43am
  
  Re: Like Google knows best?
  Fully agree there, why would anybody in Europe trust anything coming out of the US? Especially in the light of the Echolon project, the latest news about SWIFT and everything that happened in between. The only reason France has to do this themselves is that Europe at its most devided in centuries.
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le charles potato, 24 Jun 2006 @ 7:57am

the problem with france....
well actually our clueless village idiot said it best.. the problem with the french is that they have no word for ' entrepreneur'
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le charles potato, 24 Jun 2006 @ 9:26am

surrender? i think not
it strikes me that the french get precious little respect for their prowess...a few months ago when their young people rioted in the streets over their new labor laws...they did not surrender to anyone.. no.. wait.. they repealed the law... i suppose that is surrendering....ignore this e mail.
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- Mugwump, 24 Jun 2006 @ 2:33pm
  
  Re: surrender? i think not
  Mr Potatoe you must be ill informed the rioters werent complaining against a law It was the high school and college students demonstrating against the law a few months later. But since most french backed those demonstration they indeed win their battle against the government
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Mike, 24 Jun 2006 @ 10:41am

France
France is a socialist government, elected by its people. It is the job of the socialist government to substitute big corporations with..well big government. By imposing the benevolent hand of big government where the free market reigns, then you can avoid corruption. That's the theory anyways. This is what the French people wanted, so there is no sense in criticizing the government.

Whether any of this "works" is of course subject of another debate.
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PPN, 24 Jun 2006 @ 11:15am

I've been living in France for 15 years, so I suppose I know a bit about France...

Joey> Sorry but I just can't agree with you. You can't say minimum wage is too high : it's about 1200€/month. Add taxes and all stuff like that, and it won't remain much... Now try to figure out that most young people gain 40% to 80% of this because they're on training courses or anything that "precarious" (let's not mention cases where they're aren't even paid at all), and you'll realize you're plainly wrong.
Same about "On any given weekend car burnings and rioting are regular events". Riots happening early this year doesn't mean it happens everyday...

Chris Miller> "She said it was because English was a crude and simplistic language that any uneducated and intellectually lazy third wourld person can understand."
It's awfully said, and you probably exaggerated it a bit, but in some ways she's right. I think she didn't mean to say "English-speaking people are dumb" but more or less "English is simple and so easy to learn". I speak Vietnamese, French, English and I'm learning German, and I can say that English was A LOT easier to learn : it has the simplest grammar, and you don't need to know many words to talk with people. That's it.
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- Tyshaun, 24 Jun 2006 @ 11:49am
  
  Re:
  It's awfully said, and you probably exaggerated it a bit, but in some ways she's right. I think she didn't mean to say "English-speaking people are dumb" but more or less "English is simple and so easy to learn". I speak Vietnamese, French, English and I'm learning German, and I can say that English was A LOT easier to learn : it has the simplest grammar, and you don't need to know many words to talk with people. That's it.
  
  That's the first time I've ever heard that from a person that knows more than 2 languages. Most people believe English is one of the most difficult to learn because it is a hybrid of slavik and romance languages. I "know" 4 languages and I would say that if English wasnt my first language I don't know how I would have mastered the grammatical rules. It is true that because of modern slang and the ubiquity of the language that a little knowledge of english goes a long way, it doesn't take away from the fact that the language itself has very irregular and inconsistent rules.
  
  As per the french, my question to all of my fellow americans is what would you do if everything related to computers came from overseas? Microsoft, google, and all the other "icons" of the modern computer age were based overseas. Don't you think there would be some type of national movememt to make our own inhouse versions of those products? As much as we as Americans like to think of the internet as international, the rest of the world is probably pretty frustrated that too much control of it lies in the US. From ICANN to ANSI almost all of the major groups shaping the internet and computing are either based in the US or heavily influenced by us. If I were from another country, I would see it as an issues of national pride to at least TRY to make some home grown stuff.
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- demonsun, 25 Jun 2006 @ 2:07pm
  
  Re:
  English has the simplest grammar? It may have simple basic structures, but it can be layered up into incredible comlexity, which is one thing many people who learn it struggle with. In comparison the romance languages have very similar grammar, which for someone who is used to creating structure in english, makes it fairly difficult to learn the romance languages.
  
  And unlike french, spanish, etc. English has on average about 5-10 times as large a vocabulary as almost any other language. english may fairly easy to learn, and use in basic situations, but it is fairly difficult to learn if you are seeking to be able to have mastery of it,.
  
  And it is my belief that there are almost no languages with the sheer versatiliy of the english language. Just compare shakespeare with tim berners lee , and compare them wit Pres. Bush. You can alter it and create,a and write for almost anyubody..
  
  PS, I am a Linguistics Minor at Univ.of Buffalo 2nd year
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  - demonsun, 25 Jun 2006 @ 2:09pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Forgot to add, I also speak Japanese, and Spanish, and I am also attempting to learn Scottish Gaelic
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matt, 24 Jun 2006 @ 11:44am

just let them
just let them!

competition is good for the consumer, even if it's like mixing the olympics with special olympics.

techdirt guy has a stick up his ass sometimes.

le sigh...
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Mugwump, 24 Jun 2006 @ 2:37pm

Well Linux and Mirc come from overseas they come from Finland :D
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Panic, 24 Jun 2006 @ 3:53pm

GW Bush
Why do I always have to be the fact checker...

Claim: President George W. Bush proclaimed, "The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur."

Status: False.

Origins: Yet another
French fried "George W. Bush is dumb" story has been taken up by those who like their caricatures drawn in stark, bold lines. According to scuttlebutt that emerged in the British press in July 2002, President Bush, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, and France's President Jacques Chirac were discussing economics and, in particular, the decline of the French economy. "The problem with the French," Bush afterwards confided in Blair, "is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur."

The source was Shirley Williams, also known as the Baroness Williams of Crosby, who claimed "my good friend Tony Blair" had recently regaled her with this anecdote in Brighton.

Lloyd Grove of The Washington Post was unable to reach Baroness Williams to gain her confirmation of the tale, but he did receive a call from Alastair Campbell, Blair's director of communications and strategy. "I can tell you that the prime minister never heard George Bush say that, and he certainly never told Shirley Williams that President Bush did say it," Campbell told The Post. "If she put this in a speech, it must have been a joke."

Before slamming the president, at least be certain that what you're slamming him for is real.
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- Anonymous Coward, 24 Jun 2006 @ 10:42pm
  
  Re: GW Bush
  When you depend on the Media or the Web, as an average person anyway, unless you can afford a forensic investigation to check the trail of "evidence", given how often crap is repeated you tend to take things as factual. Why would someone send a lie out to millions of readers? Because we're all just a flickering light on the edge of insanity, thats why...
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mantis108, 24 Jun 2006 @ 4:12pm

French trains run on time? HA!!
One comment I thought was hilarious above:

> Go to France and take a TGV train, they run on time to the second.

I just got back from my 5th trip to France, this time it was for a month, and we took trains the entire time we were there. At one point the train 40 mins after our train arrived BEFORE our train and when a French woman saw our family consternation about whether it was the right train to get on or not she said "nope, it's the next train.. don't worry though, that's just French trains in action!"

So much for the accurate French train theory. As generally depressed and miserable as they are, I do have an affinity for, and understanding of, the French. And if you've had the bad French experience (e.g. Parisien snobbery, indifference, or disgust), I highly recommend you go to the countryside or a place like Aix-en-Provence where the people are downright friendly and charming.. I'm willing to bet it will turn your opinion around.
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PJ Brunet, 24 Jun 2006 @ 9:51pm

Paul Cezanne, Marcel Duchamp. Nuff said.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Jun 2006 @ 10:28pm

Two words....IT'S FRANCE. I'm still surprised they allowed Disneyland and the Channel Tunnel, fer chrissakes...
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Jack Burse, 25 Jun 2006 @ 12:28am

Please travel guys!!
Please try to spend at least couple of months in a country to understand a minimum of its culture before trying to judge it! I wish I knew how many people above travelled ouside they own state!
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Grant, 25 Jun 2006 @ 1:24am

Ha ha..!
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PPN, 25 Jun 2006 @ 3:12am

Tyshaun> If it was only from my own experience, I wouldn't said English is easier, but I also have cousins from Germany who thinks so : they learned English in a few months and now speaks an almost-fluent English. When they tried to learn French... Well it wasn't as easy. After 1-2 years of studying, they could barely throw a correct sentence...

But I think the main difference isn't only about French being more complicated than English (that's my point of view, I may be wrong on this one), but also the fact that French people seldom speak the French that you learn from books or dictionnary. They use what they call "Argot", and the big problem is that it's very different of "correct French". This issue was pretty obvious when I first came in France and couldn't speak French. As I learned it from teacher and spoke with friend I found out that many words didn't have the same meaning at all. I mean who can guess at first that "se barrer" (literally, to strike oneself) and "se casser" (to break oneself, don't ask me what it could possibly mean in English :)) both mean in Argot "to go away" ?
I suppose English people do the same (what you call "modern slang"), but the guesswork in French is definitely harder.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Jun 2006 @ 7:03am

french people need to worry about the riots in the streets more then google.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Jun 2006 @ 8:56am

Im not supprized the averavge Britt doesn't know what a fucking dentist is! :)
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Cutter892, 25 Jun 2006 @ 9:04am

Internet
Honestly the reason why the US has some much say on the internet is the simple fact that we developed it and implemented it. The internet started off as a US military project call ARPA Net. It was then turned over to US colleges for further developement. If another country developed this or something similar before the US that country would have the biggest say in what happens.

Google on the other hand does not control information they are a pure search engine, all they do is send out trackers to find the most relevent information for your search, and give search relavent adds.
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Ternicole, 25 Jun 2006 @ 9:57am

French "Google"
Who cares if they want to build their own super search engine, is cyberspace shinking so there is not enough room for it? So what if the government is paying for it....does that mean that the French have to use it? This is the dumbest arguement ever...and really has nothing to do with the wine or political situation there. So they want a big seach engine that is French...so what?
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Matthew, 25 Jun 2006 @ 10:33am

Unreachable
According to a Yahoo article, the site is www.geoportail.fr. But I cannot access that site. That doesn't look too good.

In France's defense, Google Earth's coverage of France is not all that great. There are no buildings, and the eiffel tower is pretty sad looking.

However, for the French to create their own portal, rather than contributing to a world project, shows me the contempt they have for the rest of the planet.

With the Tour de France coming up, some high detail and topographical variety of the area will be a big seller.
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Ben Reichl, 25 Jun 2006 @ 8:53pm

The French
That country is so screwed up anyway that this who google incident doesn't change anything. The last battle that the French government won was when Napoleon was in charge so they need something to feel good about.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Jun 2006 @ 10:31pm

what I want to know is why you cant see ANY people in Google earth.
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sebsauvage, 26 Jun 2006 @ 1:35am

They're not copying Google
It's not gimmicking Google Earth.
The IGN website only covers french territory, and has a resolution far superior to Google's.

The move for a french search engine was admitedely stupid given the fact that Google.fr does a remarkable job of indexing french content.

Document scanning is another subject: They do not want to mimic Google here, but make the french book heritage numerically available.
The "Bibliothèque de France" and the "INA" are digitizing all their document for future generation.

Why always relate all french internet moves to Google ?
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sebsauvage, 26 Jun 2006 @ 1:39am

Another remark:
Pew !

So many anti-french racism here.
You love to live with clichés, don't you ?

It's sad - really.

Yes, I'm french.
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- Learn some english, 26 Jun 2006 @ 12:57pm
  
  Re: Another remark:
  Its not racism froggy, its bigotry. You may want to pick up an english dictionary.
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PPN, 26 Jun 2006 @ 2:26am

demonsun> "english may fairly easy to learn, and use in basic situations, but it is fairly difficult to learn if you are seeking to be able to have mastery of it"

That's what i tried to mean in #51. Of course, talking about literature and having mastery of it, any language is difficult.

"And it is my belief that there are almost no languages with the sheer versatiliy of the english language."

Then you don't know the "greatness" of Vietnamese which is one of the few languages in the world without official grammar :).

P.S. : I'm 18, and I'm not studying linguistics at all :p
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KTV, 26 Jun 2006 @ 8:04am

Google earth = several meters per pixel for the most detailed area and much less than that in others.

IGN = half a meter per pixel for the whole french teritory

Enough said.

K.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Jun 2006 @ 10:02am

So many anti-french racism here.

If it were Canada, we'd all be asking them about igloos and out-houses. Kind of like you guys with the Belgians.
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MelvinSchlubman, 26 Jun 2006 @ 12:35pm

Credit where it's deserved.
"don't forget about some of the wine in other places around the world. ..."

Though not disputing the quality of French wine, I don't put much stock in accomplishments that depend, in large measure, on accident of birth. In this case, physical geography. If you believe the book "Guns, Germs, and Steel" (Jared Diamon), humans are reliably good at taking advantage of the opportunities that their land/plants/animals/location give them. I'm not impressed with the people simply because they live over vast oil fields. Further, I expect them to get good at extracting it. It would be a surprise if they didn't, just as it would be if the French and Northern Californian's *weren't* good at making wine.
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MelvinSchlubman, 26 Jun 2006 @ 12:58pm

Better examples of French accomplishments
"Just remember who has the A380 and who built the Concord and yes the min-tel was way ahead of the internet by some 10 years."

You can find better examples of French accomplishments than this. Airbus is generally leap-frogging with Boeing, not clearly superior, the A380 is delayed (last I heard). The Concord was cool, but an economic corner case that they finally, mercifully, pulled the plug on. Long ago when I heard about min-tel I thought it was neat; but what are they doing now -- an us-only derivative of Google Earth.
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Tomgr, 17 Aug 2006 @ 3:44am

USA uber alles
Now let me see if I got it right.
We all have to speak english, buy only american products, close universities, hitech companies, stop thinking unles its in english and profits an american company.
Am I mising something here?
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