back to article Google's comic capers: what they really meant to say

Google publicised its new browser Chrome with a 38-page comic book. It's a gift to satirists, and already, our inboxes are buzzing with slightly less saintly interpretations. Here's a selection. Naturally, the altruistic nature of the operation gets a bit of a bashing: As does the, er, "end to end" nature of the …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So what part....

    ...of non-derivative is so hard to understand?

    I appreciate the satire as much as the next man, but when something is published under a (semi) open licence it should be respected... that said this *is* funny - there is a copyright allowance for satire right? :)

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Scroogle and...

    Scroogle, CustomizeGoogle and GoogleWatch.org

  3. Pete Spicer

    At AC...

    @AC: Where did it say the comic was under a 'non-derivative license'?

    And yes, despite the fact that it was copyrighted the moment it was drawn, there are provisions for satire/parody under most copyright laws, so I think these are within the bounds of the law (but IANAL)

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    satire

    i beleive satire counts as fair use :)

  5. Daniel

    Fair Use

    "I appreciate the satire as much as the next man, but when something is published under a (semi) open licence it should be respected... that said this *is* funny - there is a copyright allowance for satire right? :)"

    No, anything which attempts to reduce our Fair Use/Fair Dealing rights should most certainly NOT be respected. And yes, at least under Fair Use, satire is allowed, so feel free. :)

  6. Andraž Levstik

    @Anonymous Coward

    It's called fair use... no matter what copyright and how restrictive fair use would cover this...

  7. David Harris
    Happy

    Very funny

    Haha. It's even more funny when you realise the truth behind it. It really does'nt bother me, I use Google as much as they use me, I probably use them more.

    Btw, disable the feedback box in Chrome. What a great browser.

    David

  8. Darkwolf

    Satire, go right ahead

    Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell

    Basically laid down the rules for when it comes to doing satire.

    In essence, there are no rules.

    I only read it for the articles, I swear.

  9. dervheid
    Thumb Up

    "Excellent"

    Type your comment here — plain text only, no HTML

  10. Alastair
    Unhappy

    Meh

    Guys/girls, go out and have a little more fun, eh? It's just sad to think that you spent your whole evening doing this.

    I mean, I'm all for a critical, objective assessment of the tech industry, but you're starting to get a little obsessive. And it would have been frankly funnier if you'd just written "boobies" all over the cartoons.

  11. Pete James

    Just look at the future Chris!

    Somehow I don't think the first poster quite understands satire......

  12. Max

    So where do I mail my brilliant comic to...?

    To which email address should I send my comedy genius?

    Your 'Mail to this author' form lacks an attachment.

    /Max

  13. pastamasta
    Unhappy

    A little consideration, please

    AC - next time you feel the need to put the name of a website such as Scroogle into your posts, please consider the wellbeing of those who do not know what the content of that site is, and who might therefore (out of pure curiosity) visit it from their office computers.I realise that I'm probably the only person on teh Internets who didn't know what Scroogle is, but there you go. I believe "NSFW" is the correct term, yes?

  14. Filippo Silver badge

    Re: So what part...

    I don't know if it's a worldwide thing, but in my country copyright laws have specific exemptions for the right of satire.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Queer eye for the straight Google guys

    All joking aside, apart from the sh*tload of rendering and other bugs* in it....

    They need an Ive's figure in Google. Look at Android, angular edges, no animation to give hints, etc. Now we get googles browser, and it's all hard edges and instant heavy highlights, or *linear* expands. Design by engineer.

    They need some gay guys with a sense of aesthetics come in and give their products a makeover. Actually *a* guy, design by committee doesn't work.

    Example: Click new tab, the tab expands right in a linear fashion. Good, it tells you where the tab came from and where your 'new tab' button will be moved to. But it takes too long and is not natural movement.

    IMHO, it should accelerate, decelerate and overshoot, springing back a little. Like a spring catch that's been released. More like a natural real world thing people can relate to better (also because it can be speeded up then, the more natural it is, the faster you can do it without it being confusing).

    E.g. they made the site URL black and the rest of the URL grey, but now the type face is large and whispy as a result and needs more leading. When I type the pop down menu shows bold and green and all of these are must stronger than the whispy grey text I'm typing, drawing my eye away down from what I'm typing.

    Lots of good engineering features here (like combining the URL and site warning into one), but needs a bit more design aesthetics to it.

    Straight bugs:

    * I am behind a proxy, I connect to any site, it asks me for the proxy login, I type it in and click ok (no button to save it), it then asks me if I want to save the passport for the site 'dilbert' - confuses the proxy password with the site password, it's trying to save the proxy password as the password for dilbert.com

    * It can't cope with the .JPGs, many don't show at all, or come up as broken. They come from Photoshop and are handled by every other browser.

    * tables and sizeless graphics seem to throw it... doesn't seem to know how to resize once it finds out the graphics, so graphics come up cropped.

    * Like the resizeable edit fields.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fair Use doctrine...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use#Fair_use_and_parody

    IANAL, but surely even closed copyright work is still fair game for parody, so CC licensed is fair game for fair use surely...

    Could be (and probably am) wrong!

  17. Jess
    Thumb Up

    At least I could read this without javascript.

    I wasn't going to mess about to read the original.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    using chrome

    Hold on while I just re-size this textbox to make it the size I want.. Wheeeee!

  19. Stephen Gray
    Joke

    @ pastamasta

    What Googlised version of Scroogle did you see? Its very work safe infact its an ad-free Google search proxy, there were no tits as far as I could see.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fair use... not in the UK

    We don't have a fair use law in the UK.

  21. David S

    @Stephen Gray

    scroogle.com is extremely NSFW, as it happens. I fell for the same trick that Pastamasta fell for; it might help if people referred to scroogle.org instead of just scroogle.

    Fortunately for me I work from home, so the chances of my boss spotting my mistake are minimal. My wife and kids, on the other hand... Erk...

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Queer eye for the straight Google guys

    Actually its nice clean look is about the only good thing about it, I hate all this fancy crap that wastes resources.

  23. j
    Thumb Up

    @David Harris

    "Btw, disable the feedback box in Chrome. What a great browser."

    Isn't it?! I'm no google fanboy (i updated to firefox 3 yesterday and started having problems so decided to try chrome), but I've found it really great. Wonderful clean intuitive interface, no bugs (yet), love the task manager.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I should just point out

    That being on the internet makes it available worldwide, more than just US law needs to be taken into account.

    For example citing a fair use law in the UK will get you laughed at.

  25. pastamasta
    Unhappy

    @Stephen Gray, David S

    Ah, so that was my mistake. Yes, scroogle.com is indeed liberally plastered with tits and other miscellaneous lady parts. I am awaiting the smite-happy wrath of the corporate IT admins as we speak. On the plus side, I believe I may have set a new world record for Fastest Closure of Browser Window.

  26. Jerome
    Unhappy

    Adblock

    Why does Chrome add so many new ads that aren't there when I use Firefox? Oh, that's right, Firefox has Adblock. When will Chrome get an ad blocker? When hell freezes over. Shame, other than that it's really nice.

  27. Andy Hards
    Paris Hilton

    I gave up on the original

    so a condensed one was much appreciated.

    Paris cos no one else has yet.

  28. Joe K
    Alert

    OY, Reg!

    Speaking of photoshopping, whatever happened to the Old Fogies Road Sign compo from the 21st?

  29. GremlinUK

    firebug

    The only downside to Chrome is the lack of a firebug equivalent. the V8 javascript debugger is soooo 1980's.

    Otherwise, lookin' good to me. And as for the Anonymous Coward posting: 'Queer eye for the straight Google guys ' ... what a load of bollocks.

  30. Bad Max

    @adblocker

    I run Windoze so I use Proxomitron (but it's no longer supported).

    www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Popup-Ad-Spyware-Blockers/Proxomitron.shtml

    Or try Privoxy

    http://www.privoxy.org/

  31. StopthePropaganda

    "How many lawyer jokes are there? None-they're all true"

    so for these wonderful parodies..are they truly parodies? Or is this like the Court Fool, telling the truth as it really is, and disguising it as a funny hat with bells...

  32. JeffyPooh

    I dunno. Is...

    Fair Use (US) ~=~ Fair Dealing (UK) ??

  33. Charles Manning
    Flame

    @Anonymous Faggot

    Just because Stephen Fry loves Apple does not mean you need to be bent to enjoy good design.

    Jon Ive, the Apple design GOD, is married with kids. SUre, they might be photoshopped in but I don't think so.

    I love good design and I'm as straight as a fence post. I also enjoy Stephen Fry too, but not That Way.

  34. petebog
    Go

    @Adblock lovers

    What's wrong with a good ol' fashioned hosts file?

    http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.zip

  35. elliott bledsoe

    cc and copyright exceptions

    creative commons doesn't stop your ability to use a work under any exception to copyright in your home jurisdiction. Read Clause 2 on any cc licence:

    "2. Fair Dealing Rights. Nothing in this License is intended to reduce, limit, or restrict any uses free from copyright or rights arising from limitations or exceptions that are provided for in connection with the copyright protection under copyright law or other applicable laws."

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    UK Fair Use

    http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p09_fair_use

    I'm not sure, but if the Copyright Service of the UK state it.... maybe we DO have a Fair Use in the UK.

    And failing that, the work is copyrighted in the US, where they definitely DO have a fair use doctrine.

    "Sometime's it's better to shut up and let people think you're an idiot, than to speak up and remove all doubt!"

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