1. ...it offered some measure of personalization, without necessarily becoming a 'portal' site. In effect, a personalized google start page where at a glance, one could quickly access all of their desired google-tools like gmail, search, news, image search, groups, froogle, blogger, and, of course - zeitgeist.

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Meaux

2. ... let's face it, full-text retrieval and Google's algorithm for weighting results will only take retrieval so far. What is needed is to encourage the adding of more standardized metadata to files. Dublin Core is a nice starting point for simple metadata that can be broadly mapped to more complex metadata (if that is what you are starting with). But the objective is to start getting some broadly used structured metadata that can be searched and sorted more effectively. Some of the work with OAI is intriguing. But I would like to see something like a "vCite" standard where links carry metadata records with them (I am always distressed by how poor the bookmark management is). And RSS needs more structured metadata as well. Even the use of the top 1000 Dewey classes would allow for better broad based organization of resources - without precluding any more specific categorization that a person or organization might want to do... metadata and Google... a topic that needs a broader discussion that pushes beyond the limits and silliness of HTML META tagging...

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Terry Kuny

3. i really do like google but every time a web page is not available anymore, i have to manually copy&paste the url to the wayback machine to see what used to be there. anoying. apart from that i am a big fan of google. It is an extension of my brain, every time i think of something i google it and find interesting stuff which triggers me to improve my original idea etc. This was not possible before google/internet.

and yes i would like a gmail account please :)

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Michael van Eeden

4. Google would be perfect if it could look deeper into the repositories that lie beneath the surface of the Web, although those password-protected sites would get in the way. Google would also be great if it could respond to natural language more accurately, and the responses could be context sensitive. And a Furl-type filing cabinet would be nice, integrated with a blog/wiki page. And why not throw a Web-based IM engine?

Can I have a Gmail account now? :-)

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by david

5. I suppose this will echo Meaux's comments in some way.

Given what Google has done for email, it would be a natural step for them to allow me to use some of my 1 Gbyte storage space as an image repository for my digital images, creating photo albums to share with my friends.

What I'd really like, though, is a "virtual homepage", something I could create for me. I may not want a cluttered page like MSN, but I might like a page that I could organize, with weather in the upper left, say, an indicator that I have unread email, etc. But I want it configurable--I want to decide what elements the page shows.

Plus, I'd a blog-only Google search, and an integrated Google RSS tool to allow me to read them. I haven't quite jumped on the RSS bandwagon yet, and I bet Google could exert some influence there.

Also, may I have a Gmail account, please? :)

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by J.A.

6. I love google calculator, the links to the definitions of words, etc, but it would be cool if you could look up other tidbits of information.

What if you could type in "bible:mark 1:1" or even "mark 1:1" and display the verse? Or, what if you could type in "events:yankees" and see a mini-calendar with all of their games for the next month?

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Kyle Maxwell

7.

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Kyle Maxwell

8. If Google offered a way to search my local disks and the Internet at the same time and display a joint set of results, ranked by accesebility and relevance. This might at some future time include searching portable drives, such as portable music and video devices or PDAs that are connected wirelessly. The bottom line is that as information as everyone, Google needs to adapt. Perfection means meeting this challange.

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Michael Adler

9. if yahoo and msn didn't copy them...
http://worcester.typepad.com/pc4media/2004/07/id_like_someone.html

seriously, though, annotation/bookmarking of pages by visitors and storing my previously searches, marking my previous searches.. and allowing me to share all that info.

basically, combine del.icio.us and eurekster functionality with google's special sauce(s).

i don't need a gmail acct.

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Peter Caputa

10. If there was a way to return hits from both google groups and the web on the same result screen. This would be especially helpful when looking for help with software, since it seems more info about those types of topics are more easily found in groups but not necessarily so.

Also I wish the newsgroups were updated more than every 6 hours. (although that probably helps me get more work done during the day)

I would like a gmail invite if they are still available.

JP

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Jeff W

11. MoreGoogle is a free (no cost, no spyware) add-on for IE that adds site preview thumbnails, links to archive.org, an "open in new window" button, and more.

http://www.moregoogle.com/

A.

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Andreas Pizsa

12. When providing answers to questions made by real people there cannot be a ‘prefect’ answer. As long as there are many views, and people are allowed to think and publish what they want, any question will have many answers.

Thus, there cannot be a perfect Google, just a statistical approximation of ‘good’.

Unless, John Ashcroft was president.

In which case, in due time, there will be only one perfect way to think… ;-)

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by John Ashcroft

13. Google would be perfect if...
it also displayed links to hits by category at the top of the results
This is best illustrated by the following link [yes, occasionally I stray from Google :) ]
http://www.wisenut.com/search/query.dll?q=rss&p=0


Google would be perfect if...
it offerd a preview feature of a result.
[this technology only works in an IE based browser]
Once again this is best illustrated by a couple of examples
[click either on "preview " or "Sneak-a-Peak"]
http://vivisimo.com/search?query=social+software+news&v%3Asources=MSN%2CNetscape%2CLycos%2CLooksmart%2COverture&x=45&y=9

http://www.wisenut.com/search/query.dll?q=social+software+news&tp=0&ct=-1
[This is now less important to me as I use a tabbed browser.]


[NB: Google still is my primary search engine]

Google would be perfect if...
it offered ''official" rss feeds to its news pages.


Google would be perfect if...
it came up with an online rss service to "enliven" matters like it did with email.
[difficult to think of anything more perfect than www.bloglines.com though].



I am a little late on the buzzer here on Maui, but I would love a Gmail account, please :)

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Alexander R Barwick

14. Google would be perfect if...

i have one 1337z0r@gmail...

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Aletaka

15. I don't think GMail places enough emphasis on deleting mail. It's great that you have a gig space to keep mail, but lets face it, most mail you receive can safely be deleted.

To do that in GMail you have to drop down a combo and select the appropriate entry (which is not in the same place depending on wether you're in list view or message view).

I want a delete button!

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Mike Krus

16. ... if there would be the posibility to use a personal spam filter (-ebay etc in the search field).

Gmail-account would be great :)

greetings

Philipp

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Philipp Lohberg

17. If google can bind its users. Orkut and Gmail is in the right direction to bind its users.

We may still remember the battle between IE and Netscape. It didn't take too much trouble for Microsoft to win this battle.

Now, if Microsoft rollout its search engine and bind it together with OS or IE, Google will face great challenge.

Search is Google's core service , and everything else is based on and serving for it. By adding social networking and Gmail(BTW, Gmail can help to establish social network), Google can better know its users, provide personalized search (portal), and most importantly, it will be much more difficult for its competitors to seize Google's existing users.

_______________________________________________________
I need a Gmail account if it is still available. Thanx

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Ryan Yu

18.
(1) if it allowed you to search it as a manual. I use google to find code samples, explanations on tricky things, and "how do I do X in program Y" kind of things.

(2) if it could update it's time-sensitive links. With the search above I find myself going to online discussion groups and/or forums. These pages get updated so often that the page no longer has the article i'm looking for.

(3) if it would search through local menus. When we order out or decide where to eat, I would love to say "menu: *zipcode* chicken wings" and have it return restaurants and delivery places that have chicken wings

(4) recipe searching. I tend to find leftovers in my fridge. Can I be able to add different ingredients and have it return recipes that I could use? "recipe: chicken lettuce mayo" could return the receipe so I don't have to click on the page to see if it's what I need?

Some of this functionality may exist in their "advanced searches" but it's complicated to find it. (http://www.google.com/help/operators.html) I'm not going to try to decifer that.

I don't know if this is possible but adding a "refine search" type results. I usually do three or four searches to refine my search terms before I would spend time to look at the pages. Can it respond with a variation on the number of keywords and recommendations on narrowing the results

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by AK

19. if it could do currency exchange rates.

[already have a gmail account thanks]

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Adrian

20. Much debate has taken place over the so-called "targeted ads" that gmail serves to users. Privacy blah blah blah...Gmail would be great if it incorporated message authentication and encryption features.

There is so much to say about securing communication and yet the average user doesn't think twice about it. Gmail would be perfecting if they provided methods to encrypt/decrypt and sign email (and attachments!). The idea...

I am not so sure about allowing Google to generate your keys for you unless they provide an applet for local generation, but there are more than enough free programs available to do this (see http://www.pgp.com and http://www.gnupg.org). Gmail would provide methods for encryption and decryption, which could be an applet for download, if necessary. Google would provide keyservers to manage Gmail user's public keys and automatically verify signatures. Encryption could be simple enough...when you are sending an email to someone who has a public key available, you can simply select to encrypt the message. Gmail might offer two methods: (1) client side encryption which requires the downloading of the recipient's key(s) and (2) server side encryption for when you might not want or have the ability to perform local encrytion. I am assuming that if I am encrypting a message to someone I am more than likely do that often, therefore Gmail could provide an easy means to storing the keys on a local keyring. Naturally Gmail could also update the local keyring as needed. Decryption is not that difficult either. If the message is encrypted, prompt the user informing him/her of that fact and allow for them to select a key to decrypt with. Gmail could be configured to automatically find the key, etc.

By now everyone gets the idea. A free email account that offers methods of secure communication. They would be pioneering security to the masses. One might say, "But then I can't check my email anywhere!" If google does it right, the only thing you would have to do is carry around your secret keys on a USB Drive or Flash stick or something. Besides, most people have a computer that they will be using 99% of the time...

On a less positive note, I do not have a Gmail account, so this comment has come from reading the google provided documentation and other's comments. A Gmail account would be greatly appreciated. I would love to play around with it, as would a billion other people. So I the odds are against me.

Posted at 8:03PM on Dec 18th 2005 by Zach Crisler