A second-level domain redirects to Google.com instead of returning a 404, and everyone goes mad; yup, it’s Friday alright.
Let’s lay the groundwork first: calendar.google.com has numerous sources agog yesterday. Want to see why? Click here. Hmm. Perhaps you’ve seen that before.
Could it mean something? This is what happened before Google Talk went live; talk.google.com started returning the Google homepage instead of bringing the Internet to a screeching halt.
There are a few options to consider. Since it’s Friday, we’ll make this our Google Game for the week. First, for computer users, an electronic calendar allows people to schedule things like pot luck lunches, birthday parties, vacations, and the occasional meeting; this method lets people ensure that the person they want to bring lasagna for lunch isn’t stuck in a community service meeting that would give them an excuse not to bring it.
Now that Google has space all wrapped up with their NASA agreement, it makes sense they would go after time next. The mystery of the Google calendar might be an easy one to solve.
We know Mozilla created a for-profit foundation over the summer. We also know Google pays the Foundation money in exchange for making Google the default search in Firefox, just as they do in Opera.
The for-profit aspect seemed a bit odd. How could they make money selling the Firefox browser? I guessed in August that what Mozilla really wanted to monetize was the Calendar Project.
Perhaps this is it. Google Calendar will be Mozilla’s Calendar Project, except it will be a Web-based hosted application running on Google’s servers and tied nicely into Gmail and Google Talk. Mozilla would really become for-profit then.
The guess in August was that Mozilla had a calendar to sell. The guess in September is Mozilla now has a buyer. And calendar.google.com will soon return something different than the Google home page.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
