Google pulls Mac OS X tribute
March 17, 2005
Google has pulled a page that re-presents Google’s products in the form of the Mac OS X dock.
The release was announced by Software Engineer Chikai Ohazama on the Google Blog in Google goes X:
Today is an amazing day: A small idea - a fun late-night coding jaunt to help me learn Javascript & DHTML - has just launched on Google Labs. I never expected it to make it as far as it has when I wrote it a month ago, especially since my “real” job is working on Keyhole, where I’m having the time of my life taking our cool 3D mapping application and putting the power of Google behind it. It’s fulfilling to have the opportunity to reach the audience we always dreamed of when we started Keyhole five years ago, and that by itself is absolute coolness.
And now there’s Google X, which came about because I wanted a quick fun way to access all of Google’s services. I gave it to a few friends in the company, who gave it to their friends, some posted it on their blogs, others sent it around on mailing lists, and it eventually made its way to Marissa Mayer, who liked it enough to say, when do you want to put it up on Labs? So after some spit and polish from some enthusiastic Googlers and the keen eye of the UI team, Google X is here. I hope all of you enjoy it - especially Mac users, who I’m sure will appreciate its lineage.
The entry pointed to the URL http://labs.google.com/googlex/, and was announced by media groups such as ZDnet and Threadwatch.
However, only a short time after the announcement, the page was replaced with a custom error message different to Google’s usual:
The requested URL was not found on this server.
There is speculation that, despite passing approval from Marissa Meyer, Google’s Product Development manager, that Apple may have contacted Google and indicated compelling legal reasons for it’s removal.
According to CNet:
Apple has sought patent protection for the “Genie Effect” used in the Dock.
…
Apple and Google have a licensing deal for search. Google provides a resident search box in Apple’s Safari Web browser.
If so, it could be yet another embarrassment for the company, which is already suffering from a poor search product, webmaster outrage over Autolink, and allegations that the company was caught cloaking.
So far, the single best public record of the Google X attempt is at Elliotback, where not only is there an image of the Google X project in use, but also the original DHTML source code.
EDIT: You can view Google X in action here:
http://googlex.foxified.info/