GoogleTube

John Harris has an alternative view of the Google acquisition of YouTube.

Thus far, there seem to about sixty, most full of fear that their beloved virtual community is about to be turned into a drab corporate hell-hole, and as the US wakes up, the volume of anti-Google agit-prop will surely skyrocket. Looking once again at Google's own video site, you can only sympathise: its front page offers the obligatory home-made clips, but its "featured" section rather tediously flags up The Cartoon Network, a new Oasis DVD and Sky Sports' coverage of the Ryder Cup. There is also the dull sound of cynical commerce: charges for video "downloads", when - doh! - the whole point of streaming technology is that no download is required.