Google-YouTube Pull Ahead in Race for Online Video Search
Google收購YouTube稱霸影片搜尋市場
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Google’s recent purchase of YouTube, the video clip-sharing site, for US$1.65 billion in stock, has put them far ahead in the race to control video search. And most experts believe that search popularity is set to move from text to video in the near future, as soon as technology catches up. Google makes it clear that it seeks to dominate both ?elds, text and video.
Google 近來以十六億五千萬美元股票收購影音分享網站 YouTube 一事，使得Google 能在這場主導影片搜尋領域的競賽中大幅領先。而多數專家相信，只要科技迎頭趕上，在不久的將來搜尋熱潮將由文字轉向影片。Google 也清楚表明該公司亟欲稱霸文字與影片搜尋領域的企圖心。
 
YouTube features over 100 million daily video views with 65,000 new videos uploaded daily and 72 million visitors each month. Google plans to make these videos easily searchable. Just how that will be accomplished is yet unknown. You can search text, but how could you know what description was given to any particular clip? Charlene Li, who writes about technology developments in media and marketing at the research ?rm Forrester, says, “Video search simply doesn’t work,” at least not with current computer capabilities.
YouTube 號稱每天有超過一億部的影片可供瀏覽、每天上傳的新影片則有六萬五千支，而每月到站的瀏覽人數達七千兩百萬人次。Google 計畫讓這些影片便於搜尋，但要如何達成仍是未知數。你可以進行文字搜尋，但如何能知道某項文字敘述切合某支特定影片？於 Forrester 研究機構撰寫媒體與行銷科技發展的李夏琳表示：「影片搜尋根本行不通」，至少就目前的電腦功能而言還做不到。
 
As for copyright lawsuits, both Google and YouTube have signed deals with powerful media companies to protect themselves, but many speculate6 it may be impossible for even Google to control viewers’ postings on YouTube.
至於版權訴訟方面，Google 和 YouTube 都已和富影響力的媒體公司簽定合約以求自保。但許多人猜測或許連 Google 都不可能做到對網友在 YouTube 網站所發表的影片進行控管。
 
Yahoo! and Microsoft have both announced plans to build or upgrade their own video-sharing businesses. But these rivals may be missing the big picture. Google does not get value from YouTube’s technology; it gets it from the website’s name and their audience. The chief advantage of this acquisition, though, just might be the inconvenience it generates for Google’s competitors, Yahoo! and Microsoft.
雅虎和微軟都已宣布計畫推出影片分享業務，或將此項業務予以升級。但對手或許錯估了整體情勢。Google 的價值並非因為 YouTube 的科技而獲得提升，而是來自該網站的知名度與用戶。然而，此項收購的主要優勢或許是讓 Google 的競爭者雅虎和微軟陷入困境。