Friday, January 30, 2009

Google Measurement Labs?

Google has introduced yet another service, called Google Measurement Labs, designed to test your connection speed and provide various types of information about your last-mile chokepoints.

I have read Google's own announcement about this as well as several blogs that try to explain it, and honestly, I still can't fathom the true motivation(s) behind it or why the heck anyone outside of academia (or perhaps the NSA) would even care. Obviously, Google has an interest in last-mile problems (the Internet is its lifeblood), but offering this set of diagnostics to the general public gives the impression that Google is very proudly answering a question nobody asked.

I don't get it.