Google Sidewiki Under Fire from Reframe It
Today I posted this piece about Web annotation startup Reframe It, which believes Google's Sidewiki looks and feels a little too much like its own Web annotation service. Reframe It's leadership knows seeing is the key to believing, so they cobbled together these side-by-side screenshots comparing their Reframe It technology with Sidewiki. I encourage you to read the story on eWEEK, and then check out these pictures to judge for yourself whether the startup has a legitimate gripe. One IP lawyer seemed to think so. Update: Reframe It added captions to each screenshot to underscore the similarities between the two applications. Some of you said you couldn't clearly see the comparisons, do I Docstocced the file: So, what do you think? Coincidence or too close for comfort? Based on these pics alone, I expect Reframe It to slap Google with some sort of copyright lawsuit if the two can't come to some sort of agreement. Google is pretty unapologetic thus far -- it's response was pretty much an eff you to Reframe It, as you can see from my piece (hint, hint). While the similarities on the hood of both apps are hard to ignore, Google would likely argue that the ranking technology under its hood is where the real differences lie. In any case, pairing a Web annotation service with the leading search engine puts Google at the head of the Web annotation long tail, of which Reframe It, Diigo, JotSpot and others are a part. Google has the opportunity to carry or crush this long tail. I think Reframe It is feeling crushed right now. |
Comments (9)
Clint,
Thank you kindly for sharing your thoughts and for letting your readers decide if Side Wiki looked to Reframe It as an example to follow when they entered the market. We're flattered by the similarities to our pre-existing product from 2008. We're exhilarated by the challenge presented by Google to work even harder, and we expect our forthcoming release of our technology to knock the socks off of anything in the space.
Bobby Fishkin
CEO of reframeit.com
Posted by Bobby Fishkin | November 6, 2009 1:03 PM
RIDICULOUS! Seriously, I don't know where you draw the line on what's similar and what's not. Aside from Sidewiki and Reframe It perhaps having similarities lets look at multitudes of other things that have smililarities. OMG, eWeek's Google Watch commenting system looks like other commenting systems. What about email? They all look similar with similar format. Search engines look similar. What about productivity software layouts? What about message boards? Mapping services? Hey they all look similar. So what it boils down to and what makes services stand out given that their fundamental similar starting point is the differentiation factor that being what they do with it, the mechanisms behind it, the functional tweaks, the data base of content information build from it, the scalability behind it, the relevance of it.
Posted by jojo | November 6, 2009 2:45 PM
This is definitely too close for comfort! Yet, while Re-Frame It (www.reframeit.com) has been around since 2002 (their URL creation date), who has heard of them until now? I'm just curious as to how many people are utilizing ReFrame It? Perhaps they can become OUR GURUS on utilizing Side Wiki or Reframe It for the benefit of businesses and organizations... I'm interested in others' thoughts.
P.S. If I'd heard about ReFrameIt in passing, I'd probably have dismissed it thinking it involved "frames" which I'd NOT want on my sites.
Cathy Dunham
Web Marketing/SEO Analyst at kkominc.com
Posted by Cathy Dunham | November 6, 2009 2:56 PM
Annotea (from 2001) seems to do the same thing as Sidewiki and ReframeIt.
Posted by Andrew | November 8, 2009 7:13 PM
Hey, wanna know who else coppied your product? MICROSOFT! Ten years ago on that IE browser! Go sue those atemporal bastards!
Posted by Shadow | November 9, 2009 7:55 AM
Is there any reason the pictures aren't linked to the original screen shot or at least a picture that's larger? Not everyone uses a lower resolution anymore that makes those really that readable. For example, the one picture it looks like the arrows are pointing to some block loooking thing, but because you can't even really read the text in the picture or see the smaller details I'm not sure. Could you possible link to more useful pictures?
Also, in some of those pictures, similar is used very loosely. For example, the comment sharing on Google's looks like the standard format of "sharing" found on any website anymore, but really doesn't look anything like the Reframe it.
Posted by Ron | November 9, 2009 8:19 AM
Ron:
I Docstocced the pics. How's it look?
Posted by Clint Boulton
| November 9, 2009 10:28 AM
Please use normal pictures that we can click on and view in full size. This frame doc thing is slow to load, annoying to use and really I still can't see both side by side in a big enough resolution to give an opinion...
Posted by Laurent | November 9, 2009 5:41 PM
Laurent:
It seems I can't win. I originally had screenshots, but people complained they were too small, so I posted them with DocStoc so people could see the full size.
Posted by Clint Boulton
| November 9, 2009 6:20 PM