Google Buys Blogger

Google has agreed to acquire Pyra Labs, developer of Blogger software and Blogspot, home to a million bloggers:

Word of the deal spread after Pyra Labs Chief Executive Evan Williams confirmed on his personal Weblog that his team of six developers would join Google.

In typical blog fashion, the news spread first on Saturday from San Jose Mercury technology columnist Dan Gillmor’s eJournal diary to other blog sites. Then in a statement on Monday, Google spokesman David Krane said his company had recently acquired Pyra Labs.

Weblogs, or “blogs” for short, are a form of grass-roots online diary publishing that give ordinary people with limited technical knowledge the ability to update personal Web sites. A blog consists of short, frequently updated postings that are arranged chronologically, highlighting the latest material.

For Google, which has become a household name for searching the Web, the move marks the privately held company’s latest push beyond search and into publishing. Last fall, it launched Google News. Two years ago Google acquired Deja.com’s Usenet, a massive archive of Web-based discussion groups.

“Blogs are a global self-publishing phenomenon that connect Internet users with dynamic, diverse points of view while also enabling comment and participation,” the Google spokesman said. “Blogger users can expect to see no immediate changes to the service,” said Krane, who added that Google will disclose additional details of its Blogger plans in upcoming weeks. [Reuters]

Blogger may now be run like a real company and not the chipper fantasy world of arrogant little shits. I am sad to hear that “users can expect to see no immediate changes to the service,” since it would be nice if the links worked now and then, the sites loaded faster than snails on barbituates, and “customer service” was more than just another word for nothing left to lose. We all thank Blogger for opening up the door, but we resent the hell out of them for slamming it in our faces repeatedly.