Polling Search Engines

[Mark Wieder]

Stephen-

Thursday, November 24, 2005, 7:08:48 AM, you wrote:

> If your app is really that useful, why don't you make the API ID 
> customizable so the user can obtain his/her own id?? Perhaps 
> streamline or explain the application process for the user. Google 
> happy, you happy, client happy.

> This will defer any harm to you. And it might be hard for one person
> to use 1000/queries/day.

Well, here's an example of why that won't work (aside from the
complication of making users of an app apply for their own developer
id from Google):

Let's say I'd like to use Google's translation services on a chat
server. The server makes a call to Google's api and returns the
translated string, then passes the string back to the user. Whose
developer id gets used? Do I have the client app pass a developer id
to the server, which then passes it to Google, or is it the server's
id that gets passed to Google? The server itself could easily reach
1000 queries a day.

The api id is supposed to be for developers, not for end users.
Imagine if you had to register with Google to use their search page.
Or apply for an id in order to read runrev's web site.

-- 
-Mark Wieder
 mwieder at ahsoftware.net