Tuesday, 21 March 2006 10:40 am
It's finally happened
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deckardcanineAsk Jeeves has officially become Ask.com. Brevity may be the soul of wit, but it is often the soul of mundanity as well.
It seems a tad silly that this bothers me so much. I've never actually asked Jeeves anything, and some of the grinning butler's ads annoyed me. Nevertheless, I see this as part of a widespread negative trend toward facelessness, oversimplicity, and blurring the lines of trademarks. It's hard to believe that the firm will benefit from this. Now instead of using a cute verb phrase like "asking Jeeves," people have to use the unfriendly "going to Ask.com."
As it happens, the first Ask.com banner ad I saw highlighted "PITCURES." It took me too many seconds to realize they meant pictures. So the company has more problems than I thought.
It seems a tad silly that this bothers me so much. I've never actually asked Jeeves anything, and some of the grinning butler's ads annoyed me. Nevertheless, I see this as part of a widespread negative trend toward facelessness, oversimplicity, and blurring the lines of trademarks. It's hard to believe that the firm will benefit from this. Now instead of using a cute verb phrase like "asking Jeeves," people have to use the unfriendly "going to Ask.com."
As it happens, the first Ask.com banner ad I saw highlighted "PITCURES." It took me too many seconds to realize they meant pictures. So the company has more problems than I thought.
