Online, some things are freer than others
Victor Keegan The Guardian Thursday August 30 2007 The 1920s hit song The Best Things in Life are Free revolved around the fact that the moon, the stars and "sunbeams that shine" are yours and mine. They don't cost anything, yet give pleasure to everyone. This example of heavenly altruism entered the internet world last week when Google extended its wonderful Google Earth service towards the rest of the universe. Using Google Sky, we can now probe the moon, stars and planets like Mars at no cost (apart from broadband charges). The availability of such free services is one of the wonders of the web. But as in real life, it turns out that in an internet economy some things are freer than others. Google Sky brings virtual space exploration to a much wider audience. But as Simon Bisson points out, astronomical applications have been a profitable niche for a large number of companies, and sophisticated sky explorers (remember Redshift?) have been developed over a number of yea