Greasemonkey Stole Your Job (and Your Business Model)
I spent some time tonight playing around with Greasemonkey, and it pretty much blew my mind. What is it? Well, basically it is a platform for running scripts that inject new functionality into web interfaces. If you’re a UI designer, this might frighten you. What it means is that any kid with a bright idea and a knack for DHTML can create a new interface for your site, and it will probably be better than yours. (There’s a lot of bright kids out there in the world.) Why should you get paid when the bright kids will do your job better for free?
The key to survival will be going meta: design for the bright kids. Create a flexible, modular set of APIs and a well-documented example UI or two that shows how they are used. Learn from Amazon and release your grip on the end-user experience.
But developments like Greasemonkey disrupt more than just job descriptions: they disrupt business models too. For example, I will never see a Google AdSense ad again, thanks to a handy Greasemonkey script.
Will browser customizations like this play TiVo to to Google and Yahoo’s advertiser-supported businesses? Will Google and Yahoo respond like the entertainment industry did? Or will they beat the bright kids at their own game? Some predictions: some future version of a Google or Yahoo toolbar will re-inject any of their advertising that has been removed; uninstalling the toolbar will result in the loss of valuable functionality without which users of their services will be considerably impoverished; meanwhile the APIs for these services will grow ever more closely guarded.
February 18th, 2005 at 3:53 am
wow! I need to try that out. It’s so meta. From the content side it’s also interesting to imagine being able to publish something wherever you want it to be seen. Or being able to let your fans browse things you hate/love with real-time commentary instead of or in addition to coming to your own site. Speaking of new tech, have you tried Bubbler yet? (bubbler) It’s got a great cross platform client and what appears to be a whole new approach to web publishing, started by Glenn Reid who (from site) was Director of Engineering, Consumer Applications at Apple Computer, where he created iMovie and iPhoto. I’m eager to hear what you think about them. White Paper (PDF) here
February 18th, 2005 at 10:24 am
There is a useful script directory here:
http://69.90.152.144/collab/GreaseMonkeyUserScripts
Disclosure: that’s my server. ;)
February 18th, 2005 at 12:27 pm
Eli, you’re right on–what is really interesting is to extend the concept of Greasemonkey to rich media: an ideological filter for “balancing” Fox News, courtesy of the writers and programmers at the Daily Show, or a component for injecting narrative complexity into reality TV. Computational media is some weird shit.
Bubbler looks cool, definitely will check it out.
Jeremy, thanks for the link to your wiki. Some sweet scripts there.
February 18th, 2005 at 3:24 pm
Come to think of it, the three guys from Small Design I mention in this post had built a real-time video and CC text processing engine that could make the text and image do some insane 3D beat synced things. They used it during the presidential debates. It would be just a matter or specifying the system, but for a live event you could hook up RSS feeds of specific bloggers doing real-time commentary (especially if you check out Bubbler’s Reporter feature which is like IM to blog- so sweet) and use then RSS feeds + video + CC text to have full on visual meta dialogue over the debate between completely decentralized people on screen locally. This event could be recorded as metadata and decisions and organized for contextual delivery back out to related websites. It’s almost like a new sort of node on a new sort of TV network. Seriously- live event party time DJ + prolific bloggers = full on TV newsroom studio that uses web for distribution of light-weight video and mostly contextual motion graphics and text. Blah blah blah blah blah… Sheesh there’s a lot that could be done!
February 21st, 2005 at 2:04 pm
I thought Google already was injecting content….
February 21st, 2005 at 4:30 pm
Grease Monkey
A very nice article by Ryan Shaw on Greasemonkey. It may do for the web what Tivo is doing for TV: restructure the ad-based…
February 21st, 2005 at 7:56 pm
web graffiti and greasemonkey
I had recently been thinking about the need for “web graffiti” - ways to either enhance or deface (depending on your perspective) various web sites… whether changing visual design elements, logos, appropriately replacing targeted pieces of text, re…
February 28th, 2005 at 2:49 pm
Encoding, decoding, and… monkeys?
What is it with monkeys and the web anyhow?
Lot of talk lately about Greasemonkey, which is essentially a filtering proxy server integrated into a Firefox extension. It lets users share scripts that will alter websites via pattern matching, typical…
March 6th, 2005 at 4:35 am
Greasemonkey
Here’s a directory of scripts. For Safari users, check out PithHelmet Machete scripts. My favorite example so far is Simon Willison’s msdn-platinfo.
March 7th, 2005 at 8:54 am
Grasemonkey is cool, but not exciting as this has been possible for ages. Check out Ad Muncher for instance, which allows this sort of functionality across any browser on your PC.
March 7th, 2005 at 9:11 am
Ken, Greasemonkey and browser extensions like it go far beyond filtering proxies like Ad Muncher or Proximotron. They can change behavior of web applications, not just the content of more-or-less static documents. I suppose this is possible with filtering proxies in principle, but in practice changing the behavior of a complex DHTML application being delivered to the browser is very difficult without access to a JavaScript interpreter and all the other browser APIs.
March 7th, 2005 at 12:48 pm
“I will never see a Google AdSense ad again, thanks to a handy Greasemonkey script.”
Dude, is it not odd that you make this comment while your “recent” lists are basically Amazon ads?
March 7th, 2005 at 1:10 pm
Ed, I don’t see the connection. I don’t sell advertising space on my blog, and I’m not condemning those who do–I was simply pointing out that I can easily choose not to see them. As for the links to Amazon in my recent listening and recent reading lists, I’m more interested in advertising the artists and authors than Amazon–it just happens that Amazon is usually the best source for more information on media products. If something is not in the Amazon catalog, I provide a Google “I’m Feeling Lucky” link instead, in the hopes that interested readers will be able to find the artist or author’s site. I include my affiliate tag in the Amazon links so I can see if anyone is buying the stuff I promote (for what it’s worth, no one ever does).
March 8th, 2005 at 9:43 am
Finally set up a domain name on the wiki.
It’s http://dunck.us/collab/GreaseMonkeyUserScripts now.
March 27th, 2005 at 2:38 pm
Fix broken webs with greasemonkey
Yes, [http://holovaty.com/blog/archive/2004/07/19/2210 Allmusic also]. I’m glad to hear about [http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org/ Greasemonkey extension] for [http://www.getfirefox.com firefox] that let’s the user install not only CSS but full DHTML scr…
April 1st, 2005 at 11:42 am
People are making an awful big ‘to do’ about Greasemonkey and what it can do and is being used for. As well they should. But what I’m talking about are the “Doom and Gloom” and “negative” comments and predictions and such. Let’s face it, no matter how popular Greasemonkey gets, at BEST, maybe 10% to 25% of Firefox users will use it. MAYBE 50%, but probably not. And only a (small) percentage of those will, for example, use the “get rid of Google ads” script(s). (I won’t be doing that, for one) So, for Google, or Yahoo, or anyone else, to “freak out” and throw a lot of money at “fixing the problem” is a waste of time, money and resources. Can’t we all just get along? ;o)
April 28th, 2005 at 11:37 am
I agree, you are right on that there are going to be some business models obsoleted from this new idea of Ajax. All greasemonkey is to me is a convenient way to be able to use Ajax techniques. I have no idea why people get so wrapped up in idea that greasemonkey being the new solution, it is just a great way of easily showcasing all these new possibilities for UI design. This link is interesting with regards to business models being flattened. http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/001257.html
April 28th, 2005 at 1:51 pm
I completely agree here. You may wanna refer to this thought as well… expanding on your idea.
http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/001257.html
May 4th, 2005 at 12:10 pm
Here’s the link to a much improved Gmail Smart-Delete Button Script written by Paul Moriak:
Gmail_Smart-Delete_Button
It enables/disables itself, and works with all applicable Gmail pages, labels & mail items (unlike it’s predecessor). Excellent script!
May 17th, 2005 at 8:46 am
no chance anything is going to be obsoleted from such a tiny user base. I think 25% of Firefox users is being very generous. So what’s that come out to be, maybe 2-5% (depends on who you ask) of those on the web. Nobody will be shaking in their boots over this.
May 17th, 2005 at 10:52 am
I would like to think that we will sometimes view web sites as the author intended, and sometimes, when the color scheme is particularly awful, like on this web site, we’ll have the ability to change things around.
The ctrl+ ctrl- to re-size fonts in Firefox being a most excellent example. :)
Different people have different preferences. Adsense is inoffensive, I have never bothered to try blocking it. Though they have recently accounced that they will do animations … and even Flash sometimes … I may eventually change my mind, and if I do, it is good to know that the zapper is available.
Cheers,
-danny
May 22nd, 2005 at 1:43 am
Ad Muncher allows the addition of CSS and JS to be inserted into webpages.
http://www.admuncher.com/B-4.7.16446.exe
Works for any browser, and is definately not a proxy.
May 23rd, 2005 at 2:51 pm
CLiki Grease
Since Greasemonkey is so cool and is revolutionizing the web (get in line), I figured I should play with it. Also I thought it would help me to know a little Javascript when the Dashboard, Ajax and Greasemonkey people…
May 24th, 2005 at 6:59 am
This kind of “user-script” technology has been around for years in various forms. Greasemonkey just makes it more accessible. Even in it’s growing popularity though, I don’t think it will “disrupt a business model”…unless your business model involves chucking advertising at web developers. ;) The amount of Greasemonkey script users will always be infinitesimally small in comparison to the cloud of ignorance that is the AOL using, general web-surfing, ad-clicking population.
PS - If you’re looking at houses via Realtor.com, a friend and I have written a script that places a link below the address to view location in Google Maps. It’s unofficially title Greased Realtor.
May 31st, 2005 at 9:10 pm
Finally.. the power of proxomitron INSIDE firefox! :)