Google+ triggered an online identity crisis. Here’s how I’d been managing my online identity since leaving Yahoo. joseph.by is the domain I use for all of my personal stuff (tumblr and personal email) josephby at joseph.by is the email address I use for my personal identity, including email and calendaring with Google Apps josephby at everbird.com is my work identity, used for company email and other work logins josephby at gmail.

It’s incredibly difficult to create a product that both delights customers and generates revenue. As a result, the usual way to build a digital media business is to first create something that users love and then, months or years later, find a way to really monetize it. Youtube followed this model for years. It now looks like Google is serious about making money from Youtube. And just in time. As audience and time spent continues to shift from TV to the web advertisers are looking for scalable but innovative channels through which to reach consumers.

Today’s Wall Street Journal includes a great article on the cold war between Google and Microsoft (subscription required). The author looks at why Microsoft is launching a free, online-only version of Office, and why Google is responding in part by launching its own OS. He believes that “neither Google nor Microsoft really have an interest in challenging each other’s core franchises if it means risk to their own. Their posturing is primarily defensive—fear of loss is greater than hope of gain.