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Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet

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Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet

#341

Post by blisterpeanuts »

sjg007 wrote: post #317
seppel wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal prediction is that Sundar will be to Google what Ballmer was to Microsoft: He will make tons of money but will drive Google into a corner where it will be disrespected by, well, hackers (That is, people who are interested in technically open solutions, configurability, fitness of unplanned purposes, etc). But is it refreshing that Microsoft now is going back into an opposite direction.

Yeah you could say they are close to jumping the shark... it remains to be seen what former Google employees do next. If Google continues to dump money into salaries and stock then they might not have much to worry about. Personal assistants, knowledge graph, Alexa/Siri/"Ok Google" are definitely the future. Apple seems to be winning in the car but Alexa is winning at home.

Interestingly, for my family's n=1 case, we have Alexa and Google Home Mini sitting side by side and Google usually has better answers. Maybe Alexa as a standalone device has more market share, but Google has the advantage of bundling "OK Google" into every Android phone.

Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet

#342

Post by nostrademons »

shadowgovt wrote: post #89
rosybox wrote: post #7

Alphabet and Google being a separate company makes even less sense now.

It's a line-item hack, the way that Hollywood studios structure films to be separate sub-corporations with their own fixed budgets. So if a film crew, say, accidentally blows up a small town somehow, there's a firewall between the assets that were dedicated to making that one film and the entirety of, for example, Sony Pictures net worth and capital. I'm not sure that firewall is well-tested in American law, but it's…

Also allows the other Alphabet companies to have independent investors who may not want to invest in "Google" itself. Niantic is the prototype for this: it's success with Pokemon Go couldn't have happened without the partnership with, and investment by, Nintendo. It's doubtful that Nintendo would've wanted to invest directly in Google, though, and Niantic's $3B in lifetime revenue would be rounding error for Google as a whole but is still a very substantial return on Nintendo's $30M investment.

Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet

#343

Post by meowface »

hanse00 wrote: post #330
kyrra wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About "don't be evil": It's still very much in there. From: https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct/ > And remember… don’t be evil, and if you see something that you think isn’t right – speak up! The problem was that it was moved from near the top to being near the bottom (though it's own paragraph). Sadly there were lots of very inaccurate headlines like this: > Google Removes 'Don't Be Evil' Clause Fr…

It's there on paper, but is is really still there?

Was it ever really there for the entire time period between the founding and when it was moved to a lower part of the page?

Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet

#344

Post by [deleted] »

claudeganon wrote: post #190

Seems like “interesting“ timing given that the Alphabet board just recently stated they’re investigating the handling of sexual misconduct by executives: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/technology/google-sexual-... And relatedly: > Charlie Ayers: Sergey’s the Google playboy. He was known for getting his fingers caught in the cookie jar with employees that worked for the company in the masseuse room. He got around.…

[deleted]

Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet

#345

Post by TaupeRanger »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #108

Weirdly this feels like a non-issue. Google has not felt like it has a "personality" for some time - maybe it's a function of hitting mega-corporate size, but it also feels a bit like when Microsoft (a Computer on every Desktop) essentially achieved its goal, it then spent a decade in "goalless and soulless exploitation" mode - something that one suspects is the next step for the worlds largest personality-free platf…

What makes you think they're retiring to sit on their asses all day and "spend their billions"? Maybe they have new and interesting things to do.

Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet

#346

Post by quotemstr »

ditonal wrote: post #160
ardit33 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are misreading it, I am not judging Sergei and Larry negatively.... What I am saying is that their decision makes total sense, and there is no reason to chide on them on 'why they are not dealing with the employe' problems, but quitting' as the OP did. Really, this is just a: Peace out guys, we are moving on... And there is nothing wrong with it, as google is not really dealing with an existential threat…

I judge them pretty negatively. People like Bezos, Jobs, or even Gates never really spent so much time building this PR image of being for the greater good, holier-than-though, "making the world a better place." Everyone knows "don't be evil", but how about their recruiting catch phrase "do cool things that matter." Even the "not a conventional company" tag line is relevant here. Hypocrites just irk me more than peop…

Reasonable people differ on all these projects. It's not "abundantly clear" at all. What you feel strongly about might be another's subtle trafeoff. You don't get to decide which disagreements you'll allow and which you'll prohibit. That's the privilege of the people who own the company. The main problem with Google over the past few years is this idea among a small but vocal group of employees that they have the right to run the company merely because they feel strongly about certain issues.

Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet

#347

Post by sjg007 »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #341
sjg007 wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah you could say they are close to jumping the shark... it remains to be seen what former Google employees do next. If Google continues to dump money into salaries and stock then they might not have much to worry about. Personal assistants, knowledge graph, Alexa/Siri/"Ok Google" are definitely the future. Apple seems to be winning in the car but Alexa is winning at home.

Interestingly, for my family's n=1 case, we have Alexa and Google Home Mini sitting side by side and Google usually has better answers. Maybe Alexa as a standalone device has more market share, but Google has the advantage of bundling "OK Google" into every Android phone.

I don’t have a google mini so I can’t compare specifically apart from the iOS app.

Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet

#348

Post by hnick »

yardie wrote: post #224
hangonhn wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Gates is not alone. Buffet and Ellison have both pledged the vast majority of their wealth to the Gates Foundation. Somewhat unique to the US, our billionaires tends to be fairly philanthropic.

Also unique to the US. We have one of the highest infant mortality rates of any developed country. And our average life expectancy is one of the lowest for a developed country [0]. We could a lot less philanthropic billionaires and more economic policies that don't treat everyone as disposable cogs. [0] http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/life-expectancy-b...

As an outsider looking in, many in the US seem to value charity over taxation. I can see why, though personally I'd rather send my money to those who (presumably, and hopefully) have a broad enough view of society to know where it is really needed.

Re: Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet

#349

Post by hanse00 »

meowface wrote: post #343
hanse00 wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's there on paper, but is is really still there?

Was it ever really there for the entire time period between the founding and when it was moved to a lower part of the page?

I don't know, I wasn't there the whole time :)
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