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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

#471
post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know man. Doesn't that sound a little bit suspicious? If you were to create Google why would you just peace out? Look at Bill Gates. He still wants to do things but the google founders are all MIA. How do guys like that just lose all ambition and disappear?

If I had created Google I would have peaced out looooong ago. Sure, I wouldn't disappear completely, but I'd work on low-stress things where I have a lot of free time and don't have so much responsibility under me.

> low-stress things where I have a lot of free time and don’t have so much res...

Or children ;) John Lennon famously quit music for 5 years to raise his second child, after failing his first marriage.

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

#472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if they overcome this the bigger question is whether the market opportunity is worth the R&D costs, and whether or not bulky self driving vehicles are the best and most lucrative solution to mass transit.

Speaking of market opportunity, are there SDVs being tested in outside of California and Arizona? The rest of the US gets its fair share of rain, snow, and ice. Even if the Bay Area can manage self-driving cars, when would we expect a rollout in places like Minneapolis or Boston?

Volvo is testing self driving cars on public roads in Sweden.

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

#473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if they overcome this the bigger question is whether the market opportunity is worth the R&D costs, and whether or not bulky self driving vehicles are the best and most lucrative solution to mass transit.

Speaking of market opportunity, are there SDVs being tested in outside of California and Arizona? The rest of the US gets its fair share of rain, snow, and ice. Even if the Bay Area can manage self-driving cars, when would we expect a rollout in places like Minneapolis or Boston?

They tested Waymo out in Kirkland Washington for a bit. It doesn't have snow, but I'm sure they got a lot of data about wet conditions.

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

#474
post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much money is waymo making?

It's a money sink right now, but has an obvious path to becoming a juggernaut.

Time will tell. But the more you sit on it, the more easy it gets for other people to catch up.

By now even companies like Tesla and Volvo can do most of what any one can do. And they actually have usable cars.

Google inventing AGI will be a great deal though.

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

#475
Sundar has basically destroyed what was left of Google's "soul" in the never-ending search for high quarterly profits.

In his time you started seeing Google give up on the "don't be evil mantra" both officially and unofficially. It has started tracking users much more shamelessly, it has started working with the government on AI assassination projects, wanted to go back to China with a much more censorship-friendly version of the search engine, more protests erupted from its workers, Google's phones have become much more expensive, and so on.

I "can't wait" to see what terrible and irreparable damage Sundar will do to Google/Alphabet over the next 10 years.

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

#476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if they overcome this the bigger question is whether the market opportunity is worth the R&D costs, and whether or not bulky self driving vehicles are the best and most lucrative solution to mass transit.

Speaking of market opportunity, are there SDVs being tested in outside of California and Arizona? The rest of the US gets its fair share of rain, snow, and ice. Even if the Bay Area can manage self-driving cars, when would we expect a rollout in places like Minneapolis or Boston?

Because of the elevation of parts of CA & AZ, it's absolutely possible to encounter snow and ice (and even whiteout conditions on interstate highways!) in those states, if you make the effort to find it. A smart testing team would make the effort to head for the mountains when the forecast calls for wintery weather.

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

#477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't expect to see a new kind of product coming out of Google. They have 0 track-record of product innovation. Their main innovation power is in the back-end, on the implementation side. Internet search existed before Google, but they came up with a newer and much better way of implementing it. Internet email existed before Gmail, but they vastly improved the offering. The iPhone already existed, but they came…

Waymo is a new kind of product coming out of Google, as was Chromecast, as is the so-far-successful Stadia. I'm there there are others, but those are a few I can think of off the top of my head that are delivering very well for the technical challenge they pose.

Waymo is so far unproven, but you're right, it may turn up to be a successful product.

I forgot about the Chromecast, that's a good point.

Stadia is close to being new, though there have been similar efforts for some time now. However, it is by no means successful so far, most reviews I have seen from the gaming press have seen it as impressive, but ultimately not a great way of playing games, and Microsoft's offering is likely to quickly outshine it by sheer force of games catalog.

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

#478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not an admission of failure. Two businessmen created one of the most successful, influencial businesses ever and are passing the torch. They're rich AF and probably want to retire.

I don't know man. Doesn't that sound a little bit suspicious? If you were to create Google why would you just peace out? Look at Bill Gates. He still wants to do things but the google founders are all MIA. How do guys like that just lose all ambition and disappear?

A similar question was at the center of Atlas Shrugged

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

#479
post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know man. Doesn't that sound a little bit suspicious? If you were to create Google why would you just peace out? Look at Bill Gates. He still wants to do things but the google founders are all MIA. How do guys like that just lose all ambition and disappear?

A similar question was at the center of Atlas Shrugged

That's not exactly a standard work on business management advice.

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

#480
post #474
post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a money sink right now, but has an obvious path to becoming a juggernaut.

Time will tell. But the more you sit on it, the more easy it gets for other people to catch up. By now even companies like Tesla and Volvo can do most of what any one can do. And they actually have usable cars. Google inventing AGI will be a great deal though.

Anybody inventing AGI would be a big deal, but (1) don't hold your breath and (2) it could just as easily be a negative for Google and for the rest of us.
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