Sundar will be the CEO of both Google and Alphabet • Hacker News Board

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

#481

Post by tsimionescu » Wed, Dec 04, 2019, 8:13 AM UTC

juanbyrge wrote: post #470

tsimionescu wrote: post #465

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…

You can say the exact same things about the supposedly 'innovative' companies. Did Apple invest desktop computers? No, they copied the concept from Xerox. Same story with the iPod (Rio), the iPhone (Blackberry) and Watch (Garmin).

Sure, there are no completely innovative products. But the difference I see is this: going from a clunky, ugly, essentially business-only phone like the Blackberry to ubiquitous smart-phones is a more close to a difference in kind. Essentially, before the iPhone, most people did not believe they needed a smartphone. On the other hand, most people before Gmail did know that they need a mail provider, Gmail was 'just' a much more convenient mail provider. Most people did know they need a browser, Chrome was just much nicer. When Android rolled out, people already knew they want a smartphone, Android was cheaper and less walled-in.

A good example would be if Google's Stadia succeeds. Even though there have been attempts in the past (e.g. OnLive), the mind-share is so low that they are almost irrelevant. If Stadia gets anywhere near console-level market penetration, I would consider it an innovative product that Google created. I don't expect it to succeed, though, based on the track record.

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

#482

Post by jacquesm » Wed, Dec 04, 2019, 8:14 AM UTC

sidcool wrote: post #452

endorphone wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a way this seems like an admission of the failure of the "Alphabet" thing. The idea behind that originally was that all of these other projects were going to become so significant that it wouldn't make sense to have them or their management coupled with Google. But a half-decade later, it's still 99.9% Google, so just double-up the Google guy to lead both tiers. Same as it ever was.

Anyone who thinks Google is a failure should reconsider. They have had their share of bad decisions, but nothing has yet challenged their dominance. They keep spreading to other areas of tech. They may not dominate the AlphaBets, but they sure attract attention and investment.

I don't know any other company that people love to hate. A large number of those will flee Google in droves when/if a viable alternative presents itself. Their lock-in on email and dominance in search may be enough of a moat to last forever but if your users (paying and free) hate you then you are on borrowed time.

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

#483

Post by Godel_unicode » Wed, Dec 04, 2019, 8:15 AM UTC

jeffreygoesto wrote: post #463

kendallpark wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Or Mumbai? Or Jakarta?

Even if the answer there is "never", so what? Do we really need to set the bar at "replace all vehicles everywhere in all situations" for it to be a success?

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

#484

Post by mda » Wed, Dec 04, 2019, 8:23 AM UTC

oldspleen wrote: post #382

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…

Google kept deprecating its use of the phrase "don't be evil" and now almost a footnote in its code of conduct.

As if remaining part of code of conduct doc promotes evil. Please ...

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

#485

Post by thetruthseeker1 » Wed, Dec 04, 2019, 8:33 AM UTC

raverbashing wrote: post #460

endorphone wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a way this seems like an admission of the failure of the "Alphabet" thing. The idea behind that originally was that all of these other projects were going to become so significant that it wouldn't make sense to have them or their management coupled with Google. But a half-decade later, it's still 99.9% Google, so just double-up the Google guy to lead both tiers. Same as it ever was.

Sundar seems to be turning into Google's Ballmer, for better and for worse. The lack of direction, apart from the bigger projects is noticeable.

How? Apples and Oranges comparison

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

#486

Post by mac_was » Wed, Dec 04, 2019, 8:34 AM UTC

kelnos wrote: post #449

fjrufjfjfu wrote: post #447

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.

Create Google first and we will all see :-)

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

#487

Post by airnomad » Wed, Dec 04, 2019, 8:36 AM UTC

Problem with google is that they are losing data game.

They own the web but meanwhile web became only one medium among many and a lot of companies build their own "web"

Instagram app is essentially a browser to use IG's private "web" of content google has no access to.

Same goes for twitter, even Snapchat.

So attention wise, google is loosing dominance as other companies are building their own protocols on top of web.

Speaking of data,they own search intent (via Google) and web content (via Google analytics).

However I'd say Facebook is ingesting way more data on non-content usage. They made much easier for advertisers to connect into FBs audience graphs and cross reference and retarget based on first-party visitor profiles.

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

#488

Post by sverhagen » Wed, Dec 04, 2019, 8:36 AM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #482

sidcool wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who thinks Google is a failure should reconsider. They have had their share of bad decisions, but nothing has yet challenged their dominance. They keep spreading to other areas of tech. They may not dominate the AlphaBets, but they sure attract attention and investment.

I don't know any other company that people love to hate. A large number of those will flee Google in droves when/if a viable alternative presents itself. Their lock-in on email and dominance in search may be enough of a moat to last forever but if your users (paying and free) hate you then you are on borrowed time.

Facebook too. I hate both with a similar passion. But I'm in tech and thanks to HN I have a vague idea how the sausage is made. Do regular users share our dislike of these companies? If not, which is what I suspect, this fleeing will be mostly nonexistent.

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

#489

Post by londons_explore » Wed, Dec 04, 2019, 8:36 AM UTC

endorphone wrote: post #390

footpath wrote: post #84

https://abc.xyz/investor/news/releases/2019/1203/ Slightly more organized info in the intro bullets. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the CEO and President, respectively, of Alphabet, have decided to leave these roles. They will continue their involvement as co-founders, shareholders and members of Alphabet’s Board of Directors.

In a way this seems like an admission of the failure of the "Alphabet" thing. The idea behind that originally was that all of these other projects were going to become so significant that it wouldn't make sense to have them or their management coupled with Google. But a half-decade later, it's still 99.9% Google, so just double-up the Google guy to lead both tiers. Same as it ever was.

The original reason was that smart people like career progression. Money alone isn't enough to keep them - they want something good on their business cards. Otherwise some will leave to become CEO of another company.

By making a group of companies, you can have many CEO's, more directors, more VP's, etc. and therefore keep hold of more smart people who are after external recognition more than money.

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

#490

Post by xz0r » Wed, Dec 04, 2019, 8:39 AM UTC

airnomad wrote: post #487

Problem with google is that they are losing data game. They own the web but meanwhile web became only one medium among many and a lot of companies build their own "web" Instagram app is essentially a browser to use IG's private "web" of content google has no access to. Same goes for twitter, even Snapchat. So attention wise, google is loosing dominance as other companies are building their own protocols on top of web…

> Instagram app is essentially a browser to use IG's private "web" of content google has no access to.

Search engines are meant to index the open web. IG's public profiles are still being indexed by Google. Google is winning the data game from an ad-tech point of view but not loosing it.