241–250 of 288 posts
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What Google "wants" as an entity is different from what the individual component humans want. (i.e. the agent 'Google' is distinct from the agents that it is composed of)
Google is strongly guided by the agents that shepherd it.
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The counterargument to your counterargument is that google could start taking over what they cannibalize and make more money directly.
Exactly, it's simple economics: If Orbitz et al. get $5 per Airline ticket sold, they can only afford to pay Google up to $4.99 for the click. Google can take the $5 from the Airlines and laugh all the way to the bank.
If the airline refuses to pay and google doesn't display their flights then their results are incomplete.
The airlines will probably understand that google wants to be able to list their flights and will negotiate harder because of it.
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What Google "wants" as an entity is different from what the individual component humans want. (i.e. the agent 'Google' is distinct from the agents that it is composed of)
Google is strongly guided by the agents that shepherd it.
See https://plus.google.com/100010618263697835406/posts/azTW8hvw... for details.
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I think Don't be Evil is just easier , since you could make the argument that you could theoretically actually enumerate a list of things that most people would consider truly "evil". Do Good... well, good luck making that list. So, uh... in hindsight I guess I'm just agreeing with you :-P
Sadly, the set of "evil" things is also uncountably infinite.
I thought about that in the wrong way.
What I really meant is it's just easier to not do evil. You can look at something and say "that's evil, so I won't do it". Sure, sometimes that can cause you hardship, but you deal with it. Maybe evil is an uncountable, but you don't need to count it. You just passively avoid options that are evil.
Doing good is harder. You have to actively seek out and choose good things to do from a huge set. That means attempting to enumerate at least part of that set. You have to figure out how to actually do those things. As a public corporation, you have to figure out how to do things and spin it as being in the company's best interests.
That really is good. Hipmunk is still better if you know what days you want to fly, but this is great if you haven't yet decided precisely when, or precisely where, you want to go. A pity it only works within the US so far, but I'm sure they'll add international destinations eventually. Also a shame that Southwest still won't cooperate with any of these guys. I guess it's a rational decision on their part: be cheapes…
Yes, the first site that has JetBlue and SouthWest comparisons with the major airlines will have my traffic. I usually prefer to travel on price when it's not business so I love how Google has made this clear - that's my core problem with Hipmunk and I'm not sure why they don't just tell you the cheapest days to fly, like Kayak at least tries to. I also like how http://skyscanner.com does it.
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Google is strongly guided by the agents that shepherd it.
Are you aware that several Googlers resigned after a petition signed by 10% of the entire engineering workforce was ignored by management? See https://plus.google.com/100010618263697835406/posts/azTW8hvw... for details.
Ultimately, some policy on some random social networking site nobody uses is not much of a big deal. If you don't like the policy, don't use Google+. Easy.
Internally, this has been around for a little while (disclaimer: I work for Google but not on anything related to this). What continues to impress me about Google is: 1. Just how quickly this was built (really, it was quick); and 2. Google wants you to use our services because they're compelling not because we don't give you any other choice (ie "Don't be evil"). Sure there are limits to what it currently does but I…
ITA Software, acquired by Google in the last year, has always had this functionality available at [1]. In fact it is more full featured with ability to search international flight and a number of other options. There are even apps for iphone and android. This functionality pales in comparison to what is available there. I do not see the point of building this rather than have people use what is better and currently a…
I try to get a flight from Frankfurt - the 9th busiest airport in the world. - and I get "Unavailable". Post this again when I can actually use it.
When you search for a destination airport outside of the US, you get a very clear message: "Sorry, locations outside the U.S. are currently not supported." They're taking the release-early-iterate-often approach to this new service, which means that they're not going to make everyone happy immediately. Rather than dismiss this new service just because it doesn't fit your specific use case right now, think about this…
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Sadly, the set of "evil" things is also uncountably infinite.
True. I thought about that in the wrong way. What I really meant is it's just easier to not do evil. You can look at something and say "that's evil, so I won't do it". Sure, sometimes that can cause you hardship, but you deal with it. Maybe evil is an uncountable, but you don't need to count it. You just passively avoid options that are evil. Doing good is harder. You have to actively seek out and choose good things…
Weak leaders who don't do evil, but who also fail to do good, or fail to actively advocate and define doing good, are as much part of the problem because they fail in their responsibility of teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in matters of service.
You would only need to "spin it as being in the company's best interests" if the employer truly believes that business on any basis other than service is the most profitable.