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Steve's Google Platform rant

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Re: Steve's Google Platform rant

#141

Post by tedunangst »

nhashem wrote: post #2

What really struck home for me was Steve's line, "I hate... plussing" because I actually think his entries like this one are a great niche for Google Plus -- it's basically a built-in blogging platform/RSS reader. Facebook and Twitter are pretty bad platforms for posting 5 paragraphs (or 25 paragraphs, in Steve's case) worth of thoughts, but Google Plus works pretty well. It has all the sharing/social goodness of tho…

Facebook has had a Notes feature for just about forever. Most people ignore it, but I know a few people who use it as a sort of blog platform.

Re: Steve's Google Platform rant

#142

Post by zobzu »

bambax wrote: post #12

What he says about Chrome doesn't seem to be really true? > And so we wind up with a browser that doesn't let you set the default font size You can set the default font size and zoom size in Chrome (chrome://settings/advanced then "Web Content"). But more to the point, although it's obvious Google Search is trying very hard NOT to be a platform, it would seem Chrome is already a platform. No other browser in history…

You can't set the DPI in Chrome. I'm guessing its what they wanted to mean there. When you need a non-standard DPI you just can't read Chrome's fonts. If you boost the font size other elements are not properly proportioned.

Re: Steve's Google Platform rant

#143

Post by phillmv »

peterb wrote: post #96
nirvana wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"We set a high bar! B players hire C players! Only hire A players!" The way it works at amazon is, if anyone doesn't like you, you're out. It doesn't matter if its relevant or not. It doesn't matter if the person who doesn't like you knows nothing about programming. My boss- the one with the criminal justice degree- would often veto people because they "weren't good programmers". Of course, he had no clue who was a g…

The funny thing about "A players hire A players and B players hire C players" is that every company I have worked at that uses that mantra is full of B & C players from the top down.

What I don't get about that rule is what prevents A players from hiring B and C players, and what prevents B players from hiring A players.

I'm more than capable of recognizing someone who is smarter than I am, and as a rule of thumb I prefer to work with people who are smarter than I am.

Re: Steve's Google Platform rant

#144

Post by jacobr »

bmj wrote: post #106
johnyzee wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Six weeks here in Denmark and a maximum work week of 37 hours. You have to wonder how we ever get anything done here...

Out of curiosity, is there much of a start-up culture there? If so, do founders (and first employees) adhere to the same guidelines? At least here in the U.S., founding/working at a start-up basically assumes long-ish hours.

Sweden has 5 weeks of vacation and a 40 hour standard work week, and pretty successful companies such as Spotify, Skype, Voddler, SoundCloud, Flattr, etc, were founded here. I doubt most of those founders only worked 40 hour work weeks though, as an entrepreneur you decide your own hours, and overtime for regular employees is not uncommon.

It probably varies a lot depending on company culture. A friend working at a startup recently got hi-5's from the bosses when he said he had worked 11 hours a day the entire previous week, no talk about taking compensation leave to rest or anything like that. At my company (not a startup) an 11 hour day would be pretty extreme, and if my boss was aware he would probably insist I come in late the following day.

Re: Steve's Google Platform rant

#145

Post by twoodfin »

latch wrote: post #90

The rant is absolute gold. It is well written, it's entertaining, it's funny, it's insightful. Most importantly, it's right (about platforms at least, and from what I've heard, about Amazon and Google's culture). It is as near to perfect as a rant can probably ever get. I can see "What did you think of Steve's Google Platform rant" as an interview question.

Agree. The only Yegge rant/essay I can remember getting all the way through without struggling to stay awake. It's amazing how much more effective a writer he is when he's not trying to construct an elaborate metaphor. Maybe it has something to do with his belief that he was writing to a smaller, more focused audience.

Re: Steve's Google Platform rant

#146

Post by brlewis »

pitdesi wrote: post #120

It now 404's so I've posted it here: Stevey's Google Platforms Rant I was at Amazon for about six and a half years, and now I've been at Google for that long. One thing that struck me immediately about the two companies -- an impression that has been reinforced almost daily -- is that Amazon does everything wrong, and Google does everything right. Sure, it's a sweeping generalization, but a surprisingly accurate one.…

He deliberately took it down: https://plus.google.com/110981030061712822816/posts/bwJ7kAEL...

See my comment on that post for why I think his taking it down was a mistake.

Re: Steve's Google Platform rant

#147

Post by 0x12 »

david927 wrote: post #136
0x12 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the google PR people actually didn't do anything to tell him to withdraw the post, so that is his own decision.

This is one of the very few times I've seen Steve back-off of a provocative statement; whatever made that happen does not bode well for Google and I think my point stands.

It may have been a case of not wanting to embarrass his former employer, Amazon.

Re: Steve's Google Platform rant

#148

Post by pragmatic »

What's ironic is that Amazon is "so bad" yet they are one of my favorite companies.

They always seem to do right by the customer.

Where as google, it's behavior isn't always customer friendly (disclaimer: this is my opinion/perception).

To an outsider like me, Google seems almost schizophrenic...adding features, removing them, and then Gmail on android is just "not good". Customer service is non existent. Have a problem with Google product, good luck buddy.

Contrast that to Amazon where customer service is prompt and courteous and they always give the customer the benefit of the doubt.

Maybe it's the focus of the companies? Google is focused on engineering for engineering's sake. The focus on developers and algorithms.

Amazon is focused on customer service/satisfaction. Keeping the customers coming back.

Google is a monopoly in many of it's services (search, ad[sense|words]) whereas you can get a lot of Amazon's products somewhere else.

Re: Steve's Google Platform rant

#149

Post by 0x12 »

pitdesi wrote: post #120

It now 404's so I've posted it here: Stevey's Google Platforms Rant I was at Amazon for about six and a half years, and now I've been at Google for that long. One thing that struck me immediately about the two companies -- an impression that has been reinforced almost daily -- is that Amazon does everything wrong, and Google does everything right. Sure, it's a sweeping generalization, but a surprisingly accurate one.…

Posting a link to a web based copy is one thing, copying the text integral to HN is probably not ok.

Re: Steve's Google Platform rant

#150

Post by VonLipwig »

pitdesi wrote: post #120

It now 404's so I've posted it here: Stevey's Google Platforms Rant I was at Amazon for about six and a half years, and now I've been at Google for that long. One thing that struck me immediately about the two companies -- an impression that has been reinforced almost daily -- is that Amazon does everything wrong, and Google does everything right. Sure, it's a sweeping generalization, but a surprisingly accurate one.…

He took it down for a reason. I can't help but feel reposting it is bad online etiquette
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