Google’s Marissa Mayer Tapped as Yahoo’s Chief • Hacker News Board

Re: Google’s Marissa Mayer Tapped as Yahoo’s Chief

#221

Post by dmpk2k » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 12:23 AM UTC

roopeshv wrote: post #214

dmpk2k wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

see the video for the answer

I saw the video. It seems a very silly thing to do -- ever since I first saw that video I've been trying to understand Crockford's angle, and I just cannot. However, feronull seems in favour of it, so I'd like to know why.

Forking a project isn't a healthy thing to do, unless there's something seriously wrong with the existing community (e.g. XFree86). As far as I can tell:

* The nodejs community is healthy and vibrant.

* There are no systemic problems with contribution.

* Isaac Schultner has his head on straight, has reasonable priorities, and is a pleasant character.

* Much, if not most, of node's development is happening outside Joyent anyway.

* Nothing is stopping Yahoo from contributing to the existing project.

Even if all of the above were false, why does Crockford think the remnants of Yahoo's engineering can do better? Joyent is filled with Sun's top talent, and the engineering division is run by an enlightened alpha engineer.

I cannot help but think this is a case of sour grapes by Crockford, because there just doesn't seem to be a good reason for his stance.

Edit: as an aside, his idea of rewriting everything in node is a bit ridiculous too. I've been a part of several projects to rewrite code, for smaller things than all of Yahoo's online assets, and it sure took longer than one year to do a good job even with excellent engineers. This is a long-term project, not something you do to fix the immediate bleeding. This, and forking node, are very strange things to focus on right now given Yahoo's difficulties.

Re: Google’s Marissa Mayer Tapped as Yahoo’s Chief

#222

Post by SkyMarshal » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 12:25 AM UTC

wcdolphin wrote: post #204

$100 says Yahoo is acquired by Google in the next three years. Any takers? I am imagining/hoping for a more successful version of the Stephen Elop leaves Microsoft, runs Nokia, forms a strong partnership with Microsoft. But this time, Yahoo is even more in the pits.

I'll take the other side of that bet. Yahoo has nothing Google needs, and won't within 3 years, even with Mayer reforming it.

There's also a cost to acquisition beyond just the monetary - organizational and cultural namely. Not worth it for Google.

Re: Google’s Marissa Mayer Tapped as Yahoo’s Chief

#223

Post by azylman » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 12:25 AM UTC

tjmc wrote: post #207

azylman wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think there's a lot of reputation risk for her, here... I'm pretty sure that if Yahoo continues it's current course, the majority reaction will be "Well, Yahoo was a sinking ship anyway, there's not a lot she could have done" but if Yahoo makes a comeback she'll be hailed as a miracle worker.

Don't be so sure. Nokia was a sinking ship before Elop joined and now he's wearing most of the blame. Sure, he could have hitched Nokia's wagon to Android instead. But given that Google own competitor Motorola and are selling the killer Nexus 7 at no margin, they aren't exactly an ideal partner either.

All you need to do is look at how the tech press/community is ALREADY talking about this. See the quote from Andreessen[1] that I already talked about or, alternatively, another TechCrunch article that just got published:

What a time for Marissa Mayer to take control at Yahoo. She'll need all the smarts she can lay her hands on to revive an ailing Yahoo.[2]

It's already being set up so that the expectation is "she'll probably fail, because ANYONE will fail" but if she succeeds she's a miracle worker or "a Steve Jobs character".

[1]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4252945

[2]: http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/16/yahoos-neglected-global-lab...

Re: Google’s Marissa Mayer Tapped as Yahoo’s Chief

#224

Post by jacksonmohsenin » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 12:25 AM UTC

She should start with a new logo.

Re: Google’s Marissa Mayer Tapped as Yahoo’s Chief

#225

Post by peetahb » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 12:26 AM UTC

dexen wrote: post #92

yumraj wrote: post #63

Historical precedent: Stephen Elop was head of Business Division at MS before he became Nokia CEO and then Nokia fully fell in MS's lap. Prediction: Sometime in near future some sort of very close partnership will happen between Google and Yahoo, subject to regulatory approval of course. Edit: Fixed "MS CEO" to "Nokia CEO" typo. Thanks kreilly

Came here to say just that. Another prediction: such partnership won't help Google very much, but will hurt Microsoft a bit -- due to Yahoo shying away from Bing and possibly MS e-mail technology. It may also well help developers -- Yahoo's YUI is a very handy and very relevant toolkit; with Marissa as the CEO, I sure hope Yahoo will embrace developers more and YUI will get some more love.

I was discussing the same topic with my coworkers when we heard the news. Yahoo's YUI could be the company's starting point at developing strong products and boosting Yahoo's relevance as a brand. It's a great library.

Re: Google’s Marissa Mayer Tapped as Yahoo’s Chief

#226

Post by mathattack » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 12:27 AM UTC

VikingCoder wrote: post #147

Marissa Mayer (2012-Present) Ross Levinsohn (Interim) (2012) Scott Thompson (2012) Tim Morse (Interim) (2011-2012) Carol Bartz (2009-2011) Jerry Yang (2007-2009) Terry Semel (2001-2007) Timothy Koogle (1995-2001) I seriously hope that the Board of Directors has some idea of what they're doing, because their track record certainly doesn't look like it. EDIT: To be clear, this wasn't meant as a slam on Marissa. What I…

From http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/directors.cfm. Looks like they don't have many slouches. Heavy on financial services and broadcast. Perhaps light on internet entrepreneurs. Largely independent. A couple big shareholders.

Alfred Amoroso - Chairman, Yahoo! Inc.

John Hayes - Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, American Express Company

Sue James - Retired Partner, Ernst & Young LLP

David Kenny - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Weather Channel Companies

Peter Liguori - Former Chief Operating Officer, Discovery Communications, Inc. Former Chairman and President of Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company

Daniel Loeb - Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Third Point LLC

Thomas McInerney - Former Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, IAC/InterActiveCorp

Brad Smith - President and Chief Executive Officer, Intuit Inc.

Maynard Webb - Founder, Webb Investment Network, Chairman of the Board, LiveOps, Inc.

Harry Wilson - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, MAEVA Group, LLC

Michael Wolf - Chief Executive Officer and President, Activate Strategy, Inc.

Re: Google’s Marissa Mayer Tapped as Yahoo’s Chief

#227

Post by alayne » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 12:28 AM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #169

JPKab wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is typical Yahoo bullshit. They hire a CEO not for the primary reason of effectiveness or experience, but instead for their perception of effectiveness in the media. Is she an improvement over Bartz? No doubt, because the first time I saw Bartz discussing Yahoo's future several years ago, it was immediately clear to me that they weren't getting out of their tailspin. Is Mayer a genius? I'm sure of it. But from a…

Eh, I like Marissa, and I've worked on projects (the 2010 websearch visual redesign, and doodles) for which she was the executive sponsor. No, she's not a nice person, and most likely she does not give a shit about you as a person. But she is very often right about her design opinions, and when she's not, she'll listen to data. I don't think Yahoo particularly needs a nice person as CEO right now. Their culture is dy…

I disagreed with nearly everything I ever heard Marissa say related to design, especially her over reliance on A/B testing to inform design. I think she is one of the main reasons Google products tend to feel like they are designed by engineers.

Re: Google’s Marissa Mayer Tapped as Yahoo’s Chief

#228

Post by Tobu » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 12:37 AM UTC

alayne wrote: post #227

nostrademons wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, I like Marissa, and I've worked on projects (the 2010 websearch visual redesign, and doodles) for which she was the executive sponsor. No, she's not a nice person, and most likely she does not give a shit about you as a person. But she is very often right about her design opinions, and when she's not, she'll listen to data. I don't think Yahoo particularly needs a nice person as CEO right now. Their culture is dy…

I disagreed with nearly everything I ever heard Marissa say related to design, especially her over reliance on A/B testing to inform design. I think she is one of the main reasons Google products tend to feel like they are designed by engineers.

Their products are usable and uncluttered. I have reservations about the new unified look (too much padding in horizontal stripes one can't scroll, trying to displace browser chrome), but I've been very happy with the previous, “designed by engineers” Google aesthetic.

Re: Google’s Marissa Mayer Tapped as Yahoo’s Chief

#229

Post by steve8918 » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 12:38 AM UTC

tjmc wrote: post #213

steve8918 wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the description, her behavior reminds me a lot of how Steve Jobs behaved. If you read the biography, Jobs would often contradict himself, he was extremely rude, he would cry at meetings, he would hear an idea and say it was shit, and then the next week propose the exact same idea as his own, etc. I'm not saying she is at all comparable to Steve Jobs, but it sounds like they both know what they want, and don't sp…

Not a good comparison. Meyer famously tested 41 shades of blue on Gmail. Optimising local maxima is hardly innovation. Jobs was more of the Henry Ford mindset that if he asked people what they wanted they'd ask for a faster horse.

I guess you didn't read very carefully because I didn't compare Meyer and Jobs except in the similarities of how their temperament were described. One was from an official biography, and one from from an anonymous forum comment, so I take the forum comment with a grain of salt. To be clear, I don't think they are at all comparable in terms of success or as a visionary.

But since you brought up the testing of 41 shades of blue, I guess you didn't hear this story about Steve Jobs obsessing over the yellow gradient on Google's icon on the iPhone.

https://plus.google.com/107117483540235115863/posts/gcSStkKx...

Re: Google’s Marissa Mayer Tapped as Yahoo’s Chief

#230

Post by lukeschlather » Tue, Jul 17, 2012, 12:38 AM UTC

falicon wrote: post #110

TylerE wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that's exactly how I took it. Oblig car metaphor: That's like saying hey, as an alternative to a free Lamborghini Aventador, you can have an old Pontiac Fiero chassis, and a Chevy 350 with a blown head gasket. If you're really lucky and amazing you might make something worth 1/10th what the Lamborghini is.

Well in this case it's an original Lamborghini, but it was in a horrible wreck and has been sitting at the bottom of the sea for about ten years... So you can dredge it up, and perhaps restore it to it's original glory...or you can go out and build your own, new dream car from scratch. Either way it's going to be a TON of work to get to a truly valuable (and fun to drive) vehicle...

Car metaphors are tempting, but Yahoo vs. a startup is more like the difference between fixing up a rusty EOL aircraft carrier and building a sailboat.