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Update from the CEO

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Re: Update from the CEO

#101

Post by cooldeal »

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #93
cooldeal wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you mean Google picked popularity over consistency and sold out to the OEMs and carriers for the sake of marketshare? Android is the pretty much the only OS where this is such a big problem, unlike Windows, OS X, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Windows Phone, iOS and probably even Linux.

I don't know where you get your information from, but Blackberry has broken compatibility in the last 3 OS releases, and Windows Phone 8 doesn't even run the same kernel as the previous version (breaks compatibility). I'm not sure if you ever touched Java ME back in the day... but yeah. You're just wrong on this one.

>Windows Phone 8 doesn't even run the same kernel as the previous version (breaks compatibility)

Windows Phone 7 apps run fine on WP8. Anyway breaking compatibility is a tad different from fragmentation. If your app runs on a WP7 phone, you can be reasonably certain it runs on all other WP7 phones. With Android, you can easily run into device specific bugs even though the version is the same and thus you're forced to test on the real hardware devices.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/11/this-is-what-developing-for...

Re: Update from the CEO

#102

Post by ChuckMcM »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #11

Since Sundar Pichai is the head of ChromeOS, perhaps this move is part of a larger move to unify Android and ChromeOS.

You noticed that did you?

Given the same base OS (Linux) in Android and ChromeOS and much of the same sorts of things. The redundancy of having two teams is pretty obvious. So if everyone agrees that you're going to do both going forward (and I think this is a ringing endorsement of ChromeOS as a 'long term' bet by Google) it only makes sense to make one team out of them.

Then the question becomes who leads it? The guy who leads ChromeOS or the guy who leads Android? Andy wasn't a big fan of ChromeOS when I was there, I don't know if that changed, his passion was making a better phone experience. I don't think I ever talked to or hear Sundar speak when I was there so I don't know what he thinks about phones.

So Sundar gets the nod and Andy gets to pick his next role (or exit which isn't uncommon in these situations). I don't doubt Andy would be on the short list of a number of CEO search committees so perhaps he'll pop up as the new CEO of Sony or something.

Re: Update from the CEO

#103

Post by dguido »

guelo wrote: post #68
dguido wrote: post #16

Andy Rubin was the major factor responsible for insecure Android devices. He thought it was impossible to be both secure and 'X' for any 'X'. Meanwhile, Andy Rubin's replacement is Sundar Pichai, SVP for Chrome and ChromeOS. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundar_Pichai If you care at all about the security of Android mobile devices, this is probably a good sign. EDIT: I wonder if this helped move Andy out the door? htt…

Your slander against Rubin, that he was the major factor, is unsubstantiated. And your 'X' sentence makes no sense, it translates to "He thought nothing was secure", huh?

His attitude towards security is well known among those attempting to help make Android devices safe for people to use. His refusal to believe that a device could be both safe to use and popular or safe to use and useful has directly led to hundreds of millions of unsafe devices around the world.

Re: Update from the CEO

#104

Post by DigitalJack »

georgemcbay wrote: post #75
cek wrote: post #60

> But his insight immediately struck a chord because at the time it was extremely painful developing services for mobile devices. We had a closet full of more than 100 phones and were building our software pretty much device by device. It was nearly impossible for us to make truly great mobile experiences. This is highly ironic statement given that one of the biggest pain developers trying to build mobile experiences…

Having been working in the Android space as a programmer, IMO the idea of Android fragmentation is mostly overblown these days. It was more of an issue in the past, but post-Gingerbread it has ceased to be a practical problem for any dev work I've done. This isn't to say Android development is wonderful, it (often) isn't. And I've been increasingly concerned with the amount of "OMG HOW?" bugs that have been introduce…

I've just started android dev. I'm still struggling to deal with the fact that you can still buy brand new devices that come with froyo.

I feel lucky that some kind soul created a compatible version of the ActionBar (Sherlock) to work with these out dated but still selling devices.

Re: Update from the CEO

#105

Post by stcredzero »

charlieok wrote: post #53

“We’re getting closer to a world where technology takes care of the hard work—discovery, organization, communication—so that you can get on with what makes you happiest… living and loving.” Just lie back and let yourself sink into the goo. Don't worry about all that messy technology behind the curtains. We've got that taken care of. Have a nice day :)

Isn't that what nerds have always wanted? To be the ones saying that.

Re: Update from the CEO

#106

Post by jholman »

pinaceae wrote: post #50

Observation by Benedict Evans: almost all key divisional leads at Google were born in India. Android, Engineering, Advertising, Youtube… Polar opposite to Apple, which is a white boys club.

There are lots of Indians in top Google management, definitely, but they're hardly the majority. Maybe 25% of "key divisional leads", maybe 25% of SVPs (a group that greatly overlaps with "key divisional leads").

First of all, there's no "key divisional lead" of "engineering". That's not a division at the top level. That'd be a pretty stupid top-level division, in a company which is mostly engineering (I'm deliberately obfuscating exact ratios).

Second, the SVP of Ads is Polish, and the SVP of Youtube is Persian. So that's two more things wrong with the four examples.

Indian: Chrome/Apps/Android, G+, and Sales/Business.

Not Indian: Ads, Search, YouTube, TechInfra, Finance, Legal, Sergei (a law unto himself), Geo/Commerce, Motorola, HR, PR, .....

In short, who the heck is Benedict Evans, and given that he is gibbering, why are you quoting him?

Re: Update from the CEO

#107

Post by DigitalJack »

ajross wrote: post #86
cek wrote: post #60

> But his insight immediately struck a chord because at the time it was extremely painful developing services for mobile devices. We had a closet full of more than 100 phones and were building our software pretty much device by device. It was nearly impossible for us to make truly great mobile experiences. This is highly ironic statement given that one of the biggest pain developers trying to build mobile experiences…

That's a very narrow perspective, based solely on what is "painful" for the developer. Developer pain isn't, generally, a good indicator of the public good. Obviously the real driver for "fragmentation" is that there exists a market which is (1) lucrative and (2) easy to enter. So everyone rushes in with their devices and competes. And somehow you think this is a bad thing? Stated simply: "fragmentation" is a side ef…

I agree with the efficiency part with regards to android lowering the Barrier to Entry, but the 2 year contract to make the devices "affordable", surely doesn't work in favor of market efficiency.

Re: Update from the CEO

#109

Post by m0nastic »

guelo wrote: post #68
dguido wrote: post #16

Andy Rubin was the major factor responsible for insecure Android devices. He thought it was impossible to be both secure and 'X' for any 'X'. Meanwhile, Andy Rubin's replacement is Sundar Pichai, SVP for Chrome and ChromeOS. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundar_Pichai If you care at all about the security of Android mobile devices, this is probably a good sign. EDIT: I wonder if this helped move Andy out the door? htt…

Your slander against Rubin, that he was the major factor, is unsubstantiated. And your 'X' sentence makes no sense, it translates to "He thought nothing was secure", huh?

Dan is characterizing Rubin's position around security as non-inclusive. Not that "nothing was secure", but that any feature (X) that was prioritized was done so not just without taking security into account, but with a belief that security was at odds with said feature (for all examples of X).

Basically, in a bastardized form of the "Good, Fast, Cheap. Pick two."

I don't know who was the responsible party for Android's terrible security track record, but Dan knows a lot more about mobile security than I do, so I'm hesitant to say he's slandering anybody.

Re: Update from the CEO

#110

Post by hugh4life »

Whether Android and ChromeOS are merged or Android scales up to the desktop, I hope Google makes a big play for the desktop within the next 1-2 years.

1. Microsoft support for Windows XP ends in about a year leaving a huge chunk of their users orphaned. 2. PC sales are flatlining... there's a sense among users that performance is getting to be "good enough" 3. Apple isn't really even trying to compete in countries that aren't somewhat well to do. 4. The ARM Cortex-A15 will help bring those ARM mini-pc sticks and net tops up to task for desktop work.

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