Thrun's role as Google VP has been mostly moot for several years now.
Those close to Thrun have made no secret of the fact he's focused on Udacity and thus, whether he would like to work at Google or not, he can only do so much.
Sebastian Thrun Has Left His Role as Google VP and Fellow
21–30 of 62 posts
Re: Sebastian Thrun Has Left His Role as Google VP and Fellow
#22Is Google X anything more than a PR heavy version of Xerox PARC or any other R&D lab that tech companies have had?
My former boss (CTO of Panasonic) once told me that the only way to do real R&D is to have a monopoly that allows you to hide the margins in cutting edge R&D. Everyone else was doing just product development. Google X is amazing in that it is about the only one left doing true bluesky R&D. Everyone else is just doing product development.
> Everyone else is just doing product development.
I believe IBM still does quite a bit of fundamental research as well.
Re: Sebastian Thrun Has Left His Role as Google VP and Fellow
#23Is Google X anything more than a PR heavy version of Xerox PARC or any other R&D lab that tech companies have had?
Sergey Brin, in my view, represents part of the problem here. Too powerful to be told that he's not delivering much.
Re: Sebastian Thrun Has Left His Role as Google VP and Fellow
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
http://www.eweek.com/it-management/microsoft-lays-off-2100-c... what about them?
That headline is confusingly worded, but Microsoft only laid off 50-75 people in one MSR location. That was far from the entire division: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/labs/default.aspx
That's not all. There are other parts being shutdown too - Robotics apparently https://twitter.com/AshleyFen/status/513392391467048960
Re: Sebastian Thrun Has Left His Role as Google VP and Fellow
#25Is Google X anything more than a PR heavy version of Xerox PARC or any other R&D lab that tech companies have had?
My former boss (CTO of Panasonic) once told me that the only way to do real R&D is to have a monopoly that allows you to hide the margins in cutting edge R&D. Everyone else was doing just product development. Google X is amazing in that it is about the only one left doing true bluesky R&D. Everyone else is just doing product development.
> Google X is amazing in that it is about the only one left doing true bluesky R&D. Everyone else is just doing product development.
That is quite wrong, really. There are many industrial research labs that are pursuing 'bluesky' research, in pretty much all sectors, including computer science, EE, chemistry, pharmacology, etc. Just to name a few, Mitisubishi Electric Research Labs (MERL), IBM Almaden/New York/Zurich, Microsoft Research, traditional pharma companies, traditional chemicals/materials companies, GE Global Research, etc. all have 'blueskies' agendas to varying extents.
Re: Sebastian Thrun Has Left His Role as Google VP and Fellow
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
My former boss (CTO of Panasonic) once told me that the only way to do real R&D is to have a monopoly that allows you to hide the margins in cutting edge R&D. Everyone else was doing just product development. Google X is amazing in that it is about the only one left doing true bluesky R&D. Everyone else is just doing product development.
> Google X is amazing in that it is about the only one left doing true bluesky R&D. Everyone else is just doing product development. That is quite wrong, really. There are many industrial research labs that are pursuing 'bluesky' research, in pretty much all sectors, including computer science, EE, chemistry, pharmacology, etc. Just to name a few, Mitisubishi Electric Research Labs (MERL), IBM Almaden/New York/Zurich…
Just because there are research labs, it doesn't mean that they are doing truly free blue-sky research. Lots of the labs you mention have very antiquated IPR focus, especially Mitsubishi and IBM. And as an example, Almaden still feels closer to the lair of a a James Bond enemy in the 60s than a free spirited R&D lab.
Re: Sebastian Thrun Has Left His Role as Google VP and Fellow
#27Is Google X anything more than a PR heavy version of Xerox PARC or any other R&D lab that tech companies have had?
I recently had to sit through a presentation by an X-er in which was played a very smug GoogleX video that spliced an annoying amount of apollo- and shuttle-era space exploration footage to pump up what was essentially floating cell towers (Loon). I found it quite disrespectful to the apollo engineers, and grasping of Google PR, to try and equate what they're doing to landing on the moon. It went quite beyond the bounds of what is reasonable with a straight face, for my tastes.
Re: Sebastian Thrun Has Left His Role as Google VP and Fellow
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
That headline is confusingly worded, but Microsoft only laid off 50-75 people in one MSR location. That was far from the entire division: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/labs/default.aspx
That's not all. There are other parts being shutdown too - Robotics apparently https://twitter.com/AshleyFen/status/513392391467048960
Well that's the second time then! I was working with the Robotics team when they got seriously downsized a few years ago.
(This might be a different robotics team, who knows!)
Re: Sebastian Thrun Has Left His Role as Google VP and Fellow
#29Is Google X anything more than a PR heavy version of Xerox PARC or any other R&D lab that tech companies have had?
My former boss (CTO of Panasonic) once told me that the only way to do real R&D is to have a monopoly that allows you to hide the margins in cutting edge R&D. Everyone else was doing just product development. Google X is amazing in that it is about the only one left doing true bluesky R&D. Everyone else is just doing product development.
Oracle's Labs division does a mix of fundamental research and very long term product development. One way to tell how much fundamental research a company is doing is to see how much partnering they do with universities and DAPRA, although not all companies may advertise much about these partnerships.
Re: Sebastian Thrun Has Left His Role as Google VP and Fellow
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Udacity has done what any good start-up should and launched a solid MVP and iterated on it, delivering free, in-demand courses in a short amount of time. No, the materials and scripts have not always perfect but they are still more valuable than many college courses I've taken. If he is in fact leaving to focus energy on Udacity, isn't that a positive move in regards to your critiques?
Yes, you make a good point. My opinion - and that's all that it is - is that his (many) abilities lie in the Google [x] direction, not as a poster boy for MOOCs.
But who are we to say where he should apply his abilities? He may be interested in something new and that is where his next best contributions lie.