Who really cares what yammer does or says? I wasn't all that impressed with the app when using it. Are they a company anyone actually actively seeks out for employment as anything other than "I can't find anything I like, might as well"?... Fail
Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days
111–120 of 202 posts
Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days
#112Oh, please! I like Yammer (especially Coda Hale's technical abilities), but this is ridiculous. I'm against software patents as much as the next hacker, but treating it like a mortal sin is preposterous. Corporations do far worse things to people and to society than sue other corporations for IP infringement. Drawing the line here, of all places, just shows Yammer's CEO's ethical cluelessness. But I guess he was just…
> Corporations do far worse things to people and to society than sue other corporations for IP infringement. This isn't just unethical in a general sense. If it were, then yes, corporations do much worse. The bigger issue is that Yahoo's move here threatens the entire software industry and specifically the internet. Yes, we already have massive patent battles in the mobile space. But they are fought over the selling…
If I remember correctly, Amazon has sued over web-only supposed patent infringement. It's just that Amazon is so big and powerful, while Yahoo has fallen from grace. I hate it when companies feign moral outrage over what is simply corporate warfare. There are very few companies that, when standing over a cliff like Yahoo is, would choose the right thing over using whatever is in their arsenal to survive. So, yeah, changing the rules of the game is a necessity, but it is Yammer's CEO who's crossing the line by implying Yahoo employees are somehow tainted, like ex-Nazis or something.
One company does stand to (possibly) gain from all this - Google.
Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days
#113While his stance is perhaps extreme, I think it forms part of a larger rejection of Yahoo by the tech community. Sadly, that's going to hurt everyone- Yahoo has some phenomenal tech going on, but most of it generates no revenue. So, we stop using it, Yahoo just fires the developers and continues on it's "content portal" path. Sad.
Why so sad? There are a lot of good tech companies to work at and Yahoo's current business model isn't bad for it at all, I think.
Well, sad in the sense that no matter how many employees move, I doubt they can take YUI, YQL, etc. with them. They'd likely die a long death.
Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Corporations do far worse things to people and to society than sue other corporations for IP infringement. This isn't just unethical in a general sense. If it were, then yes, corporations do much worse. The bigger issue is that Yahoo's move here threatens the entire software industry and specifically the internet. Yes, we already have massive patent battles in the mobile space. But they are fought over the selling…
If I remember correctly, Amazon has sued over web-only supposed patent infringement. It's just that Amazon is so big and powerful, while Yahoo has fallen from grace. I hate it when companies feign moral outrage over what is simply corporate warfare. There are very few companies that, when standing over a cliff like Yahoo is, would choose the right thing over using whatever is in their arsenal to survive. So, yeah, ch…
Amazon did get a lot of flak back then, there was a boycott. And Amazon, thankfully, stopped its lawsuits. Meanwhile we have seen an entire industry - mobile - become a patent battleground, so people are more concerned now then then.
I do see the point that threatening employees to leave or be blacklisted is... disturbing. I think we should put pressure on Yahoo and its employees to change Yahoo's ways, but not like that.
Edit: Google doesn't stand to gain from this. Well sure, in the short term Facebook's loss is Google's gain. But if patent lawsuits become a norm in the internet industry, Google in fact has perhaps the most to lose.
Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days
#115And I care why?
Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days
#116Oh, please! I like Yammer (especially Coda Hale's technical abilities), but this is ridiculous. I'm against software patents as much as the next hacker, but treating it like a mortal sin is preposterous. Corporations do far worse things to people and to society than sue other corporations for IP infringement. Drawing the line here, of all places, just shows Yammer's CEO's ethical cluelessness. But I guess he was just…
> Corporations do far worse things to people and to society than sue other corporations for IP infringement. This isn't just unethical in a general sense. If it were, then yes, corporations do much worse. The bigger issue is that Yahoo's move here threatens the entire software industry and specifically the internet. Yes, we already have massive patent battles in the mobile space. But they are fought over the selling…
The bigger issue is that Yahoo's move here threatens the entire software industry and specifically the internet.
Oh please! Get over yourself. Yahoo sued Google in 2004 for similar reasons; and the world didn't end.
Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yammer as a company has almost 300 employees, just raised an $85 million round, is growing like crazy, and has (a lot of) real revenue. Hardly a "small no name startup".
and has (a lot of) real revenue Do they make those numbers public though? All I could find was this http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/26/yammer-doubling-revenue-eve... Revenue in 2009 was “seven figures.” I asked Sacks to narrow that down in the video but he refused. He does say that Q1 2010 revenue exceeded all of 2009 revenue, and that revenue is now doubling every quarter. Yammer’s revenue goal by end of year is to be…
What private company discloses their revenue numbers?
Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days
#118my first reaction to this was similar to most people here, that this guy is just looking for publicity and why punish the good engineers at yahoo for this.
However, I do remember the SCO fiasco http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCO-Linux_controversies . The feeling I got from the tech community was that SCO engineers were certainly black listed from alot of jobs at other tech companies.
I guess it's worth exploring what makes Yahoo and SCO different.
Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days
#119What a jerk and a hypocrite.
Patents are, like it or not, one of the weapons of war, if you will, in business. Have been for a long, long time. And, while I too hate the "we invented the button and we have a patent" crowd I also recognize that they exist for a reason.
Denying someone employment because the company they work for seeks to enforce their patents --legitimate or not-- is nothing less than being a dick.
If you want to do something about frivolous patents get involved politically, seek to understand the issues and push to make sensible changes. So, how about it Mr. David Sacks instead of being a total dick by seeking to cause damage to Yahoo employees, would you use your money and influence to help change patent laws?
I have yet to see any of the loud-mouths spouting off about patents offer to do something like put together a fund to be used in pursuing changes to the laws. An, of course, none of them will write a check for a few million to fund it. If I was in a position to get something like this started I would. Maybe someone can reach vocal anti-patent guys like Mark Cuban and ask him to throw the first ten million into the pot to get this going?
With the money available in the top layer of tech companies it should be possible to put together a fund with billions of dollars. This fund could either be available to fight patent trolls or act as a PAC (or both).
Imagine, if you will, what would go through patent troll's minds if they tried to enforce bullshit patents and this group existed.
Let's call it the AFSPL (Americans For Sensible Patent Laws). Furthermore, imagine that this group had massive amounts of money and a whole floor full of lawyers and engineers to throw at the problem. The ACLU of the patent world, if you will.
If someone comes after you with a bullshit patent you could bring it up with the AFSPL for review. And, if they see it your way they defend you. Trolls would disappear almost instantly. Bullshit patents would be invalidated. The skies would turn blue and the birds would sing.
Maybe they could even mount a massive lawsuit against the patent office itself.
Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe that there's a place for valid an solid patents, even software patents. Having said that, I've read through so many patents that have caused me to yell and scream at the top of my lungs "this is bullshit!" that it is easy to loose hope.
Nah, going after Yahoo employees is crap. Get a grip on reality and put your time, effort and passion behind a real solution.
Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days
#120What's "Yammer" and what hiring process is finding them so many qualified potential employees that they can afford to artificially limit the supply? Also: when you want employees rather than startup founders, you have to expect that they are in it for security rather than ideals. Very few employee-types who are otherwise happy with their company are going to quit over one lawsuit. It's simply not worth not being able…
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