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Eric Schmidt Says Google Is Falling Behind on AI–and Remote Work Is Why

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Re: Eric Schmidt Says Google Is Falling Behind on AI–and Remote Work Is Why

#61

Post by axus »

JSDevOps wrote: post #2

If you’re still under the impression that network and server design wasn’t about enabling remote work from the start, then you’re simply not seeing the bigger picture. The entire foundation of these systems was built to break down geographical barriers and enable people to work and collaborate from anywhere. This was never just about sharing resources—it was always about laying the groundwork for what would evolve in…

I think the focus on work was true at first, but the majority evolved towards serving web pages and video streaming, on cell phones and TVs more than computers.

The networks and devices that get built evolve to meet public demand, if decisions are being made they'll inevitably follow the money instead of some 20-year plan. Priorities can change.

Re: Eric Schmidt Says Google Is Falling Behind on AI–and Remote Work Is Why

#63

Post by anonymoushn »

icedchai wrote: post #54
anonymoushn wrote: post #42

Prior to the pandemic, my roommate who works at Google would generally be at home playing FFXIV most of the day for like 2 weekdays per week. It sounded like a good gig. I don't think this outcome has much to do with whether remote work is allowed or not. In some other orgs it might not be possible to convince management that this is fine to do.

What makes you think management is being any more productive?

I don't think that.

Re: Eric Schmidt Says Google Is Falling Behind on AI–and Remote Work Is Why

#64

Post by cracrecry »

tra3 wrote: post #11

I dont get it. Study after study seems to indicate that remote work is more efficient all around. What is it that makes management so bearish towards remote? When Microsoft "lost the mobile war" everybody was in the office still, no? Is it conceivable that google is behind on AI for reasons other than wfh?

>What is it that makes management so bearish towards remote?

You will be surprised how many people that became rich with startups have invested in real state. A lot of those investments are tanking now because of WFH, so they have something personal against it.

>When Microsoft "lost the mobile war" everybody was in the office still, no?

Microsoft lost both "the Internet" and "mobile" because they just could not understand it, like IBM could not understand a world with a computer in every desktop. It is a normal thing when your culture gives you success, the world changes, your culture remains the same.

Other companies appear that understand it and they win. If Google does not adpat, others will.

Re: Eric Schmidt Says Google Is Falling Behind on AI–and Remote Work Is Why

#68

Post by yesiamyourdad »

If Google is falling behind, it's because they are not and never were a product company, and that's a direct result of Schmidt's leadership. His CEO experience was at Novell, which also had lousy product focus and lost to Microsoft, which say what you will, is pretty good at product. He led Google and damn near 20 years ago Steve Yegge famously called out Google for being terrible at product, and nothing has fundamentally changed since.

Let's face it, at this point creating an LLM is not that difficult, relatively speaking. I can download dozens with Ollama, and many of them are brilliant. But look at ChatGPT or Claude and then look at Google - which is the better product?

Re: Eric Schmidt Says Google Is Falling Behind on AI–and Remote Work Is Why

#69

Post by plorkyeran »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #41
nemothekid wrote: post #22

This seems extremely self-serving on behalf of Schmidt in order to avoid any serious self-reflection of what seems to be going on at Google. I've never looked a at a Google product and thought "this sloppy product is the result of people who were more concerned about going home". I don't really care about the remote work argument, but this fight is the rug that covers the real problem. Google products are _the_ defin…

> amazing quagmires built by geniuses You’re describing Google 10 years ago. My recent visits to its campuses have left me unimpressed. There are plenty of geniuses. But there are also many morons, and the mix is maybe a degree or two away from median corporate America.

I think Google's average employee is still almost certainly above the average for the industry as a whole, but they're definitely now only "above average".

Google's big problem is that they've always been dysfunctional. The AdSense money printer let them grow the company 100x over the last 15 years without the company actually figuring out how to scale up or solve any of their structural problems.

Re: Eric Schmidt Says Google Is Falling Behind on AI–and Remote Work Is Why

#70

Post by ASalazarMX »

guessmyname wrote: post #10

I work at Apple in the Apple Services Engineering (ASE) organization and am required to go to the office at least three days a week. I don’t see the point, given that the majority of my interactions are with employees located in Cupertino or London. Often, I have to wake up very early or stay in the office after hours to join meetings with people in the London office. As a non-Cupertino Apple employee, I am excluded…

> WTF! Just let me work fully remote so I can consider moving to a low cost of living (LCOL) city with my family.

That would mean extracting more value from your salary, and that might rock the boat of other employees in your salary bracket, so no.

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