Rattle wrote:
] Dave Winer wrote:
] ] There's an essay lurking in here, but I've been reluctant
] ] to write it. Here's what it would say. Up till now Google
] ] has done really well with the low-key,
] ] we-let-our-software-speak-for-us approach to public
] ] relations. But that method doesn't work now. People are
] ] confused about what Google is.
]
] Ok. Good. I'm glad I saw this. I'm not nuts. Apparently,
] I'm also not the only one trying to wean myself off Google.

Wow, this "Google is Evil" meme is really starting to gain traction! It kind of reminds me of that time when everyone suddenly decided that Michael Jackson wasn't cool anymore. Next thing we heard from the guy, he was having sex with a monkey!

Its been a long time since Wired Magazine started a successful Meme. I thought we all decided that Wired was evil back when they put Push Technology on the cover. I thought we all said we were going to stop reading Wired. Right!? I think you guys are all a bunch of closet Wired readers! Um, well, actually I guess I would have had to have read Wired in order to know that they started this meme, so I guess I'll just shut up about that.

So, Google... I mean, the thing is, like, Google has *60* PHDs! **60** The computer science department at Georgia Tech doesn't have *60* PHDs! What the hell do these people DO?? Yeah, Google works really well, and its really hard to scale something like to that level, and I respect that and so on and so forth, but *60* PHDs. It just doesn't seem like Google has changed all that much while I've been using it. It doesn't take a PHD to load DMOZ data into your website! If I had 60 PHDs for as long as Google has had them I'd have revolutionized the entire computing industry by now!

To be fair to Google, I use their news agent every day. That is new. And its hard. And they don't make any money off of it. They are aggregating all the news content for me and they are doing it for free. Its hard to be a jerk to someone who does something like that for you.

And they bought Pyra. The thing is that Pyra had VC funding. There are influential people (like Tim O'Reilly) who have a need to sell Pyra to someone, so Pyra got bought. I wish I had VC funding. In an interview this week Marc Andresson said that the reason no one is getting funding right now is because "there aren't any good ideas."

Ok Marc, let me explain something. I know that your mom said that "TV would rot your brain" and when you got older you found out that TV really doesn't rot your brain. But that stuff those guys in East Palo Alto are selling you... It really really does rot your brain. We're serious this time. Really. We mean it. STOP smoking crack. Stay OUT of East Palo Alto.

OK, so am I going to stop using Google? I don't know. To be honest with you, I really didn't want to stop listening to Michael Jackson. I liked Michael Jackson. But I didn't have a choice. Any kid caught listening to Michael Jackson in 1987 was better off dead. I had to stop. It just wasn't cool anymore and my friends just weren't going to have any of it. Maybe it will be the same way with Google. Maybe I'll have to rename my Google toolbar link to "Altavista" and hope nobody clicks on it. Maybe I'll have to become a closet Googler.

Of course, maybe Google will take Pyra and turn it into MemeStreams, but better then anything we've produced. Maybe MemeStreams will fade into obscurity. Maybe when I explain it to people they'll say "Oh, its basically another Bloogle." And I'll really want to kill them. Then I'll stop using Google. Because it will just piss me off. I'll bet thats what Dave Winer is feeling.

Decius wrote:
] Wow, this "Google is Evil" meme is really starting to gain
] traction! It kind of reminds me of that time when everyone
] suddenly decided that Micheal Jackson wasn't cool anymore.
] Next thing we heard from the guy, he was having sex with a
] monkey!

I clearly remember when I determined that Jackson wasn't cool. It was when my family got our first VCR. When my dad bought it, he bought two tapes, the making of Thriller and the Disney cartoon version of Sleepy Hallow. So, both those got played a fair amount in the early days of the VCR.. At least, untill some blank tapes for recording uses were procured.. But anyway, the making of Thriller. Somewhere in that timespan, I decided that I hated Jackson. I'm not sure what it was that did it, maybe it was the fact that Michael Jackson SUCKS, and even as a kid I could see that once I got enough exposure to him sucking and being lame. I think a large part of it, was that I've always been someone that listens to alot of music, and most of what I saw having to do with Michael Jackson wasn't music, but image and dancing and flashy shit I didn't really care about.

On the other side of the coin, when I was a little kid I liked Twisted Sister.. Flashy.. Image.. etc.. All present in full force. So who knows. I'm not ashamed of that though.. Infact, I met Dee Snyder and his son recently. I didn't have a gag reaction, infact I made a point of saying Hi to him and saying I was a big fan as a kid. Now, if I saw Michael Jackson, I would have pointed at him, laughed, and said something crude. That is, right after I finished laughing at the hordes of very lame fans of his that would surely be present..

What people get into has always puzzled me. A friend of mine recently made the observation that Great White, the kings of lame ass 80's metal, had a packed house with 300 people present at the fireball show.. And we had seen Frank Black, who I think is awesome, at the Stone Pony a month earlier and there were only 50 hard core fans there.. There is something about this that just confuses the hell out of me.

] Its been a long time since Wired Magazine started a successful
] Meme. I thought we all decided that Wired was evil back when
] they put Push Technology on the cover. I thought we all said
] we were going to stop reading Wired. Right!? I think you guys
] are all a bunch of closet Wired readers! Um, well, actually I
] guess I would have had to have read Wired in order to know
] that they started this meme, so I guess I'll just shut up
] about that.

I read Wired.. I read lots of things. But thats besides the point.. Did Wired start the meme, or did Wired pick up on a meme that was already happening.

I don't think Wired is responsible for this, I think Google is responsible for this. It was likely unavoidable and going to happen at one point or another anyway. Anti-Google stuff ha... [ Read More (0.5k in body) ]

Decius wrote:
] So, Google... I mean, the thing is, like, Google has *60*
] PHDs! **60** The computer science department at Georgia Tech
] doesn't have *60* PHDs! What the hell do these people DO??
] Yeah, Google works really well, and it's really hard to scale
] something like to that level, and I respect that and so on
] and so forth, but *60* PHDs. It just doesn't seem like Google
] has changed all that much while I've been using it.
] It doesn't take a PHD to load DMOZ data into your website!
] If I had 60 PHDs for as long as Google has had them I'd have
] revolutionized the entire computing industry by now!

Actually, I count 72 PHDs at the College of Computing.

http://www.cc.gatech.edu/people/Faculty_Staff.html

But I think you're giving too much credit to advanced degrees. Said another way: perhaps you're expecting too much of them.

Or perhaps you're expecting them to let you in on everything.

My guess is that they spend a lot of time trying out new ideas. Some ideas don't work out at all. Others sort of work, but don't scale. Some may work alright, but don't fit into the Google brand. My order-of-magnitude guess is that one in a hundred new ideas makes it onto the Labs page.

You act as if Google today is the same as it was on Day One. Here are the current services: Froogle, Answers, Catalogs, Groups, Images, News, Directory, Wireless, Translations, and Web APIs.

Jeremy wrote:
] But I think you're giving too much credit to advanced degrees.
] Said another way: perhaps you're expecting too much of them.

I was just being sarcastic...