BLOG: Larry Page Is Destroying Google Discussion

[TechnologyGuide Staff]

A new blog post from Brighthand's site editor discusses the accusation from a former Google executive that the new CEO of Google has made the company into something that no longer creates innovative products.

Read the full content of this Article: BLOG: Larry Page Is Destroying Google

Related Articles:

• BLOG: Smartphones Keep Getting Bigger and Better
• BLOG: Smartphone Makers Should Reduce the Number of Models They Offer
• BLOG: Removable Memory Cards Are Remarkably Cheap

[Drillbit]

Quite the contrary, Page is making Google more focused. Somehow, Steve Jobs calling up Page and giving him an earful on how to run a company is going to be for the better or worst. Focus means, getting rid of stuff that has only achieved mediocre results, and then devote more effort on the things that you do the best.

The two things that has made Google better since Page came in was first, an emphasis in design. Google products no longer look like something an engineer comes up with. There is now much more consideration in the way the user interface is designed. Some people might not like the way, for example, how the new Youtube looks, but others do like it. The emphasis in design is sweeping across the Google product range from GMail to Google Reader.

The second is to make Google more social. Even Larry Page is making himself more social by engaging people in Google+. The top people in Google, from Matt Cutts to Eric Schmidt to Andy Rubin, all post things even things that are non Google concerned but simply about things that delight them or what they believed in. Vic Gundotra is actively engaged with bloggers in their questions and problems, and as a result, Google+ has over a hundred changes since it launched. There are a few things I like them to change or add, but the pace of improvement is much more intense than Facebook or Twitter.

I think the privacy thing is riling. On the other hand, by crafting my online persona, my mobile search results now are much more relevant, and this save s me a lot of time and frustration on the go. Mobile search results are much more sensitive than desktop search results when people see irrelevant results on screen. The situation with a tiny screen and being on the move, make search relevancy more critical. And besides, there is nothing there that Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook won't do either in terms of your online privacy. They are all going to mine you, no matter what.

[Varjak]

I wouldn't go so far as the blog post does; but it and Whittaker contain a lot of truth. When the tail starts wagging the dog (chase for revenues and social networking 'cachet') instead of engineering an innovation, your days as a leader and front-runner are numbered.

And design has gone DOWNHILL. I mean reviews of the new Gmail are awful, and while G+ is considered better than FB, it's not great.

Personally, I've also found the changes to their bread-and-butter, the search engine, are also bad. I don't like having to arrow over to find the cached page (which also doesn't highlight the search terms like it used to) to be a step backward. I know Marissa Maier is known to sweat the details (down to pixels and color shades); but I think the changes have been for the worse.

[Drillbit]

Google+ is still way better than Twitter and Facebook, when it comes to design, and Google tweaks to improve are much more frequent. This demonstrates that Google has a much shorter and faster feedback loop than Facebook or Twitter. This means they evolve faster.

People don't like change, especially with Youtube and GMail, and its because they are used to it. So they give initially bad reviews. But the new design grows on you. FYI everything looks a lot more modern now, and the products now have a more synergy look with each other instead of disparate products being tied together by the Google name. For the first time, Google now has a "design language". Microsoft uses a design language, Apple uses a design language. Nokia, Samsung, Sony, HTC, Toyota, Honda, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Volvo --- they all got a common design language that makes sure their products are easily identified as their brand without need for a label. Much of the work for Google's new design language comes from Andy Hertzfeld, one of the pioneers for the Apple Macintosh.

As far as the search engine goes, since the time Bing came out, there has been more gains by Google over Bing-Yahoo under Page than there was under Schmidt.

As far as the socialization of Google products goes, I'm fully taking advantage of it as I post Google Reader topics into Google+, or post Google Earth images to Google+ to support my catastrophe blogs (e.g. real time earthquakes and such), even from the phone. It is interesting to see your Google and Youtube personalized, the first you see when you visit Youtube for example, are the videos being recommended by your contacts in Google+. There is a lot of synergy going now.

[LandSurveyor]

I don't go to my Gmail page on a real computer very often but when I did a while back, I noted the new design and immediately didn't like it. I really wish they wouldn't play musical chairs with the UI. Anyway, I reverted to the old version and problem solved. For now....

Google Earth, however, rocks. I use the Pro version at work and like it a lot.

And, as always, I avoid all SN like the plague. I just keep seeing reasons to continue avoiding it and no really compelling reason to dive in. Too many privacy question marks and as far as employment is concerned, an accident waiting to happen. No thanks.

[weegie]

I wonder how long Google will enable a user to not have any Google accounts and still use an Android device, I closed all my Google accounts and every time I connect to a network it's always trying to find an account to login to, ridiculous in the fact I'm merely connecting to a network, not using Gmail, maps, etc etc.
I hope in light of the raised eyebrows [especially in Europe] over their new terms of service that legislators come down hard on this spying and collecting data, it should be illegal full stop...by anyone, and maybe Google might have to start charging licensing fee for android and their applications/services.....I'm fine with that, I'm not fine with what they're doing now

[Varjak]

To my mind, this has little to do with whether G+ (which is a small part of the G universe) is 'better' than Twitter or FB. The post is more about Larry Page et al. losing sight of what Google was about and what it's good at. It's not an attack on G+; but about all the other things mentioned.

[Drillbit]

I don't know how Larry Page would ever lose sight of what Google is all about. by the way, he did invent and patented the page rank system and pretty much what is the core of Google Search.

Rather, its a realization that Google can't be a one trick pony. The search business is actually growing and will continue to grow in years to come, but there is a realization --- like what happened with Intel and Microsoft --- that once you have attained dominance of a particular field, you have to branch out. Similarly, its the way Amazon has moved away from just books to being a general retailer of nearly everything.

Frankly, Page did state clearly what Google's main mission is. "To organize the world's information". Broad enough, it doesn't mean just search. He wants Google to be the place where all roads in the Internet leads to. And that's why Google+ is important to him, as well as all the pathways --- Chrome, Android, Youtube, GMail, Docs, etc,.

[weegie]

They are a one trick pony though, if you want to use any of their services, you have to agree to their conditions which allow them to use whatever personal information they want, the only thing the pony is branching out on is doing the same trick at different events.
The others sell licenses and software so raping you of every bit of personal information isn't quite so important as it is to Google.

Yes, Page want's to organize the worlds information....on Googles servers....for Google to utilize in any way that will make them money.

Information is power, always has been, and always will be, and never for the people providing the information for nothing or don't realize it's being taken without their knowledge....laws need to be passed soon to get these corporations under control

[Drillbit]

The only value your information has to them is a statistical one. That's no different from the US government or any other government. I am okay with that. Why? Because my personal choices are going to affect marketers and companies, which in turn will help force them to make more relevant products rather than crappier ones.