OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/25712/_Why_I_left_Google_ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2013, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:18:35 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com wow lots of credibility http://www.osnews.com/thread?510461 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510461 Considering he's not an MS employee posting this on an MS blog, well take that for what it is. I'm not even going to bother reading it.

If the guy had left for some startup to try to get away from brain dead direction from a brain deal top management he might have some credibility. Instead he traded one for another.

Btw, I actually did scan the article...Edited 2012-03-14 00:25 UTC Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (bnolsen) Comments Google+ > Facebook http://www.osnews.com/thread?510468 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510468 I think Google+ is superior to Facebook, for the sole reason that there's not many people on there. At least for me, it's just myself and a small group of friends who are all techies. Thus, the conversations on Google+ seem a lot more interesting than the 'Post this as your status for an hour if you've ever been disemboweled by a wooden cooking spoon' shit I see on Facebook all the time.

That being said, I think this whole sharing thing has been way overblown. Not because I'm concerned about privacy, but because I'm sick of apps like Spotify constantly nagging me to log in using Facebook, just so I can share a bunch of information with my friends that they probably don't want to see anyway. That, and certain apps/services only being available through Facebook. And I'm not even anti-Facebook like a lot of my friends are. Also, new features in apps these days seem geared more around sharing than any real functionality. For example, most RSS apps on the planet give you the ability to share articles in several different ways, but virtually none of them I've found offer any way to combine/filter feeds. For that, I have to use Yahoo Pipes. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:50:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (WorknMan) Comments Very good ranticle http://www.osnews.com/thread?510470 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510470 Google isn't a social company. It's not in their corporate culture. Even Microsoft failed at it. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 01:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ronaldst) Comments A mostly agree http://www.osnews.com/thread?510476 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510476 I post to Google+ more than facebook but I agree with him about the direction shift he mentioned at Google.

I used to just surf to google labs once in while just to check out the cool things Google was cooking up and I was sad to see it go.

I think the companies trying to copy Facebook mostly don't get it. I don't want my email account feature added to provide social networking.

I still don't think all hope is lost for Google+ though. I think its still possible for them to find some success with a niche like workgroup collaboration that would be aimed more at the out of high school crowd.

I think Facebook is making some mistakes in that it is too open, too willing to violate everyone's privacy, and things like being on a web site and looking down at the comments section to notice I am pre-logged in with my Facebook account give me the creeps. The constant bombardment of BS app spam from farmville etc.

Some things facebook does are worth copying others features are crap and I don't see many people figuring out the difference any time soon.

Part of being a publicly traded company comes a well established nasty habbit of not being able to see past the next quarters numbers and even the mighty Google has shown it isn't immune. In saying that though, maybe Facebook IPO could be the break its competitors are looking for.Edited 2012-03-14 03:08 UTC Wed, 14 Mar 2012 03:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Priest) Comments Why? http://www.osnews.com/thread?510477 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510477 Ok. I will agree in general on the content in his post, but...
Going from Google to Microsoft? It does not compute.

I mean, if that was his actual reason for leaving Google, Microsoft should have been the last place he should have gone to. I just suspect that Microsoft offered him better options and he is now rationalizing the decision. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 03:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JAlexoid) Comments But http://www.osnews.com/thread?510478 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510478 Over on Slashdot.org there is a pointer to an article that is complaining that Google does not concentrate on advertising because they are spending $16,000,000,000 on research ideas, many that will probably fail.

Also the investor community thinks Google is dumb letting it's engineers spend 20% of their time researching anything they want.

The above does not sound like just an advertising company to me?

Android Phones - pure advertising?
Self driving cars - pure advertising?

Google Maps - Ok, I have used it to find stores/services that I needed. But I have also used it to search for trails in the bush near my cottage. To print out better maps of Caribbean islands I am going on a cruise.

A number of Google's services do more than just advertising. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 03:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Earl C Pottinger) Comments The money is better at Microsoft http://www.osnews.com/thread?510480 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510480 I presume that Microsoft offered him more cash. That's why he went there. Of course, he had to come up with some ludicrous reason to justify it. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 03:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ozonehole) Comments Why I left google http://www.osnews.com/thread?510482 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510482 is because Microsoft gave me a better offer. Hey, nothing wrong with that but why would you feel the need to justify it? All this talk about advertising and stuff sounds just a wee bit hollow when your new employer is Microsoft. If he had went and started his own little innovative and social company I could have bought it but this? No.Edited 2012-03-14 03:41 UTC Wed, 14 Mar 2012 03:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Soulbender) Comments RE: But http://www.osnews.com/thread?510483 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510483 Many of those things happened or were in the works before Google was a public company. Even after they went public the company didn't change over night.

Gmail was 2004, Android acquired 2005, Maps 2005, Earth acquired in 2005, Google code 2005.

Their IPO was 2005, since then they acquired Youtube in 2006, DoubleClick in 2007, acquired AdMob in 2009, closed Google Labs in 2011 "in order to provide better focus on non-experimental applications"

Other notable pre IPO products and aquasitions were Picasa, Toolbar, News, Orkut, Groups, Books, News, Video, Froogle, and Blogger.

Google was a frenzy of cool acquisitions and products up untill 2006. They went public 7 years ago and since then the only really cool thing I can name that came out is Chrome in 2008 and the seed of which could have easily been planted before the corporate mentality really started to do real damage to creativity. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 03:56:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Priest) Comments RE: The money is better at Microsoft http://www.osnews.com/thread?510485 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510485 While valid, you have to consider that a lot of talented people that went to Google could have had higher paychecks (and titles) elsewhere but decided they would rather work at Google.

Google has stated in the past that they staff people in positions they are generally overqualified for. They have people walking around with masters degrees and PhD's from some of the best schools in the country doing jobs that you can do in many other companies without a degree.

If google becomes like every other company then what is the point of being an overqualified and underpaid employee for them? Wed, 14 Mar 2012 04:07:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Priest) Comments RE: Very good ranticle http://www.osnews.com/thread?510493 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510493
Google isn't a social company. It's not in their corporate culture. Even Microsoft failed at it.


In general, a developer-centric company isn't likely to be social in an encompassing manner. Developers, like most people, have cliques with those who share similar opinions. Google seems to be working very hard at changing their culture to be more open and transparent to outsiders, actively engaging with others, and trying to build something social. While at times it comes off as a bit awkward, I applaud them for trying. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 08:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (lfeagan) Comments This is not the article you are looking for.. http://www.osnews.com/thread?510498 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510498 Anyone else come here expecting to see a piece about why somebody moved their search/mail/docs/data away from Google's services?

I was kind of hoping to see a list of alternatives for these and how well putting your eggs in several baskets works out.

Ah well. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 08:58:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (crimperman) Comments Says a lot about Google http://www.osnews.com/thread?510499 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510499 This guy was pretty important at Google, his opinion on how things have changed is important; although he's not saying something we already didn't know.
To anyone wondering why he joined Microsoft, you're getting your answer soon

Wow. Seem to have hit upon a topic many are thinking about. I am working on a 'Why I joined Microsoft' post. Stay tuned.

https://twitter.com/#!/docjamesw

PS: Google Labs was pretty awesome, it's pretty sad that they shut it down.Edited 2012-03-14 09:05 UTC Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (bowkota) Comments tamed comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?510502 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510502 It seems the blog would filter out any comment which would look even lightly detrimental to Microsoft.

Welcome into the tamed/controled/censored world of Microsoft. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Tractor) Comments I U NO JUSTIFY ON YOUR PERSONAL BLOG http://www.osnews.com/thread?510516 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510516 Why justify this on a Microsoft Blog, and not on your personal blog right after the departure?

Making this post on the MS blog, just decreased the reputation of it, because it seems that you posted just to create FUD against Google. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Risthel) Comments RE: wow lots of credibility http://www.osnews.com/thread?510530 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510530 Microsoft primarily makes products for people to buy if they want to use it though, where Google sells people to advertisers to wring them for cash.

You may not like Microsoft, but they are clearly a very different beast from Google. There is no inconsistency in leaving Google for Microsoft if you take issue with companies doing everything to amass peoples personal information to sell to advertisers. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:23:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (vaette) Comments RE: Why? http://www.osnews.com/thread?510531 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510531 Microsoft sells actual products to people for direct payment, they are not in the business of farming peoples personal information to sell them out to advertisers. There is no inconsistency.

You may not consider Microsoft a moral company, but they are an old-style business, and their fundamental business model (build thing, set a price, sell it to people) is one I can't imagine that anyone outside of RMS can really take issue with.

Either way, apparently we will know his motivation shortly: https://twitter.com/#!/docjamesw/status/179700356694028288 Edited 2012-03-14 12:30 UTC Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (vaette) Comments Why I left series http://www.osnews.com/thread?510558 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510558 It looks like a trent.
After the two google left chronicles, today also one of goldman sachs..

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/why-i-am-leaving-goldman-...

Not techy, but hope ti give it some more meaning (duiding in dutch) Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:07:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (edzob) Comments RE[2]: wow lots of credibility http://www.osnews.com/thread?510559 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510559
There is no inconsistency in leaving Google for Microsoft if you take issue with companies doing everything to amass peoples personal information to sell to advertisers.


A) Microsoft and Facebook. Look up their relationship.
B) Where can I buy that personal information. I would like to call every single person that followed the link of my ads and thank them. Please, do point me to it. And then contrast it to what Twitter does. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:11:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JAlexoid) Comments RE[2]: Why? http://www.osnews.com/thread?510561 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510561 See http://www.osnews.com/permalink?510559 Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:12:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JAlexoid) Comments RE: Why I left series http://www.osnews.com/thread?510562 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510562 I'm going to write, why I left IBM.

Spoiler - 4 ze moneyz! Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:15:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JAlexoid) Comments RE[3]: wow lots of credibility http://www.osnews.com/thread?510566 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510566 Microsoft owns part of Facebook yes, but this guy did not take a job with Facebook. He has already noted that he runs a large development team inside Microsoft, so he is engineering something.

While you can't buy the information in list form from Google the personal information is certainly leveraged for the benefit of advertisers. Phone numbers don't enter into it, but do you really claim that Google isn't using a profile of you based on your web searches and similar to serve you ads? Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (vaette) Comments real reason http://www.osnews.com/thread?510573 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510573 Probably for greener pa$ture$ Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (fran) Comments RE[2]: Why? http://www.osnews.com/thread?510579 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510579 There is no point talking sense on OSNEWS ... if you support Microsoft or Like anything Microsoft in the comments you are either "paid","trolling" or "mis-informed". Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:17:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (lucas_maximus) Comments other side http://www.osnews.com/thread?510580 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510580 Google said it was going to "put more wood behind fewer arrows".
Almost the anti argument of that blog post can be found below. Google was waisting money on projects that went nowhere.

http://www.internetevolution.com/document.asp?doc_id=240386&pri... Edited 2012-03-14 16:38 UTC Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:37:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (fran) Comments RE: Why I left google http://www.osnews.com/thread?510581 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510581
is because Microsoft gave me a better offer.

See, now this is more insightful. "My new company does this for me" rather than "I'm mortally wounded about my old company." He went off on a rant about how bad Google was for him but didn't mention a damned thing about how his new job was doing things better. Is it doing things better for him and how so?

Hey, nothing wrong with that but why would you feel the need to justify it?

In my experience people go out of their way to justify things because the alternative is admitting they might have made a mistake. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jimmmy) Comments RE: wow lots of credibility http://www.osnews.com/thread?510584 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510584 So, Google fanboy, you don't question why he left Google for MS? Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Hiev) Comments RE[2]: Why I left google http://www.osnews.com/thread?510585 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510585 In my experience people go out of their way to justify things because the alternative is admitting they might have made a mistake

As always, Google zombies try to justify Google at any cost, even being desillutional, A man who actually worked at Google says Google sucks now, deal with it, don't try to pull out theories from thin air. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Hiev) Comments Between a rock and hard place http://www.osnews.com/thread?510587 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510587 Googles sole source of revenue (95%) comes from selling internet advertising coupled to user data and the vast majority of that comes from advertising associated in some way with the internet being accessed from a browser on a traditional PC. That world is going away. It's going away because increasingly people are accessing the internet though mobile devices (where mobile advertising is a piffling small market), or not via a browser but via an app, or spending most of their time inside walled off places like Facebook where Google is not collecting much user data or selling advertising.

Being dependent on just one revenue stream leaves Google vulnerable and the way the internet and technology and computing are all developing is threatening to undermine that one revenue source, possibly quite quickly. Hence Google2 is becoming a much more focussed creature than Google1 (even though the still fairly shambolic internal structures it inherited from Google1 is making the development of focus hard) and Google2 is trying to expand and deepen revenue collection. Google1 could afford to be altruistic and could try to be ethics and value driven. Google2 can't. Although Google2 can still talk the talk it inherited from Google1 it is often acting in an entirely different way a lot of the time. I wonder how long the disconnect between words and deeds will last?

As Brian Hall asked in a recent post

"You tell me -- based on Google's actions not the words of the CEO -- what is Google's stance on:

Net neutrality
Search neutrality
Operating in China
Patents and patent lawsuits
Licensing
Open standards -- that they do not control
Android -- without other Google products embedded
Web innovation - that they do not control"


I liked Google1 and I wasn't too bothered about being dependent on or watched by Google1 as I used it's excellent free offerings. I am not so sure about Google2, I find myself looking for alternatives to Google services a lot more now. And they are available Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Tony Swash) Comments RE[3]: Why I left google http://www.osnews.com/thread?510591 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510591
As always, Google zombies try to justify Google at any cost, even being desillutional, A man who actually worked at Google says Google sucks now, deal with it, don't try to pull out theories from thin air.


I'm not waving a Google flag here. I'm just saying that the article seems more like bitter QQ than anything else. If in a few years when he quits his current job, I'm sure he'll have lots of QQ then too. Pointing out that it's senseless QQ won't make me a Microsoft fan.

I'm no Google fanboy. Stop trying to pigeonhole me as one. That's something you pulled from thin air, angry man. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 18:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (jimmmy) Comments RE[4]: Why I left google http://www.osnews.com/thread?510592 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510592 I would suspect he got asked why he left Google a lot by people.

I personally wouldn't want to work at Microsoft even though I love their products, I am too much of a "hacker" and I don't like development processes where management are overly involved. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 18:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (lucas_maximus) Comments RE[3]: Why? http://www.osnews.com/thread?510599 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510599
There is no point talking sense on OSNEWS ... if you support Microsoft or Like anything Microsoft in the comments you are either "paid","trolling" or "mis-informed".

Very say, but very true.

For the record, I know a lot of people who have worked or are currently working for Microsoft. I can count on one hand how many people didn't/don't like it. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:19:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ilovebeer) Comments RE: wow lots of credibility http://www.osnews.com/thread?510628 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510628 So in other words it makes ZERO difference if any of his points are valid if they don't fit into your myopic worldview? Biased much? He has made it clear that his reason for leaving was an all consuming obsession with FB, who hasn't seen this? the changes in privacy policies, the pushing of Google+, the killing of any projects that don't tie into social, its pretty obvious that Google is as obsessed with FB as Ballmer's MSFT is with Apple.

To me what is sad is that because there is zero brand loyalty in search Google's obsession could easily do to them what happened to Altavista and yahoo before them, which is run off their users. i am using yahoo search full time now (which i know is powered by Bing's backend as is DuckDuckGo and several others, but I like the Yahoo Search UI better) because frankly the search results on Google have been getting worse. Blame it on SEOs, their obsession with social, whatever, but when i need to find a review of a product i'm looking at and get pages of SEO spam Google just isn't helpful.

Personally I just wish the whole "hey jump on the bandwagon!" crud would just DIAF already. We have all the major OSes ripping off smartphone UIs even though it makes NO sense because smartphones are "hip" right now, Ubuntu wants to be a smartphone, MSFT wants to be Apple, Google wants to be FB, Mozilla wants to be Chrome, enough already! Just be the best at what you already are and stop playing follow the leader already! Wed, 14 Mar 2012 23:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (bassbeast) Comments RE: Why? http://www.osnews.com/thread?510663 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510663 comment deleted by the authorEdited 2012-03-15 07:05 UTC Thu, 15 Mar 2012 06:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (MollyC) Comments RE[2]: wow lots of credibility http://www.osnews.com/thread?510678 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510678 MS is now shifting heavily to Google's model, at least in part. They just haven't succeeded yet. Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:34:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (dsmogor) Comments RE[4]: wow lots of credibility http://www.osnews.com/thread?510721 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510721
He has already noted that he runs a large development team inside Microsoft, so he is engineering something.

And at Google he was the guy in charge of gathering your personal information? I'm not saying he made the wrong choice, but his explanation is more of a rationalization considering where he moved on. It's like complaining about bureaucracy in a government job and leaving for a job in a big corporation.

While you can't buy the information in list form from Google the personal information is certainly leveraged for the benefit of advertisers.

Thus your previous comment "to sell to advertisers" is at least an exaggeration and at most an intentional deceit(aka lie).

Phone numbers don't enter into it, but do you really claim that Google isn't using a profile of you based on your web searches and similar to serve you ads?

Not only web searches but page visit history and much, much more... Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JAlexoid) Comments RE[5]: Why I left google http://www.osnews.com/thread?510722 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510722
you support Microsoft

Wouldn't the best way of supporting Microsoft be actually joining Microsoft and building tools for them? Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JAlexoid) Comments RE[6]: Why I left google http://www.osnews.com/thread?510803 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510803 I didn't say anything about supporting them. I like their products. If they make a product I like, I use it ... if it sucks I use something else. Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (lucas_maximus) Comments Validity? http://www.osnews.com/thread?510805 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510805 Why can't it be taken at face value ... he was actually someone who worked in the company, unlike you who didn't

Microsoft is just too big of an entity to be as evil as everyone makes out. If you work in an organisation with more than a few hundred employees, one end department rarely knows what the other is doing.

Microsoft is massive ... leave the conspiracy theories at home.Edited 2012-03-16 09:32 UTC Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (lucas_maximus) Comments RE[5]: wow lots of credibility http://www.osnews.com/thread?510828 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510828 It gets worse ..

http://googletesting.blogspot.com/2009/06/james-whittaker-joins-goo...

He was a microsoft employee that left Microsoft to join Google in 2009 and then decides to Join Microsoft back 3 years later and he is a software tester and was a massive blogger for Microsoft.

http://goo.gl/x2nn4 look at the news interest this has generated, all the way to the daily mail, the register the huffington post.. So what was this blog post really about ? Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (delta0.delta0) Comments RE[2]: wow lots of credibility http://www.osnews.com/thread?510833 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510833 So Microsoft fanboy, why did he leave Microsoft initially to join Google ? if Microsoft was such a great place to work why did he leave them in 2009 to join Google ? Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:19:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (delta0.delta0) Comments RE: Validity? http://www.osnews.com/thread?510854 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510854 Their corporate policies and practices are what make them "evil". A big company only implies that you can't judge a whole company by a few lower rank employees. Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JAlexoid) Comments RE[2]: Validity? http://www.osnews.com/thread?510857 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510857 :sigh: Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (lucas_maximus) Comments Stop burning bridges... http://www.osnews.com/thread?510859 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510859 It's never a good idea to talk bad about a previous employer, especially on the internet.

People who badmouth their previous employers are less likely to get hired... Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:56:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (sithlord2) Comments RE[3]: Validity? http://www.osnews.com/thread?510917 http://www.osnews.com/thread?510917 Try working at one. Sat, 17 Mar 2012 02:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (JAlexoid) Comments