4 ms·

I would hardly call Google's interface designers "tasteful." It seems more likely that they knew they were bad designers so they just went with the simplest po

by dcurtis 19y ago

I would hardly call Google's interface designers "tasteful." It seems more likely that they knew they were bad designers so they just went with the simplest possible design. Yahoo doesn't get enough credit. They are doing some pretty awesome and forward-looking stuff. The reason they're falling behind, I think, is because the "yahoo" brand is so large and complex that it's hard to find anything by going to their site. It probably doesn't help that AOL.com ripped off the design almost to the pixel (I'm extremely surprised there has not been a lawsuit there).

pg 19y ago
It seems more likely that they knew they were bad designers so they just went with the simplest possible design. Yes, I think that is exactly it. But even that level of performance is quite rare. In design, merely simple is version 1 of good.
- eusman 19y ago
  it wasnt exactly the 1st version. their logo and appearance was much bulgier http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2006-04-21-n63.html http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2006-04-21-n63.html
  - pg 19y ago
    What I said that simple was version 1 of good. I.e. a metaphor. I wasn't claiming that the current G frontpage was their first version.
eusman 19y ago
ui is not always about being good looking as it about being functional. UI/experience design is totally differnt from graphic design and i see a lot of people confusing it still. (which is why u dont want a graphic designer design your ui but instead a hacker with a good taste can build a better ui)
- deleted 19y ago
  [deleted]
watmough 19y ago
I've switched my search from Google to Yahoo, but Yahoo mail still sucks too much to use over GMail. Also, there doesn't seem to be a Yahoo documents. If Microsoft want to beat Google, they need to start pushing out on-line document editing, Excel, etc., under the MS brand but through Yahoo infrastructure and internet know-how.
- stillmotion 19y ago
  I think no matter how hard Microsoft tries to beat Google at their game, it's not going to happen. Google has held the upper hand since day one. It's obvious they know the pressure points to their own company and they sure know what to do when someone thinks about beating them at their own game. Microsoft is making the mistake of trying to beat giants in one market when they are already a giant in their own. I'm not sure how Microsoft wants to play, but I am certain this isn't going to turn out like a David vs. Goliath.
  - aston 19y ago
    You don't have to be the #1 player in a market to make tons of money from it. If Microsoft's advertising wing made a tenth of what Google makes, they'd be pretty happy.
    - xirium 19y ago
      You don't have to be top to be profitable but there are disproportionate rewards from being top.
  - watmough 19y ago
    Yeah, I posted the above, but I don't believe that current management at MS has a prayer on executing successfully on anything different or new. I sure that there are factions within MS that viewed the obvious lock-in of Sharepoint as the great white hope that would roll back the internet threat and safely lock the 'intranetwork' to MS. Well, they can forget that, except for a few of the 'large client' sheep. It seems like any new interesting project is always 'Skunkworks'ed, thinking of XBox, Zune, MS Research - "The Project formerly known as 'Half the World's Smartest Researchers (Being Paid not to work ((At Google)))"', LOL. I really mean 'why', just why are they bothering with Yahoo? I mean, they will just run it into the ground. The "Next Great Idea" (tm), the next Facebook, the next You Tube, the next Slashdot is probably swiftly exiting Yahoo as we speak.

by dcurtis 19y ago

pg 19y ago

It seems more likely that they knew they were bad designers so they just went with the simplest possible design. Yes, I think that is exactly it. But even that level of performance is quite rare. In design, merely simple is version 1 of good.

eusman 19y ago
it wasnt exactly the 1st version. their logo and appearance was much bulgier http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2006-04-21-n63.html http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2006-04-21-n63.html
- pg 19y ago
  What I said that simple was version 1 of good. I.e. a metaphor. I wasn't claiming that the current G frontpage was their first version.

eusman 19y ago

ui is not always about being good looking as it about being functional. UI/experience design is totally differnt from graphic design and i see a lot of people confusing it still. (which is why u dont want a graphic designer design your ui but instead a hacker with a good taste can build a better ui)

deleted 19y ago
[deleted]

watmough 19y ago

I've switched my search from Google to Yahoo, but Yahoo mail still sucks too much to use over GMail. Also, there doesn't seem to be a Yahoo documents. If Microsoft want to beat Google, they need to start pushing out on-line document editing, Excel, etc., under the MS brand but through Yahoo infrastructure and internet know-how.

stillmotion 19y ago
I think no matter how hard Microsoft tries to beat Google at their game, it's not going to happen. Google has held the upper hand since day one. It's obvious they know the pressure points to their own company and they sure know what to do when someone thinks about beating them at their own game. Microsoft is making the mistake of trying to beat giants in one market when they are already a giant in their own. I'm not sure how Microsoft wants to play, but I am certain this isn't going to turn out like a David vs. Goliath.
- aston 19y ago
  You don't have to be the #1 player in a market to make tons of money from it. If Microsoft's advertising wing made a tenth of what Google makes, they'd be pretty happy.
  - xirium 19y ago
    You don't have to be top to be profitable but there are disproportionate rewards from being top.
- watmough 19y ago
  Yeah, I posted the above, but I don't believe that current management at MS has a prayer on executing successfully on anything different or new. I sure that there are factions within MS that viewed the obvious lock-in of Sharepoint as the great white hope that would roll back the internet threat and safely lock the 'intranetwork' to MS. Well, they can forget that, except for a few of the 'large client' sheep. It seems like any new interesting project is always 'Skunkworks'ed, thinking of XBox, Zune, MS Research - "The Project formerly known as 'Half the World's Smartest Researchers (Being Paid not to work ((At Google)))"', LOL. I really mean 'why', just why are they bothering with Yahoo? I mean, they will just run it into the ground. The "Next Great Idea" (tm), the next Facebook, the next You Tube, the next Slashdot is probably swiftly exiting Yahoo as we speak.