6 ms·

Facebook snags the guy who built Google's Chrome OS

47 points by coderdude 16y ago

illumin8 16y ago
With this, and the rumor of Google starting a new Facebook competing service, is the war between Google->Facebook heating up in the same way that Google->Apple has? Why does Google feel the need to dominate every corner of our Internet experience? Is it because their eventual business model is to wrap ads on all content everywhere? Facebook's business model is to add every physical item to the social graph, so I suppose there are natural conflicts there.
- ergo98 16y ago
  Dominate or be dominated. Facebook is increasingly becoming "the internet" for a lot of people. They interact with businesses there, communicate with peers, keep up on what is new, enjoys games and entertainment, etc. Facebook, without doubt, wants to be your internet. They want to wrap their ads around everything you can do. Google is the same. As is Microsoft. As is Apple. As is everyone else.
- dinedal 16y ago
  Why does Microsoft need to be in the gaming market? In short, because they can expand there and expect to succeed since the fields are closely related, and any short comings can be fixed by throwing money at them. Yes, Google is trying to own the internet from the power lines it runs on, the air waves it transmits on, to the machines used to access it. Why do you think Henry Ford owned a steel mill? Do you think that he shouldn't have entered the steel market and just bought steel from the existing mills?
- brown9-2 16y ago
  Do you have any further info on that rumor? This is something distinct from Buzz, Orkut, etc?
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - cmelbye 16y ago
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/28/google-me-googles-faceboo_n_626968.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/28/google-me-googles-f...
- access_denied 16y ago
  > Why does Google feel the need to dominate every corner of our Internet experience? I think a lot of that is preventing the internet to become a closed box. Google needs the open web to stay open. Not only for monetization reasons but also to be abble to gather data. Companies like Facebook or Microsoft want to own the whole net, so "war" is unevitable.
- mkramlich 16y ago
  Am I the only one that thinks that a merger between Facebook and Google would be a juggernaut in terms of being a one-stop shop for unified online user activity awareness and advertising?
borisk 16y ago
Sweet. How long will Facebook be able to delay the IPO to steal/keep the best talent in the industry?
- zach 16y ago
  Seems like a winning strategy. Facebook is the Peter Pan of Silicon Valley right now. The "grownups" don't stand a chance -- you can never go back to being pre-IPO again.
siglesias 16y ago
Honestly Google's bifurcation in supporting both Chrome OS and Android was, at least to me, a perplexing decision, as they seem fundamentally (competing UI's, similar market) to be incompatible roadmaps. If touch tablets ends up upending the netbook category, then Chrome OS won't really have a home. It doesn't have the capability of taking advantage of advanced hardware, and netbook functionality might be fully accounted for by Android tablets. Chrome OS was an interesting bet in the direction of computing (smaller, inexpensive notebooks as the norm for Internet consumption and light office work), but things might not pan out the way Chrome's founders had thought.
- glhaynes 16y ago
  I agree. What problem does Chrome OS solve?
  - keltex 16y ago
    Chrome OS is completely browser-centric & cloud-centric. While Android is a small device OS oriented to phones. Android also supports installing 3rd party applications, which my guess is Chrome doesn't. I assume that Chrome OS will completely sync with Chrome on the desktop. This means that if you're working on your web-based apps on your computer, you'll be able to pick up your Chrome tablet and seamlessly continue the work and then switch back again.
    - glhaynes 16y ago
      Why couldn't that be done approximately as well on, say, Android, though? I don't see any particular reason why I'd pick a device based around Chrome OS when that device could run Android instead which seems able to do everything that Chrome OS can do and more. In other words: what do Chrome OS's limitations add to the experience? It's interesting from a technical standpoint to build a fully-functioning system with Chrome OS's limitations, but how does it make a better product?
    - joe_the_user 16y ago
      Android also supports installing 3rd party applications, which my guess is Chrome doesn't. If that is true, then Chrome will certainly be violating the spirit if not the letter of software - "free software" that only allows you to do things on server controlled by someone else...
tbgvi 16y ago
That is a lot of talent, seemingly in stuff that Facebook doesn't really do. Any ideas on what they're up to over there? I don't know if the world needs another browser, but maybe Facebook is working on one?
- fauigerzigerk 16y ago
  I was thinking "browser" as well when I read this. But Facebook is a social networking company, and what is the greatest social network of them all? The phone network. So my hunch is that they are creating a mobile OS that closely interlinks their own social network and the phone network.
  - gustaf 16y ago
    If they are it would probably be a android-fork?
    - stcredzero 16y ago
      How about a ChromeOS fork? A browser-centric tablet OS would be a very nice thing for Facebook to control.
      - joe_the_user 16y ago
        Now if it's ChromeOS fork, one would assume that Facebook wouldn't have absolute control, given that it would be "re-forkable". This might an issue given Facebook's "your data belong to us" attitude (if that's not the current TOS). Perhaps they'll create a similar thing from scratch.
        uxp 16y ago
        Facebook has released a wide selection of forkable code: http://github.com/facebook http://github.com/facebook
        16y ago
brown9-2 16y ago
The second-to-last paragraph in this article reads like it came straight out of a Facebook press release: Put these two new people together with Firefox co-founders Blake Ross and Joe Hewitt, brought to Facebook almost three years ago and Paul Buchheit and Bret Taylor, the creators of Gmail, Adsense and Friendfeed, acquired just under one year ago, and what do you get? A monster team with the experience to create a compelling, fully wrap-around internet experience for hundreds of millions of users. Also am I the only one who finds it a little odd that Facebook sends out press alerts about which engineers it snagged from which companies? I understand why some people - or at least, some websites - would care, it just all sounds so silly in the end.
- erlanger 16y ago
  Conspicuous consumption.
- irrelative 16y ago
  I think this is mostly free publicity to acquire other talent. Engineers like to work with other good engineers. For instance, I'd love to work with Joe Hewitt and Paul Buchheit and Bret Taylor. Firebug, gmail and tornado.py (respectively) are great pieces of software produced by very talented engineers.
WesleyJohnson 16y ago
I'm really curious about the core motivations a devloper like Matt has for leaving a project like Chrome OS before it's seen through to completion. To be as gifted as Matt appears to be, you have to have a deep love for what you do. And with that love, I would hope comes a sense of pride and ownership in your work. I just couldn't fathom walking away from something like Chrome OS to work at Facebook. I imagine Facebook gave him one heck of an offer. But if there is anything I've learned in the short time I've been a devloper and the even shorter amount of time I've been reading HN, it's that people who truly love what they do in this industry don't always go for the gold. And even if he is dirven by financial gain, I can't imagine he was wanting for much of anything working at Google, so why the switch?
- ww520 16y ago
  My guess is that he's poorly managed. Often developers leave a company because of the poor management or bad company viability/culture/etc. Google seems to have good viability/culture/etc, so it's probably the management.
  - spot 16y ago
    He is a manager and not a developer.
    - stcredzero 16y ago
      He still could've been mismanaged. I take it that Google's hierarchy is pretty shallow, though.
- illumin8 16y ago
  Would you rather work for Google post-IPO, where the stock is up and down every year, or would you rather work for Facebook pre-IPO and potentially make $millions? I think the financial motivation is pretty extreme for a top engineer like this. He can probably retire after Facebook goes public if he wants to.
  - 16y ago
ww520 16y ago
Not to trivialize the work and pardon my ignorance, but isn't Chrome OS just a locked-down Linux with a browser running on top of it?
- sprout 16y ago
  It also hasn't seen any use in production, unless I'm mistaken.
- coderdude 16y ago
  I could be mistaken, but I believe it runs an entirely new windowing system as well. Edit: It does indeed run a new windowing system, but details are scant on this blog entry: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-ch...

47 points by coderdude 16y ago

With this, and the rumor of Google starting a new Facebook competing service, is the war between Google->Facebook heating up in the same way that Google->Apple has? Why does Google feel the need to dominate every corner of our Internet experience? Is it because their eventual business model is to wrap ads on all content everywhere? Facebook's business model is to add every physical item to the social graph, so I suppose there are natural conflicts there.

ergo98 16y ago
Dominate or be dominated. Facebook is increasingly becoming "the internet" for a lot of people. They interact with businesses there, communicate with peers, keep up on what is new, enjoys games and entertainment, etc. Facebook, without doubt, wants to be your internet. They want to wrap their ads around everything you can do. Google is the same. As is Microsoft. As is Apple. As is everyone else.
dinedal 16y ago
Why does Microsoft need to be in the gaming market? In short, because they can expand there and expect to succeed since the fields are closely related, and any short comings can be fixed by throwing money at them. Yes, Google is trying to own the internet from the power lines it runs on, the air waves it transmits on, to the machines used to access it. Why do you think Henry Ford owned a steel mill? Do you think that he shouldn't have entered the steel market and just bought steel from the existing mills?
brown9-2 16y ago
Do you have any further info on that rumor? This is something distinct from Buzz, Orkut, etc?
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- cmelbye 16y ago
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/28/google-me-googles-faceboo_n_626968.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/28/google-me-googles-f...
access_denied 16y ago
> Why does Google feel the need to dominate every corner of our Internet experience? I think a lot of that is preventing the internet to become a closed box. Google needs the open web to stay open. Not only for monetization reasons but also to be abble to gather data. Companies like Facebook or Microsoft want to own the whole net, so "war" is unevitable.
mkramlich 16y ago
Am I the only one that thinks that a merger between Facebook and Google would be a juggernaut in terms of being a one-stop shop for unified online user activity awareness and advertising?

borisk 16y ago

Sweet. How long will Facebook be able to delay the IPO to steal/keep the best talent in the industry?

zach 16y ago
Seems like a winning strategy. Facebook is the Peter Pan of Silicon Valley right now. The "grownups" don't stand a chance -- you can never go back to being pre-IPO again.

siglesias 16y ago

Honestly Google's bifurcation in supporting both Chrome OS and Android was, at least to me, a perplexing decision, as they seem fundamentally (competing UI's, similar market) to be incompatible roadmaps. If touch tablets ends up upending the netbook category, then Chrome OS won't really have a home. It doesn't have the capability of taking advantage of advanced hardware, and netbook functionality might be fully accounted for by Android tablets. Chrome OS was an interesting bet in the direction of computing (smaller, inexpensive notebooks as the norm for Internet consumption and light office work), but things might not pan out the way Chrome's founders had thought.

glhaynes 16y ago
I agree. What problem does Chrome OS solve?
- keltex 16y ago
  Chrome OS is completely browser-centric & cloud-centric. While Android is a small device OS oriented to phones. Android also supports installing 3rd party applications, which my guess is Chrome doesn't. I assume that Chrome OS will completely sync with Chrome on the desktop. This means that if you're working on your web-based apps on your computer, you'll be able to pick up your Chrome tablet and seamlessly continue the work and then switch back again.
  - glhaynes 16y ago
    Why couldn't that be done approximately as well on, say, Android, though? I don't see any particular reason why I'd pick a device based around Chrome OS when that device could run Android instead which seems able to do everything that Chrome OS can do and more. In other words: what do Chrome OS's limitations add to the experience? It's interesting from a technical standpoint to build a fully-functioning system with Chrome OS's limitations, but how does it make a better product?
  - joe_the_user 16y ago
    Android also supports installing 3rd party applications, which my guess is Chrome doesn't. If that is true, then Chrome will certainly be violating the spirit if not the letter of software - "free software" that only allows you to do things on server controlled by someone else...

tbgvi 16y ago

That is a lot of talent, seemingly in stuff that Facebook doesn't really do. Any ideas on what they're up to over there? I don't know if the world needs another browser, but maybe Facebook is working on one?

fauigerzigerk 16y ago
I was thinking "browser" as well when I read this. But Facebook is a social networking company, and what is the greatest social network of them all? The phone network. So my hunch is that they are creating a mobile OS that closely interlinks their own social network and the phone network.
- gustaf 16y ago
  If they are it would probably be a android-fork?
  - stcredzero 16y ago
    How about a ChromeOS fork? A browser-centric tablet OS would be a very nice thing for Facebook to control.
    - joe_the_user 16y ago
      Now if it's ChromeOS fork, one would assume that Facebook wouldn't have absolute control, given that it would be "re-forkable". This might an issue given Facebook's "your data belong to us" attitude (if that's not the current TOS). Perhaps they'll create a similar thing from scratch.
      - uxp 16y ago
        Facebook has released a wide selection of forkable code: http://github.com/facebook http://github.com/facebook
        16y ago

brown9-2 16y ago

The second-to-last paragraph in this article reads like it came straight out of a Facebook press release: Put these two new people together with Firefox co-founders Blake Ross and Joe Hewitt, brought to Facebook almost three years ago and Paul Buchheit and Bret Taylor, the creators of Gmail, Adsense and Friendfeed, acquired just under one year ago, and what do you get? A monster team with the experience to create a compelling, fully wrap-around internet experience for hundreds of millions of users. Also am I the only one who finds it a little odd that Facebook sends out press alerts about which engineers it snagged from which companies? I understand why some people - or at least, some websites - would care, it just all sounds so silly in the end.

erlanger 16y ago
Conspicuous consumption.
irrelative 16y ago
I think this is mostly free publicity to acquire other talent. Engineers like to work with other good engineers. For instance, I'd love to work with Joe Hewitt and Paul Buchheit and Bret Taylor. Firebug, gmail and tornado.py (respectively) are great pieces of software produced by very talented engineers.

WesleyJohnson 16y ago

I'm really curious about the core motivations a devloper like Matt has for leaving a project like Chrome OS before it's seen through to completion. To be as gifted as Matt appears to be, you have to have a deep love for what you do. And with that love, I would hope comes a sense of pride and ownership in your work. I just couldn't fathom walking away from something like Chrome OS to work at Facebook. I imagine Facebook gave him one heck of an offer. But if there is anything I've learned in the short time I've been a devloper and the even shorter amount of time I've been reading HN, it's that people who truly love what they do in this industry don't always go for the gold. And even if he is dirven by financial gain, I can't imagine he was wanting for much of anything working at Google, so why the switch?

ww520 16y ago
My guess is that he's poorly managed. Often developers leave a company because of the poor management or bad company viability/culture/etc. Google seems to have good viability/culture/etc, so it's probably the management.
- spot 16y ago
  He is a manager and not a developer.
  - stcredzero 16y ago
    He still could've been mismanaged. I take it that Google's hierarchy is pretty shallow, though.
illumin8 16y ago
Would you rather work for Google post-IPO, where the stock is up and down every year, or would you rather work for Facebook pre-IPO and potentially make $millions? I think the financial motivation is pretty extreme for a top engineer like this. He can probably retire after Facebook goes public if he wants to.
- 16y ago

ww520 16y ago

Not to trivialize the work and pardon my ignorance, but isn't Chrome OS just a locked-down Linux with a browser running on top of it?

sprout 16y ago
It also hasn't seen any use in production, unless I'm mistaken.
coderdude 16y ago
I could be mistaken, but I believe it runs an entirely new windowing system as well. Edit: It does indeed run a new windowing system, but details are scant on this blog entry: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-ch...