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Google missed cloud in the same way Microsoft missed internet. Google entire product strategy is defense of Ads/Search revenues and napalming any emerging threa

by vl 8y ago

Google missed cloud in the same way Microsoft missed internet. Google entire product strategy is defense of Ads/Search revenues and napalming any emerging threats. Through this perspective when cloud technologies started to emerge, they didn't seem important. Then it became clear that cloud providers grow and consolidate so fast, that Google is not going to be hardware buyer #1 anymore and will lose access to best hardware discounts, threatening profitability of Ads/Search itself! This was pivotal moment: backwards Cloud PA nobody cared about (fun story: Cloud PA was once forgotten at company-wide key result meeting, it was fun to see how couple hundreds of people watching video-cast in the auditorium looked at each other and like "meeting is over, they didn't mention or PA once, what is going on!") suddenly became the priority, was merged with TI (Tech Infrastructure) and everything became "Cloud! Cloud! Cloud!".

arebop 8y ago
Google's search foundations were built on a private cloud, in contrast to the prevailing architecture of that time. Google never denied the utility of building abstractions over commoditized machines the way Microsoft denied the heterogeneity and decentralized aspects of the Internet. IMO, Google was just too focused on solving problems for human beings vs. outside institutions; that's why they neglected to invest in making Borg into a public platform.
- romed 8y ago
  Borg can’t be a public product. Look at the way people complain how hard it is to use EC2 then multiply by a large factor. No isolation, sudden death, zero local I/O resources. It’s technically marvelous and dirt cheap but the masses aren’t ready for it.
  - jpatokal 8y ago
    Which is why Kubernetes/GKE is the public version of Borg.
bogomipz 8y ago
Could you say what is "Cloud PA" here? I'm not familiar with this term.
- vl 8y ago
  Product Area, it’s like division under Vice President or Senior Vice President.

by vl 8y ago

arebop 8y ago

Google's search foundations were built on a private cloud, in contrast to the prevailing architecture of that time. Google never denied the utility of building abstractions over commoditized machines the way Microsoft denied the heterogeneity and decentralized aspects of the Internet. IMO, Google was just too focused on solving problems for human beings vs. outside institutions; that's why they neglected to invest in making Borg into a public platform.

romed 8y ago
Borg can’t be a public product. Look at the way people complain how hard it is to use EC2 then multiply by a large factor. No isolation, sudden death, zero local I/O resources. It’s technically marvelous and dirt cheap but the masses aren’t ready for it.
- jpatokal 8y ago
  Which is why Kubernetes/GKE is the public version of Borg.

bogomipz 8y ago

Could you say what is "Cloud PA" here? I'm not familiar with this term.

vl 8y ago
Product Area, it’s like division under Vice President or Senior Vice President.