5 ms·

Larry Page: If we can't win on quality, we shouldn't win at all.

101 points by tzury 15y ago

Matt_Cutts 15y ago
By the way, if you're interested in search, Google, or SEO, it's a pretty good book: http://www.amazon.com/Im-Feeling-Lucky-Confessions-Employee/dp/0547416997/ http://www.amazon.com/Im-Feeling-Lucky-Confessions-Employee/... There's several anecdotes about the early days of Google that help explain why parts of Google turned out the way they did.
- franze 15y ago
  i'm reading it currently (page 220 at the moment) i must say it's the best book about google yet. it's actually the book about google i was waiting for. it's a book from an (ex) googler (no, i won't call them xoogerls) about google. it tells the story about the chaotic start up days, about their victories and their failures (and yes, there were failures), about the time when marketing had to "volunteer" to rewire servers, how brand and engineers fought about UX only to be overruled by sergy, how frustrating it can be to work with genius developers. it is way better than "in the plex" (which is just "myth making" with little substance), much much better than all the "what would google do" like books, and much better than all SEO books (which are all sh#t anyway ... exception "search engine marketing incorporated") well i'm on page 220 and there was not much about SEO yet. matt cutts and his p#rn cookies were mentioned, his fight against spam. there is a short story about "search for non PhD" which explains search engines pretty well (and holds more valuable information than you can get from an average SEO). it also settles the question once and for all "does google uses the data from the google toolbar?" (the answer is: YES, and the green page rank bar (i call it "thought cancer bar") is indeed just a bait to turn on the "advanced features"). nothing new, but this time it's official (kind of). i hope that all the SEOs which claim that "it's not important what the users do after the SERP clickthrough" will finally be silenced. @matt looking forward to your book...
  - Andrenid 15y ago
    Hardcopy is 40c more than ebook? $9.99 for ebook, $10.39 for physical. Digital pricing for books is really starting to get to me. It makes absolutely no sense why a digital version can cost nearly as much (and sometimes more) than a physical copy.
    - pchristensen 15y ago
      Being able to read a book, instantly, without it consuming additional physical space in your home is a feature for some people.
  - raju 15y ago
    Have you read "In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives"? How does this book compare? I don't mean to sound like a pg fanboy, but it sounds like he really liked it https://twitter.com/#!/paulg/status/55382084155482113 https://twitter.com/#!/paulg/status/55382084155482113
    - wazoox 15y ago
      I found "in the plex" fascinating too, at least the first part. It gets a bit long when it goes into details of the Chinese debacle, the Obama campaign, etc. Stuff that isn't much "googley" :)
uriel 15y ago
This is one of the reasons why I don't buy the whole concept of "intellectual property": the only thing that should matter is the quality and value provided to consumers; not marketing, not ideas, not strategy, but the end result, which as many have pointed out before is mostly execution, but whatever the path one gets there, only product standing on its own merits should matter.
- danssig 15y ago
  So only big companies like google should ever be able to do anything? When a little guy with no resources comes up with a brilliant idea he would try to implement it, the big guys would see it and use their near infinite resources to copy it while adding features and you would be cheering for them? We need to fix intellectual property, not scrap it.
  - esrauch 15y ago
    It sounds like you are supporting expanded software patents. That is a huge can of worms, and I am pretty sure it would result in the "big guy" having way more ability to keep the "little guy" down since their expansive software patent portfolios would make it so pretty much any new software would at least arguably infringe something. And just winning the case in the long term wouldn't be good enough if they are able to get an injunction and tie up the courts that would be pretty much the death sentence to any "little guy".
    - danssig 15y ago
      >It sounds like you are supporting expanded software patents. No, I'm not for "expanding", I'm for fixing. The idea of patents was to give the little guy a chance to compete with the bigger players. It has been corrupted into being the exact opposite. I would like a solution to be found that accomplishes the original goal. And no, I don't know how to do it but I'm not convinced that it's impossible. >if they are able to get an injunction and tie up the courts that would be pretty much the death sentence to any "little guy". This strikes me as largely a US problem, not a fundamental one.
scottshea 15y ago
Almost the complete opposite of a company I worked at in the late 90s where the CEO would say things like "If rover will eat I will feed him" (meaning if the customer buys the schlock we're selling who cares what you think) and "Quality Assurance is an impediment to revenue".
- asciilifeform 15y ago
  > "If rover will eat I will feed him" This slogan handily summarizes the history of the computer industry, software and hardware.

101 points by tzury 15y ago

By the way, if you're interested in search, Google, or SEO, it's a pretty good book: http://www.amazon.com/Im-Feeling-Lucky-Confessions-Employee/dp/0547416997/ http://www.amazon.com/Im-Feeling-Lucky-Confessions-Employee/... There's several anecdotes about the early days of Google that help explain why parts of Google turned out the way they did.

franze 15y ago
i'm reading it currently (page 220 at the moment) i must say it's the best book about google yet. it's actually the book about google i was waiting for. it's a book from an (ex) googler (no, i won't call them xoogerls) about google. it tells the story about the chaotic start up days, about their victories and their failures (and yes, there were failures), about the time when marketing had to "volunteer" to rewire servers, how brand and engineers fought about UX only to be overruled by sergy, how frustrating it can be to work with genius developers. it is way better than "in the plex" (which is just "myth making" with little substance), much much better than all the "what would google do" like books, and much better than all SEO books (which are all sh#t anyway ... exception "search engine marketing incorporated") well i'm on page 220 and there was not much about SEO yet. matt cutts and his p#rn cookies were mentioned, his fight against spam. there is a short story about "search for non PhD" which explains search engines pretty well (and holds more valuable information than you can get from an average SEO). it also settles the question once and for all "does google uses the data from the google toolbar?" (the answer is: YES, and the green page rank bar (i call it "thought cancer bar") is indeed just a bait to turn on the "advanced features"). nothing new, but this time it's official (kind of). i hope that all the SEOs which claim that "it's not important what the users do after the SERP clickthrough" will finally be silenced. @matt looking forward to your book...
- Andrenid 15y ago
  Hardcopy is 40c more than ebook? $9.99 for ebook, $10.39 for physical. Digital pricing for books is really starting to get to me. It makes absolutely no sense why a digital version can cost nearly as much (and sometimes more) than a physical copy.
  - pchristensen 15y ago
    Being able to read a book, instantly, without it consuming additional physical space in your home is a feature for some people.
- raju 15y ago
  Have you read "In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives"? How does this book compare? I don't mean to sound like a pg fanboy, but it sounds like he really liked it https://twitter.com/#!/paulg/status/55382084155482113 https://twitter.com/#!/paulg/status/55382084155482113
  - wazoox 15y ago
    I found "in the plex" fascinating too, at least the first part. It gets a bit long when it goes into details of the Chinese debacle, the Obama campaign, etc. Stuff that isn't much "googley" :)

uriel 15y ago

This is one of the reasons why I don't buy the whole concept of "intellectual property": the only thing that should matter is the quality and value provided to consumers; not marketing, not ideas, not strategy, but the end result, which as many have pointed out before is mostly execution, but whatever the path one gets there, only product standing on its own merits should matter.

danssig 15y ago
So only big companies like google should ever be able to do anything? When a little guy with no resources comes up with a brilliant idea he would try to implement it, the big guys would see it and use their near infinite resources to copy it while adding features and you would be cheering for them? We need to fix intellectual property, not scrap it.
- esrauch 15y ago
  It sounds like you are supporting expanded software patents. That is a huge can of worms, and I am pretty sure it would result in the "big guy" having way more ability to keep the "little guy" down since their expansive software patent portfolios would make it so pretty much any new software would at least arguably infringe something. And just winning the case in the long term wouldn't be good enough if they are able to get an injunction and tie up the courts that would be pretty much the death sentence to any "little guy".
  - danssig 15y ago
    >It sounds like you are supporting expanded software patents. No, I'm not for "expanding", I'm for fixing. The idea of patents was to give the little guy a chance to compete with the bigger players. It has been corrupted into being the exact opposite. I would like a solution to be found that accomplishes the original goal. And no, I don't know how to do it but I'm not convinced that it's impossible. >if they are able to get an injunction and tie up the courts that would be pretty much the death sentence to any "little guy". This strikes me as largely a US problem, not a fundamental one.

scottshea 15y ago

Almost the complete opposite of a company I worked at in the late 90s where the CEO would say things like "If rover will eat I will feed him" (meaning if the customer buys the schlock we're selling who cares what you think) and "Quality Assurance is an impediment to revenue".

asciilifeform 15y ago
> "If rover will eat I will feed him" This slogan handily summarizes the history of the computer industry, software and hardware.