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Larry-Sergey & Google is far more feature proof company Amazon - Solves easy problems at large scale Google - Solves complex problems at large scale

forkandwait 13y ago
Google -- solved a single very important problem really well by applying a well known tool (SVD and graph networks) to a novel example, also made android, otherwise not very exciting. Furthermore, brick and mortar problems are hard -- things break, rot, get lost, require staff to move them around, etc. Not to poo-poo Google or any other pure software company, but it isn't harder because its on a computer, it's actually easier.
- gbog 13y ago
  > not very exciting So you are "unexcited" by Glass, Loons, Earth/map/streetview, Go, etc.?
  - forkandwait 13y ago
    Streetview is cool. I guess I am impressed by good navigation algorithms. Loons, glass, Go, lots of aerial data -- yeah, impressive, sure.
  - sliverstorm 13y ago
    They don't really make any money on those things, at least yet.
  - agotterer 13y ago
    And lets not forget self driving cars
- enraged_camel 13y ago
  >also made android This is a common misconception. Google didn't "make" Android. They acquired it by purchasing Android, Inc.
  - jordanthoms 13y ago
    At an early stage, and incubating them for years before they told the world what they were working on.
meric 13y ago
Steel producers - Simple manufacturing at large scale Car producers - Complex manufacturing at large scale I wouldn't say one is necessarily better than the other.
runako 13y ago
I'm not sure it's that easy. Logistics is an easy problem? AWS is an easy problem? Overturning the publishing industry is an easy problem? Put another way: Google has one product (search) that makes them money. Amazon has several.
DSingularity 13y ago
You kidding right? I hardly think Amazon Prime 2 day shipping an easy problem at scale. Fortune 500 companies outsource this kind of problem to companies like IBM, and they deal with it on smaller scales. This is not an easy problem to solve while being profitable. And they are working on introducing perishables into the problem statement. Hardly easy.
deleted 13y ago
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saosebastiao 13y ago
Solves easy problems at large scale I would love to see you in an Amazon interview. 80% of the interviewed melt down in the middle of it because they can't solve a problem that is 10 orders of magnitude easier than the problems they would be tackling on the job.
- dboat 13y ago
  Well, I was going to say something similar, but I really just think he means Amazon's problems are easy compared to googles. That being the point, I don't think his phrasing is worth taking issue over.
  - res0nat0r 13y ago
    I'd say close to nothing on the AWS side or the retail website side of things are "easy" problems to design and maintain every day.
temuze 13y ago
Yeah, Amazon is a super easy problem. Let's try to make a website that sells everything. We'll only need to get every manufacturer under the sun to sell under us and make a system is compatible with all other theirs. Heck, we can easily make a big ol' warehouse system that stores every single freaking product known to man-kind and make it profitable. Super easy. Oh, and getting your customers to become more loyal to you? Easy peazy. Combine those little warehouses with two day shipping literally anywhere in the United States and offer it to customers for under a hundred bucks a year. Trivial optimization problem, if you ask me. And Amazon Web Services? Pbbbt. Just get some servers and make software that separates them into virtualized storage, computing, DNS, long-term storage, etc into different sizes and make the uptime not suck. That's like CS101 Don't even get me started on the Kindle. Just switch your entire focus from eCommerce and other industries to hardware and make a tablet and integrate it with your other media services (music, video, books, etc) and offer it for cheaper than anyone else. Super easy. #shitthatHNsays
- jmduke 13y ago
  Amazon and Microsoft solve business problems. Google solves information problems. Twitter and Facebook solve communication problems. So many of these silos have similar solutions, but approaches are so incredibly different that it can be difficult to compare them at first blush.
CrankyPants 13y ago
Google literally has one product that keeps nearly all of their lights on. They're far more vulnerable than most people think.

forkandwait 13y ago

Google -- solved a single very important problem really well by applying a well known tool (SVD and graph networks) to a novel example, also made android, otherwise not very exciting. Furthermore, brick and mortar problems are hard -- things break, rot, get lost, require staff to move them around, etc. Not to poo-poo Google or any other pure software company, but it isn't harder because its on a computer, it's actually easier.

gbog 13y ago
> not very exciting So you are "unexcited" by Glass, Loons, Earth/map/streetview, Go, etc.?
- forkandwait 13y ago
  Streetview is cool. I guess I am impressed by good navigation algorithms. Loons, glass, Go, lots of aerial data -- yeah, impressive, sure.
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  They don't really make any money on those things, at least yet.
- agotterer 13y ago
  And lets not forget self driving cars
enraged_camel 13y ago
>also made android This is a common misconception. Google didn't "make" Android. They acquired it by purchasing Android, Inc.
- jordanthoms 13y ago
  At an early stage, and incubating them for years before they told the world what they were working on.

meric 13y ago

Steel producers - Simple manufacturing at large scale Car producers - Complex manufacturing at large scale I wouldn't say one is necessarily better than the other.

runako 13y ago

I'm not sure it's that easy. Logistics is an easy problem? AWS is an easy problem? Overturning the publishing industry is an easy problem? Put another way: Google has one product (search) that makes them money. Amazon has several.

DSingularity 13y ago

You kidding right? I hardly think Amazon Prime 2 day shipping an easy problem at scale. Fortune 500 companies outsource this kind of problem to companies like IBM, and they deal with it on smaller scales. This is not an easy problem to solve while being profitable. And they are working on introducing perishables into the problem statement. Hardly easy.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

saosebastiao 13y ago

Solves easy problems at large scale I would love to see you in an Amazon interview. 80% of the interviewed melt down in the middle of it because they can't solve a problem that is 10 orders of magnitude easier than the problems they would be tackling on the job.

dboat 13y ago
Well, I was going to say something similar, but I really just think he means Amazon's problems are easy compared to googles. That being the point, I don't think his phrasing is worth taking issue over.
- res0nat0r 13y ago
  I'd say close to nothing on the AWS side or the retail website side of things are "easy" problems to design and maintain every day.

temuze 13y ago

Yeah, Amazon is a super easy problem. Let's try to make a website that sells everything. We'll only need to get every manufacturer under the sun to sell under us and make a system is compatible with all other theirs. Heck, we can easily make a big ol' warehouse system that stores every single freaking product known to man-kind and make it profitable. Super easy. Oh, and getting your customers to become more loyal to you? Easy peazy. Combine those little warehouses with two day shipping literally anywhere in the United States and offer it to customers for under a hundred bucks a year. Trivial optimization problem, if you ask me. And Amazon Web Services? Pbbbt. Just get some servers and make software that separates them into virtualized storage, computing, DNS, long-term storage, etc into different sizes and make the uptime not suck. That's like CS101 Don't even get me started on the Kindle. Just switch your entire focus from eCommerce and other industries to hardware and make a tablet and integrate it with your other media services (music, video, books, etc) and offer it for cheaper than anyone else. Super easy. #shitthatHNsays

jmduke 13y ago
Amazon and Microsoft solve business problems. Google solves information problems. Twitter and Facebook solve communication problems. So many of these silos have similar solutions, but approaches are so incredibly different that it can be difficult to compare them at first blush.

CrankyPants 13y ago

Google literally has one product that keeps nearly all of their lights on. They're far more vulnerable than most people think.