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Papers that have changed the way the world does computing? You must be kidding. A few thousand companies using (largely) poorly constructed products based on so

Papers that have changed the way the world does computing? You must be kidding. A few thousand companies using (largely) poorly constructed products based on some papers is not changing the world of computing. Bell labs created the first transistor for goodness sakes. The photovoltaic cell. The first gas laser! Wifi! TDMA and CDMA. The CCD. Hell half the concepts of modern operating systems came from Bell Labs. Mind you, Bell Labs had 90 years to do all this, but to even pretend like Google compares is hubris.

cromwellian 13y ago
Most companies running data centers are now copying the way Google runs data centers, Google essentially reinvented large scale data center management. Most of the online services that most people on the planet earth now consume in some part or leverage the knowledge that was published in the papers listed above. You can look at data centers before and after Google the same way people look at smartphones before and after the iPhone. And Android didn't change things? Practically every new non-Apple consumer electronics device that has any kind of UI uses the AOSP.
- Aloisius 13y ago
  Most companies running data centers are now copying the way Google runs data centers Most companies don't run data centers. Of the ones that does, the vast majority don't look a thing like Google because very, very few companies have computing requirements that look anything like Google's And Android didn't change things? Changing the marketplace doesn't mean innovating. You can be very successful (as Google is) without leaving so much as a footnote in history of invention.
  - nl 13y ago
    Most companies don't run data centers. Most companies don't build transistors. Just sayn'
- acdha 13y ago
  > Most companies running data centers are now copying the way Google runs data centers Most large tech companies perhaps but once you get out of a few major players this sadly isn't yet the case. > Google essentially reinvented large scale data center management. Almost everything Google has done are evolutionary refinements to long-running practice in HPC data centers which had long been doing automated provisioning and management, custom power & heat management, etc. for the same reasons: they couldn't afford not to.
- dalke 13y ago
  Could you disambiguate something for me? I was under the impression that more people ran things the Amazon way than the Google way. That is, I see various places which have OpenStack and Amazon EC2/S3 portability, and I assumed they looked more towards Amazon for how to run this sort of thing than Google. (Eg, to my limited understanding, the Amazon details is more well published.) While there's some mix and match, and Google and Amazon no doubt learn a bit from each other, how do you conclude that Google is the main reference? For example, if I search for "how to run a data center" I find http://www.forrester.com/Five+Data+Center+And+IT+Infrastructure+Lessons+From+The+Cloud+Giants/fulltext/-/E-RES101601 http://www.forrester.com/Five+Data+Center+And+IT+Infrastruct... , which talks about "Amazon. Salesforce.com. Microsoft. Rackspace" in the abstract, and does not mention Google.
nl 13y ago
Bell labs didn't invent either the transistor or the laser:https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6911981 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6911981 I give Bell huge credit for the work they did - in most ways that is more important. But don't undersell Google's work in the fundamentals of AI science and their contributions to software engineering.
- vacri 13y ago
  They also didn't invent the photovoltaic cell (that was 19th century tech, Bell labs was founded in 1925), nor wifi (that was NCR, which was acquired by AT&T after they did wavelan, not to mention ignoring significant work by other parties like CSIRO), and the theory behind CDMA also predates Bell Labs work on it. They were certainly a giant, even the giant, but the GP is giving them credit for other people's work. If the argument is "invention counts, refinement doesn't" in an attempt to exclude google, well, Bell loses out a lot as well.
chavesn 13y ago
I don't know what the few years after the transistor's first appearance actually seemed like, but we've got 65+ years of perspective working for us to appreciate it. Those "papers" do represent actual inventions, no matter how condescendingly you say the word "papers". And inventions only a handful of years old at that. I'd venture a guess that many of AT&Ts inventions were (or would be, given a wider audience like we have today) looked down upon in a similar way - there were probably people who said "Ha! A toy like that? A couple of screws and some silly wires? We've already got _____ that can get that done, that clunky thing will never be practical." --- Then again, I also think its a good thing that with more resources at our disposal we can take such a critical eye to work being produced by capitalistic companies, and as practices and inventions enter the industry, more easily take them for what they are really worth.
- Theodores 13y ago
  Keep up the good work! Google is a giant standing on the shoulders of giants. The nay sayers with their devil's advocate arguments are just keeping you on your toes! Google did not invent the search engine, they reinvented it. We can thank Google rather than anyone else (including Tim Berners Lee) for placing the wealth of the world's information at our fingertips. Walk into any office and you will see Google Maps on screen somewhere. Again, Google did not invent maps but it is Google Maps that everyone uses. Thanks to the efforts of Google we no longer need to know 'general knowledge', i.e. the stuff that wins prizes in quiz shows. We can use our brains for storing more useful stuff. This is tantamount to evolution. As mentioned, keep up the good work!

cromwellian 13y ago

Most companies running data centers are now copying the way Google runs data centers, Google essentially reinvented large scale data center management. Most of the online services that most people on the planet earth now consume in some part or leverage the knowledge that was published in the papers listed above. You can look at data centers before and after Google the same way people look at smartphones before and after the iPhone. And Android didn't change things? Practically every new non-Apple consumer electronics device that has any kind of UI uses the AOSP.

Aloisius 13y ago
Most companies running data centers are now copying the way Google runs data centers Most companies don't run data centers. Of the ones that does, the vast majority don't look a thing like Google because very, very few companies have computing requirements that look anything like Google's And Android didn't change things? Changing the marketplace doesn't mean innovating. You can be very successful (as Google is) without leaving so much as a footnote in history of invention.
- nl 13y ago
  Most companies don't run data centers. Most companies don't build transistors. Just sayn'
acdha 13y ago
> Most companies running data centers are now copying the way Google runs data centers Most large tech companies perhaps but once you get out of a few major players this sadly isn't yet the case. > Google essentially reinvented large scale data center management. Almost everything Google has done are evolutionary refinements to long-running practice in HPC data centers which had long been doing automated provisioning and management, custom power & heat management, etc. for the same reasons: they couldn't afford not to.
dalke 13y ago
Could you disambiguate something for me? I was under the impression that more people ran things the Amazon way than the Google way. That is, I see various places which have OpenStack and Amazon EC2/S3 portability, and I assumed they looked more towards Amazon for how to run this sort of thing than Google. (Eg, to my limited understanding, the Amazon details is more well published.) While there's some mix and match, and Google and Amazon no doubt learn a bit from each other, how do you conclude that Google is the main reference? For example, if I search for "how to run a data center" I find http://www.forrester.com/Five+Data+Center+And+IT+Infrastructure+Lessons+From+The+Cloud+Giants/fulltext/-/E-RES101601 http://www.forrester.com/Five+Data+Center+And+IT+Infrastruct... , which talks about "Amazon. Salesforce.com. Microsoft. Rackspace" in the abstract, and does not mention Google.

nl 13y ago

Bell labs didn't invent either the transistor or the laser:https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6911981 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6911981 I give Bell huge credit for the work they did - in most ways that is more important. But don't undersell Google's work in the fundamentals of AI science and their contributions to software engineering.

vacri 13y ago
They also didn't invent the photovoltaic cell (that was 19th century tech, Bell labs was founded in 1925), nor wifi (that was NCR, which was acquired by AT&T after they did wavelan, not to mention ignoring significant work by other parties like CSIRO), and the theory behind CDMA also predates Bell Labs work on it. They were certainly a giant, even the giant, but the GP is giving them credit for other people's work. If the argument is "invention counts, refinement doesn't" in an attempt to exclude google, well, Bell loses out a lot as well.

chavesn 13y ago

I don't know what the few years after the transistor's first appearance actually seemed like, but we've got 65+ years of perspective working for us to appreciate it. Those "papers" do represent actual inventions, no matter how condescendingly you say the word "papers". And inventions only a handful of years old at that. I'd venture a guess that many of AT&Ts inventions were (or would be, given a wider audience like we have today) looked down upon in a similar way - there were probably people who said "Ha! A toy like that? A couple of screws and some silly wires? We've already got _____ that can get that done, that clunky thing will never be practical." --- Then again, I also think its a good thing that with more resources at our disposal we can take such a critical eye to work being produced by capitalistic companies, and as practices and inventions enter the industry, more easily take them for what they are really worth.

Theodores 13y ago
Keep up the good work! Google is a giant standing on the shoulders of giants. The nay sayers with their devil's advocate arguments are just keeping you on your toes! Google did not invent the search engine, they reinvented it. We can thank Google rather than anyone else (including Tim Berners Lee) for placing the wealth of the world's information at our fingertips. Walk into any office and you will see Google Maps on screen somewhere. Again, Google did not invent maps but it is Google Maps that everyone uses. Thanks to the efforts of Google we no longer need to know 'general knowledge', i.e. the stuff that wins prizes in quiz shows. We can use our brains for storing more useful stuff. This is tantamount to evolution. As mentioned, keep up the good work!