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Google tries many more high-profile "MoonShots" than most other companies. While this is not motivated by some altruistic desire and in the end is expected to m

Google tries many more high-profile "MoonShots" than most other companies. While this is not motivated by some altruistic desire and in the end is expected to make money, this is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact this is the essence of Silicon Valley- try innovative stuff, move the needle on what the public sees as "cool" & get more people talking about the possibilities. Gruber is too quick to write-off products that are "creating the market" if they do not have a certain Fruit logo. Edit: Spelling

IBM 13y ago
Google attempts high-profile "moon shots" to appear innovative.
- adventured 13y ago
  Given the dramatic nature of that statement, can you back it up with more than just a one-liner? You're implying an extreme cascade of things. As one example in that huge cascade of implications, you're suggesting they're spending ... a billion dollars a year to look good and that Sergey Brin has no intention of creating anything ground-breaking with his life & time (while he stares down the looming parkinson's while having $30b in wealth; ie there are other things he could be doing with his time, but his goal is to appear innovative, rather than be innovative).
- robin2 13y ago
  It's possibly worth mentioning that the original moon shots were - in a sense - exercises in publicity. OK, that's putting it a bit crudely, but if you read Kennedy's speech announcing the goal of putting a man on the moon (http://www.space.com/11772-president-kennedy-historic-speech-moon-space.html http://www.space.com/11772-president-kennedy-historic-speech...) he emphasizes how impressive a feat this would be, and he frames the whole enterprise in terms of a battle with the Soviets for hearts and minds of mankind. While I can't say that I'm personally very keen on the whole idea of Google Glass, and I don't know how genuinely innovative these "moon shots" are. But even if they are not particularly innovative at all, I don't think there's anything inherently dubious about Google engaging in publicity for their vision of what the future could be.
belluchan 13y ago
Moonshots? Google throws shit on the wall and sees if it sticks. The users who end up with something that doesn't stick get the shaft. The users who got some of the shit early on before it stopped being shit get the shaft (like early Android users). Apple doesn't do that. They try to make a great product when they release it. It's better that way for consumer products. For SaaS it's different. You make something fast, and then iterate on it, but that's not how you do it for products that cost hundreds of dollars where you end up with shitty hardware that can't be replaced by downloading an update.

IBM 13y ago

Google attempts high-profile "moon shots" to appear innovative.

adventured 13y ago
Given the dramatic nature of that statement, can you back it up with more than just a one-liner? You're implying an extreme cascade of things. As one example in that huge cascade of implications, you're suggesting they're spending ... a billion dollars a year to look good and that Sergey Brin has no intention of creating anything ground-breaking with his life & time (while he stares down the looming parkinson's while having $30b in wealth; ie there are other things he could be doing with his time, but his goal is to appear innovative, rather than be innovative).
robin2 13y ago
It's possibly worth mentioning that the original moon shots were - in a sense - exercises in publicity. OK, that's putting it a bit crudely, but if you read Kennedy's speech announcing the goal of putting a man on the moon (http://www.space.com/11772-president-kennedy-historic-speech-moon-space.html http://www.space.com/11772-president-kennedy-historic-speech...) he emphasizes how impressive a feat this would be, and he frames the whole enterprise in terms of a battle with the Soviets for hearts and minds of mankind. While I can't say that I'm personally very keen on the whole idea of Google Glass, and I don't know how genuinely innovative these "moon shots" are. But even if they are not particularly innovative at all, I don't think there's anything inherently dubious about Google engaging in publicity for their vision of what the future could be.

belluchan 13y ago

Moonshots? Google throws shit on the wall and sees if it sticks. The users who end up with something that doesn't stick get the shaft. The users who got some of the shit early on before it stopped being shit get the shaft (like early Android users). Apple doesn't do that. They try to make a great product when they release it. It's better that way for consumer products. For SaaS it's different. You make something fast, and then iterate on it, but that's not how you do it for products that cost hundreds of dollars where you end up with shitty hardware that can't be replaced by downloading an update.