Google Adsense

Ballmer Critical Of Google’s China Decision

Written on January 22, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Object

At a conference in Houston on Thursday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer spoke critically of Google’s recent decision to stop censoring its search results in China. Paraphrasing some of Ballmer’s statements, Forbes says Ballmer called it an “irrational business decision” on Google’s part.
Ballmer suggested that Google’s decision to no longer filter out internet searches objectionable to [...]



….

Originally posted here:
Ballmer Critical Of Google’s China Decision

Google Loses Yet More Top Line Talent

Written on July 14, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: marketing

Just within the last month there have been reports of the number of defections from Google and the steps that Google has been taking to stop the activity. They may need to ratchet up their efforts however. Hot on the heels of the news that one of their biggest legal eagles has nested elsewhere we learn that there is another mutiny on the good ship Google-pop. TechCrunch reports that

After nearly 5 years with the company, Engineering Director Mark Lucovsky is leaving Google for a role with VMware we’ve learned.
Lucovsky has been an integral part of Google’s APIs, including the all-important Search APIs.

Mr. Lucovsky’s pedigree is quite significant. He spent 16 years with Microsoft and was given the title of Microsoft Distinguished Engineer. His accomplishments at Microsoft were so significant that when he went to tell Steve Ballmer that he was leaving Microsoft for Google ….. well, let’s just say Mr.Ballmer didn’t react well. I have altered the quote for a PG-13 rating but if you want the real deal go to TechCrunch. I suspect you will get the gist here.

“Just tell me it’s not Google,” Ballmer reportedly said according to court documents (for a case surrounding another Google ex-Microsoft hire). When Lucovsky said it was Google, Ballmer allegedly picked up a chair and threw it across the room.

What he apparently said next, will live on forever in Internet history.

“$#@%ing Eric Schmidt is a %@#^ing *&#%$. I’m going to %$@#ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I’m going %$@#ing kill Google.”

Schmidt, is of course, Google’s CEO. When Lucovsky still wasn’t convinced, Ballmer alledgedly went on to say, “Google’s not a real company. It’s a house of cards.”

Looks like Mr. Ballmer missed the mark on that one for sure. Today, though, Google gets to experience some of the pain of losing this type of talent. It’s been said quite a bit in the past that there are inherent risks with creating the culture that Google has. When there are as many Phd / alpha dogs / egos running around in one company someone has to take orders from someone else and that could eventually wear on those that are used to being in control.

So should Google be worried about this kind of activity? It is going on despite their best efforts to keep people on the boat. What are your theories on why Google is becoming a springboard for other opportunities rather than the place where folks will drop anchor and stay a while?

Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

View original here:
Google Loses Yet More Top Line Talent

Twitter Beefs Up Legal Team

Written on July 14, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing, seo

It wouldn’t be the Internet if there wasn’t just as much talk of legal action as there is of innovation. Google knows this better than anyone as they fend off lawsuits on a regular basis that are related (at least loosely in some cases) to their offerings and the apparent lines that are crossed by the search giant. Twitter has gotten a taste of that with the Tony LaRussa impersonation account issue. As a result, Twitter has just landed a bit of a catch by nabbing one of Google’s top lawyers.

According to the NY Times

Twitter, the popular micro-blogging service, has stolen a prominent Google lawyer.

The start-up has hired Alexander Macgillivray, deputy general counsel for products and intellectual property at Google, to be its general counsel, according to a person with knowledge of the hiring.

Interesting choice of words to describe the hire as stealing. I guess when you talk about lawyers it’s hard not to go there.

As Twitter grows they are obviously thinking that their legal concerns are going to grow right along with them. Considering the nature of business and the climate in which we live where one way to generate revenue is to sue someone (since the economy is still in the doldrums) Twitter is preparing for the inevitable.

Macgillivray is certainly very experienced from his time at Google.

Mr. Macgillivray has been an important member of the Google legal team, spearheading the controversial settlement with authors and book publishers over Google’s scanning of millions of out of-print library books. The settlement, if accepted by a federal judge, will clear the way for Google to make available online millions of historic books that would otherwise be difficult to find. The Justice Department has said it is inquiring into whether that settlement violates antitrust laws.

Of course, the damage that Google feels from this remains to be seen since they are still in the throes of that lawsuit and there is significant money at stake based on that decision. Macgillivray seems to have been instrumental in some of the landmark cases that Google has fought to this point including the Viacom copyright lawsuit against YouTube and represented Google when the Associated Press was crying that Google was not using their content properly.

So Twitter is certainly being smart about this. As they move toward new areas to generate revenue it is likely that will step on plenty of legal toes either intentionally or unintentionally. By nabbing an industry ‘superstar’ Twitter is certainly sending the signal that they are serious about protecting their territory.

Expansion is on the mind of Twitter as they look to bring on more engineers in addition to a chief financial officer. Looks like Twitter is really growing up and is bracing itself for the inevitable legal growing pains that are part of any start up ‘success story’. I wonder if Mr. Macgillivray can do a legal brief in 140 characters or less?

Continued here:
Twitter Beefs Up Legal Team

Live Blogging Google Wave

Written on May 28, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: Object

Back at the second keynote of Google I/O.

View original post here:
Live Blogging Google Wave

Ballmer On Bing

Written on May 28, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: Object

Microsoft’s new search engine is no longer a secret, it is named Bing and we already have a few stories up now, including Microsoft’s Bing Vs Google: Head To Head Search Results and State Of Search: Google Will Stay Strong Despite Bing & Yahoo. We thought it would be useful to find quotes from ….

See more here: 
Ballmer On Bing