Canvassing Google employee blogs
It's been a slow news month for Google employee blogs, which I don't bookmark because they are legion and most -- unlike Matt Cutts rarely say much about their employer. Non-disclosure issues aside, I think Google employees show remarkable restraint given just how much speculative commentary is provided across the Web (and Swedish researchers might conclude I post about 10% of that commentary, but that's another story).
There was, however, a small brouhaha over Google's authentication service when one of their employees, Ben Laurie, took the blogging/journalism community to task for (in his personal opinion) misrepresenting or miscomparing the service to Microsoft's upcoming Live features.
I think the most significant fact to come out of this exchange is Ben's statement that "Google doesn't announce what it's going to do, only what it's already done." I'm not sure how accurate that statement is (it was not sanctioned by Google and is Ben's personal expression). After all, if Google releases a beta tool, is that something they've already done, something they are doing, something they will be doing, or all three? It's a bit complicated.
Take the Google Web Toolkit, for example. You build AJAX applications in Java and then convert them to Javascript. This is a beta tool, but is it essentially finished, or is it just a foreshadow of what Google will do with Webmaster tools in the future?
Google has apparently made a huge investment in Java technology. According to another Google employee (Crazybob), Google powers Gmail, Adwords, and Blogger with Java. Now, I didn't know that. I've been criticizing Web-based Java apps for years because they tend to run so slow. I guess maybe the reason has more to do with available resources than anything else, since I only occasionally cringe at the slow response of Blogger's server.
Gregor Hohpe (who hopes to follow in the footsteps of Crazybob, among others) casually mentions that Java and integration are very important to Google. In fact, Google sits on the JCP Executive Committee. So they must really like Java.
Wonder how well they get along with Sun Micrsystems? It's hard to say. Or will there be a merger? Hm....
I guess Google doesn't have much to say on the subject right now, but perhaps they will after the deed is done (if indeed done it ever will be).
There was, however, a small brouhaha over Google's authentication service when one of their employees, Ben Laurie, took the blogging/journalism community to task for (in his personal opinion) misrepresenting or miscomparing the service to Microsoft's upcoming Live features.
I think the most significant fact to come out of this exchange is Ben's statement that "Google doesn't announce what it's going to do, only what it's already done." I'm not sure how accurate that statement is (it was not sanctioned by Google and is Ben's personal expression). After all, if Google releases a beta tool, is that something they've already done, something they are doing, something they will be doing, or all three? It's a bit complicated.
Take the Google Web Toolkit, for example. You build AJAX applications in Java and then convert them to Javascript. This is a beta tool, but is it essentially finished, or is it just a foreshadow of what Google will do with Webmaster tools in the future?
Google has apparently made a huge investment in Java technology. According to another Google employee (Crazybob), Google powers Gmail, Adwords, and Blogger with Java. Now, I didn't know that. I've been criticizing Web-based Java apps for years because they tend to run so slow. I guess maybe the reason has more to do with available resources than anything else, since I only occasionally cringe at the slow response of Blogger's server.
Gregor Hohpe (who hopes to follow in the footsteps of Crazybob, among others) casually mentions that Java and integration are very important to Google. In fact, Google sits on the JCP Executive Committee. So they must really like Java.
Wonder how well they get along with Sun Micrsystems? It's hard to say. Or will there be a merger? Hm....
I guess Google doesn't have much to say on the subject right now, but perhaps they will after the deed is done (if indeed done it ever will be).
posted by Michael Martinez | 11:40 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home