interesting research. "Factoring in a few technical limitations, API coverage issues and some secret sauce, I assume I’m missing about 15-20% of the users. In fact I could be bold and speculate that FriendFeed has an active userbase of about 75K users. Again, this is based only on partial data and my own interpretation." - Thomas Hawk
Liked. Somebody is doing my job! I better shape up! - Yuvi
Mike from Techcrunch said today that he has "10,177 subscribers" as opposed to the 6 or 7000 you cite. Scoble has more. Maybe you could ask several of them to reveal their numbers? http://www.techcrunch.com/2008... - Andrew Baron
Is Jeremy Zawondy an active user on FF ? Each an every one of his post are thru another service.Yet to see Jeremy actually directly post anything on F. What does "active" mean 2 other FF users ? - Peter Dawson
@andrewbaron: I've some other people posting numbers today, they fit well within the 15-20% error margin I assumed I had. Also, with the most popular users like Scoble and Arrington I'm sure to miss a few (a lot of) dormant users who subscribed to these top users. I cannot discover them using a crawler if they don't do anything on FF. That's the basic limitation. - atzmon
@slashpd (Peter): In the context of my research "active" means discoverable, and it doesn't matter if a person actually does anything as long as his feed (or comments+likes) keep flowing in. - atzmon
"At this point in my life I don’t need to make money with my photography" , I wish I was loaded with $$$ so I can pursue my hobby fulltime :)- - Peter Dawson
Haha, Peter, I'm far from "loaded," but photography certainly couldn't pay for the mortgage and four kids that I'm supporting right now. If I could quit my day job and focus on photography full time I'd do it in a heartbeat. It's going to be many years before that happens though. - Thomas Hawk
that self portrait pic is one of my favorites - every time I see it I am impressed by the depth and complexity represented by such a simple picture - been meaning to tell you that for a while. - Marco
Bill Wadman is an amazing portrait photographer. One of the best. That photo he took of me is my favorite of all of the photos I've ever seen of myself. I love how he juxtaposed my camera and the security camera. His 365 project is definitely worth checking out. http://www.365portraits.com/in... - Thomas Hawk
good gosh he is talented - those pics are amazing - Marco
“A unique Friendfeed feature would be: A visual map that shows how ideas/links/submissions are spread from one person to another via 'like'. This would show influencers, networks, and communities of interest”
awesome idea Jeremiah! Ooooh I WANT this feature bad!! - Susan Beebe
firstly , time stamps are needed, secondly 'likes on multiple same URI could be difficult. I may Like an entry from a friend's del.ious entry or maybe from another person who actually posts the URI on FF. How can this mapped out ? A visual map normally has one start point/seed and then spawns outwards to various nodes and then branches even more. - Peter Dawson
Exactly how do you determine who or what an influencer is? This is less obvious than it appears. I've seen "big names" retweet ideas of someone with a lower social profile. The original idea came from person A but person B has a larger social network. So, who is the influencer here, the person who came up with the idea or the person who told all of their friends? If it is person B, doesn't that discount the substantial influence person A had on them? You're privileging social capital over creative capital. - Liz
Chris: good point. But my curious side really want to know how all this stuff is really happening! - Susan Beebe
I like the idea of charting how information moves virally to see who the influencers are. Hopefully, this would let you see who infuences the so called "elite", "a-lister", "agent-of-change". - Mathew A. Koeneker via fftogo
Ohhh, that would be awesome. I'd love to sit back and watch an idea spread. - Summer
Mathew, all these ""elite", "a-lister", "agent-of-change" are actually pretty mch just with large Social capital. not the creative capital ( +3 goes to Liz !!). This AM, I saw a lot of chatter on Lumosity, to me this was wickedly old in terms of tech tech. http://friendfeed.com/e/8f63f3... however, when looking back onto FF you will find Leo Laporte posting it and many peeps then repurposing that twit/post via many methods, digg, rooms etc. - Peter Dawson
@spragued please no more brands and managers for them - silpol
To respond to those: The influencer could start at the source node (creative capital) as well as those who are sneezers (spread to many others) it can serve the purpose of both. - Jeremiah Owyang
It could look like Digg's swarm ... that would be pretty cool - David Weiner
If you do go over the falls in a barrel, tweet it :) Please and thank you! - Michelle Miller
oh boy...hope you have a good time, be prepared for a long walk.. Parking is really crazy at this time.. yo may need to walk 2-3KM to get to the falls after finding a place to park !! - Peter Dawson
I like to park on the US side and walk over the border via the "peace" bridge then walk over to the Canadian falls... soo awesome! - Susan Beebe
Susan - The "Peace Bridge" is at Buffalo/Ft.Erie -- you mean the Rainbow Bridge? - Brian Sullivan
I can see it now FALLSmeme :) Have fun! - Charlie Anzman
Thu, Apr 12, 2007 at 7:15 PM - "Hello Lumosity beta tester,
Thanks for being part of the Lumosity beta testing! By doing so, you’ve contributed to the improvement of our brain fitness program and to the science of cognitive exercise." - I kinda finished pentesting and helped with the new cognitive control task. Its been so soo long ago, that its history for me. However, I see many on FF talking about Lumosity today - whats with that ?? - Peter Dawson
"Treatment is mainly behavioral training, teaching such skills as dressing. There is wide agreement that the sooner treatment begins, the more effective it is, and that early intervention pays off in the long run by developing self-reliance.
But it costs money -- as much as $70,000 a year per child. The state spent $320 million last year, up from $50 million a decade earlier. Nationwide, the tab is $90 billion annually, a figure expected to double in a decade." - RAPatton via Bookmarklet
1 in every 100 kids in the US are bound to be born w/autism. This is more of an epidemic if i must say it. Its going to be very difficult, $90B is peanuts what is will really be needed to handle these special needs citizens effectively. - Peter Dawson
my experience is it runs about 20k a year and that if one chooses (I did not) there is funding available - RAPatton
the simple things of life are the most precious :)- - Peter Dawson
That they are. It almost makes me want to stop borrowing dogs and kids. ;) Tis just the Jackson and I actually, the rest belong to my house mates. - Mathew A. Koeneker
It's a vague bookmark/like type action for me as well. BTW, I misuse "Hide" and it's become my "mark as read" button. I try to follow a "FriendFeed Zero" philosophy. :-) I wish that "Like" flagged items would pop back up for me whenever anyone commented on them, even after I've read/hidden them. - Ken Sheppardson
Ken, I don't think you're misuing "hide". I often use it as a pseudo-"mark as read" too. - Harvey Simmons
Steve , if FF has a feature that permits users to define tags and use them. IT will be very powerful. I am think along the lines of Labels /Tags similar to Gmail .. - Peter Dawson
I use it to say I like it, but sometimes I use it to bookmark something I want to have easy access to later on. - David Cook
Is there a way to see things you've liked as a list? - Bjorn Tipling
Bjorn, you can click on "likes" on the right side of your FF home page and see the list. - Trish Robinson
actually for some reason i never noticed the hide or more buttons. I also use like as an indication that I liked something, or sometimes as a bookmark. Ken when others comment on things I have commented on they do pop back up on my list. or else I am dreaming... - Ruth Ferguson
There's also a greasemonkey script that allows you to mark something as "later". It's really useful, if you don't have time to read something now. You get a later tab to go back and check it out. Plus it adds a "like" to the post as well. - Jason Toney
I use Twitter to show what I think is interesting and it shows up here. yes FF has the following activities: creator, critic, collector, joiner, spectator. - Jeremiah Owyang
I'd just like to point out that you can't see past your last 300 likes. Make sure that that bug doesn't bite you :) - Yuvi
in persian FF we are using the like as a form of "link recommandation". - mhmazidi
I use "FriendFeed Read Later" (greasemonkey script) for that - Sarah Perez
@Sarah I haven't seen that one, linkage? - Aaron Myers
@ Steve Rubel: I did this too and later found another way: First I opened a private room. Now if I want to "save" something, I click on "More" (on the same line with "Like" and "Hide") and "Reshare this entry" to put the content into my private room. I write a small comment with tags. - Yves Oesch
I created my own private room to which I save links, either from inside FriendFeed or from the web at large. Generally links that I want to return to for blogging purposes. - Hutch Carpenter
My First Patch of 21MG went onto my arm about 1Min ago. My attempt to quit smoking has began. Have smoked for the last 26 yrs, an avg of approx 15-20 Cigg's a day. Some days even more. Every Change begins with small step and today I have taken that first step. I will continue to micro update this post as when I feel like it. I hope my Friend are out here are willing to my screech and give me moral support. So there, wish me luck !! - Peter Dawson
I found giving up smoking easy, once I had my daughter I saw all these commercials on television about children losing their parents and that did it for me!! - Joe Dawson
You gonna need something more than luck, but I wish you well in this. I'm staying on the dark side for now - Dobromir Hadzhiev
Peter,
I was a nicotine slave for 17 years. I know different things work for different folks, but, I used "Commit" and was completely amazed. Spent a total of $60 on it, over the counter, no Doctors, amazing. No propmises and I don't work for them but its good stuff - Cody Heitschmidt via fftogo
Day1- 30/06 - My first 7hrs of de-tox- the craving is like a big ouch..Tried nicorate gum, but thatmade my tongue feel like sand paper. 1 hrs later, I caved in and smoked 1/2 a cigg an then butted. Still not had lunch, wondering if I will reach for a cigg once thats done !! - Anyway, so far I am happy, normally by this time of day, I would have had at least 4-6 !! - Peter Dawson
Keep working at it! I hear its one of the hardest things to kick period. I read about pfizers new drug Chantix... I haven't heard of anyone using it though. Does anyone know how successful it is? - Frankie Warren
Good luck- it is very hard but it *can* be done. Hang in there! (And think of the good you are doing for your body and your wallet.) - Abby Martin
@Abby, I hear you on the wallet - its like pinching hard .. $450/month on cigg alone ..kinda crazy .. as for the health aspect, even though I think I am fit, I can become more fitter when I cut smoking. BTW, thanks ALL the commentors for support - Peter Dawson
any1 has suggestion for chewin something ? I tried chewing gum, nictorate gum and am lost and I dont have a sweet tooth !! - Peter Dawson
Ok the day is nearly over.. the hardest part of killinn the evening will start soon. So far its been ONLY 2 cigg's ... - Peter Dawson
Zyban and Nicorette worked well for me back in Jan. 2001, plus an exercise routine as well. I hear Chantix is even more effective than Zyban, but some users have reported aberrant behaviour. Stay strong and remind yourself that it's pure poison everytime you feel the need. Don't worry about the weight loss. Think about how much better life will become the longer you stay off the nicotine. - Siddharth Deb
Had my first beer for the evening - managed NOT to smoke !! So far doing well !! - Peter Dawson
If you can drink without smoking, you are doing very well. That's a natural combo. So well done you. - Abby Martin
Good luck. Can be done if you really want to. Been off of nicotine for almost 7 years. - Mark Forman
avoid the grog, it's way too hard to drink without smoking, at least for the first couple of months - Duncan Riley
G'luck! I quit Apr 23 :) Also avoid the morning breakfast hangout where the old guys gather to bullshit, drink coffee, and smoke... bad place, bad. - Michael W. May via twhirl
d2 - 0701 Whoever said that sleeping with the patch is k ? 4 me it was a very bad bad nite. Weird Dreams and all that not so nice stuff. Challenge for the day, break the coffee and smoke habit. So its coffee ONLY and then a shower to get Dose#2 .. lets see how today goes ..All in all- just about 5 cigg yesterday. Thats like a 75% reduction rate for day1. need to keep it this way or less for a week and then I think wk1 will pan out well ! - Peter Dawson
@Duncan, yeah I caved during the evening beers and after supper. So need to focused more on alternatives for the evening. a beer or two a in the evenings has been a routine for me. - Peter Dawson
Another challenge is the BBQ session that I'l be going to. Today is Canada Day and spending the whole afternoon outside. with family friends. Freaky as it sounds.. I am wishing for rain today.. so that I run back indoors. Yes, no smoking in the home rule exists at friends place (his better half will kick the snort out of any1 who dares spark up !) , so that may help too (the rain !!) .. - Peter Dawson
Best of luck! Quitting any addiction isn't easy. - Brent Newhall
does not need to be tough..read Alan Carr...and enjoy you just took a great decision - PF Thaler
Today seemed to be a bad day !! I think I failed- began taking a drag of a cigg and returning it..evenutally by later afternoon, was smoking a full cigg. In short, I did about 5-6 , yeah need to keep away from the beers too hile trying to quit.. me bad.. - Peter Dawson
You're NOT bad. This is hard. You're trying. Hang in there. - Abby Martin
Broke the Morning habbit of coffee and cigg. I just got up, splashed water on my face and then took a brisk walk around the block.. and then took another walk to get a Timmies. So the morning ritual of making coffee /reaching for cigg has been broken. Now, I hope tis stays broken ..hahahah :)- - Peter Dawson
Words of advice on Food intake :- "Eat like a KING for b/Fast, like a PRINCE for Lunch and like a PAUPER for supper" - eh ? easier said then done. I find that I every 1/2 hr stuffing myself with muncies !! Methinks, .zats not a good habit - Peter Dawson
No, this is normal when you quit smoking- you're compensating for the lost nicotine and your appetite is on the rise as it leaves your system. But hang in there! - Abby Martin
Rule#1 : Don't reach for Cigg +Coffee at wake up time , is intact !! . Went out for a brisk walk and did 3 sets of pushups , 10,5, 8 :)- So now , having Coffee and checking Emails ! - Peter Dawson
Dreams are getting wierdier.. I had dream that I was in prison and the inmates were crazy.. yeah something like "one flew over the cuckoo's nest" kinda thingy.. Got up at preceisly 2:49AM .. Tonight, I'll remove the patch before sleeping. Secondly, its Friday an this means social drinking too.. and partying someplace. Got to stick at home , is what I say 4 tonight - Peter Dawson
Sat evening 07/05 - 3 beers, 3 rum& coke + 3 ciggs ONLY. I took a cigg after dinner and only 2 during the course of my grog. me hinks, that I di just A-ok !! JUST 2 ciggs between 6 rounds of drinks and in 4 hrs of hanging out, seems 2 me its an accomplishment. Why ? normally by this time I would done at least about 1/2 pack.. easily about 10-12 ciggs in a session like this !! btw ..Old country for old men on a 52" HDTV screen is just awesome !! ... - Peter Dawson
whose this idiot whose posting stuff in TC that is like 4d old ? get a grip, do your research. yo'll get a tip of the hat fr me now and then, else I'll be me.. and point out da foo .. http://blogoscoped.com/forum/1... - Peter Dawson
It's a pixel camera. Google can record a low-res image of you as you type, regardless of whether your computer is equipped with a conventional camera or not. Some security thing. - Chris Baskind
“I was curious how Google ranked various sites, so very unscientifically I did a search for my Piedmont 4th of July parade photos yesterday. My blog showed up first, then FriendFeed, then Pownce, then Flickr, Twitter has yet to be indexed by Google. http://tinyurl.com/59nckt ”
If Google indexed Twitter, it would get overloaded. There's a shitload of Tweets already...that's why I have a tweet digest posted each day on my blog. - J.T Dabbagian
I think Google still gives enormous rank to blogs compared to social networks. It still amazes me how easily a blogger can simply include someone's name in a headline and unless that person is famous or has a common name, easily get that post listed on the first page Google search results for their name. That's pretty powerful. It also seems like FF content is getting very highly ranked by Google. - Thomas Hawk
but J.T. Google *does* index Twitter, at least theoretically. - Thomas Hawk
Google absolutely does index Twitter. http://www.google.com/search?s... (over 6 million pages indexed!) This is the main reason that spammers have targeted Twitter. - Mike Doeff
@Thomas Yes, but I think only in the Blogs, anyway. - J.T Dabbagian
Thomas - "seems like FF content is getting very highly ranked by Google." - why would it not ?? the whole system has been built by ex-googlers and they know the in-nerds of goog's pigeons holes and s/be knowing some of the core algo's too !! Anyhoot, back 2 da pint - the search within FF , gets better quality results then on google.. not sure the reasons, but I can get /gather/verfify content better with FF then with google. - Peter Dawson
Peter, I'd posit that FriendFeed is building the world's first true socially ranked search engine, albeit kinda stealthy and masquerading as a social content aggregation toy for the time being. FriendFeed is doing what Yahoo was never able to hobble together in social search. You just watch, the "by product" of search will be the most valuable component of FriendFeed in the end. This is why I'm totally surprised that MSFT is screwing around with $100mm on Powerset when they really should be watching FF. - Thomas Hawk
FF could build a better search engine than Google in the end. Google of course is very likely paying attention to what FF is doing. But what FF is doing flies in the face of what Google holds to be true, sacred, etc, that humans might produce better search results than algorithms and machines. Flickr's already proven proof of concept though with image search. FF's just taking the next step that Yahoo never could and that isn't politically defensible inside the walls of Google. - Thomas Hawk
Thomas - "why I'm totally surprised that MSFT is screwing around with $100mm on Powerset when they really should be watching FF." - After being part of a team of M&A in an F50 arena, I can't agree more. However, I am not privy to the MSFT Fund deployment strategies, so I can't say a yea or nay to your comments. However, MSFT with FF ./ bad karma.. will not work out. With the rest, I believe we are on same page status wrt "world's first true socially ranked search engine, " - Peter Dawson
@Thomas - Bold statements. I always find a mix works best. You need the human element and you need the objective computer element. The FF Founders have taken the lessons they've learned from Google and poured them into the FriendFeed machine. Now they're taking those lessons a few steps further. - Ben Parr
Peter, MSFT would rather try to buy FF for $500mm when *everyone* realizes what they've got. MSFT is horrible at getting into interesting social technology early. They should have bought Flickr when Scoble told them to before Yahoo did. Flickr was one of the great steals of the decade. Nobody with any authority inside of MSFT is even watching or paying attention to FF and likely won't be until they are huge. - Thomas Hawk
Powerset can't even produce interesting wikipedia search returns, obviously insiders know more about the deal than I do, but I'm flabbergasted by it. Here very early on FF already has very powerful *real* search here and now today. Just you wait until a year of content is under the belt at FF. Search will be damn impressive here. - Thomas Hawk
Thomas if I know MSFT they might have considered it but some engineer probably killed it by saying "I could build that in a week." Or, Dare might have blogged that small acquisitions won't do anything. - Robert Scoble
Thomas, I'd submit Google is quite scientific in this. FriendFeed doesn't even need to use "insider-ish" info to do good SEO. The "title" of a page is a very high priority to Google (common knowledge). The title of your page on FriendFeed is "Thomas Hawk - FriendFeed". The title of your page on Flickr is "Flickr: Thomas Hawk's Photostream". Both FriendFeed and Flickr prioritize both user AND brand, but FriendFeed puts your name first. - Robert Seidman
Ben, yes, a mix. Social search can't be a complete solution. But where it has content it can be vastly superior and this represents a *huge* chunk of the search market still. The more obscure something is the more difficult it is for social search. And actually while FF founders know Google very very well. The lesson on social search first came from Flickr, therein lies the proof of concept and potential to go beyond images. - Thomas Hawk
Robert, you are exactly right. MSFT just doesn't get early tech. They never have. If they were smart they'd set up their own venture fund with about $500 million and hire someone like you to help them find interesting things to buy -- the problem is MSFT won't think like a VC and nobody at MSFT wants to take responsibility for the ones that don't work out in order to get the winners. Everybody's playing CYA as career corporate executives. - Thomas Hawk
helps when you worked at google and know all the secret juice , - fotographic
Thomas, "Everybody's playing CYA" , oh yeah dude, that's a part of the protocol of engagement regardless of YHOO,/ MSFT. GOOGs or another ticker symbol. The Coriporate world is fragmented within i's 4 walls itself. RIight hand know'th not what the left hand'th doe'th. syndrome. The cohesive of culture that transcends wealth in $$ value is just not there. Da business silo's are not geared towards the outside and to the customer. This is saddness within these large corporations,{.. cont'ed..] - Peter Dawson
"[cont'ed..].."This is saddness within these large corporations, they have much to offer in terms of really giving to their users. However the greed of wealth transcends that givingness.. and its rather what it for me , rather what's in it for my userland !! - Peter Dawson
Yes, socnets do get massive SEO power. Now Google your blog title, name, etc. and see all the Twitter, YouTube, Pownce, etc. links come up, whatever you have a profile on. - Steven E. Streight
I just opened a new cost model spreadsheet. This is for a new gig that opens on 07/07. I luv working with real time, industrial strength systems/applications. Base question- What is your operation cost to transact $1.25M worth of business per hr ? This is a platform level , 6th sigma equation wherein which. defects, recommendations and changes needs to be rendered. I luv my job, I am not really working at all, its just one big hobby :)- . - Peter Dawson
there is somebody to love every job that exists, which makes me think that humans in aggregate are perfect - gregory lent
If everyone from MS liked working at Google, I think that would be a worse sign for Google :). A good company should repel the wrong people as much as it attracts the right people (not that I know anything about this one guy in particular). - Paul Buchheit
Everyone has different values and, as Paul says, no place can be right for everyone. As I mentioned last week, this guy's values are pretty different from my own, judging from this excerpt: "I need to know that the code is useful for others, and the only way to measure the usefulness is by the amount of money that the people are willing to part with to have access to my work." - Kevin Fox
Ah, it seems like this topic was already discussed here. Should have figured :) - Bindu Reddy
Another possible way to read that statement is "MS offered a boatload more money than GOOG" :). Which isn't a bad thing. I think that good engineers are underpaid in general. - Sanjeev Singh
He has a good point: when all of your products are "free", the users aren't the customers. - Gabe Schaffer
I disagree with his his code being useful only when people pay for it comment... However, I do think he has some some interesting but exaggerated points about the role of middle management/managers being very ill-defined at Google. The question is should we have any middle-mgmt in corporations and if so, how best to structure it? I am not sure I have a good answer to that question. - Bindu Reddy
Bindu: he's not saying that his code is only useful when paid for, merely that he judges its usefulness by how much people are willing to pay. That makes some sense; as a photographer I consider my best photos to be the ones people order rather than those that just get the most views on my web site. - Gabe Schaffer
He didn't say code was only useful when people paid for it. Rather, he said that the only way he knew how to *measure* the usefulness of his code was by the amount of money people were willing to pay for it. It is kind of an interesting economic question. - Karim
When I first read this post, I thought he was simply saying that Microsoft was paying him more than Google. :) - Chris White
His arguments are kind of "light". Look pretty much an afterthought. - Martin Añazco
I wonder how he came up with this observation? - "Google as an organization is not geared - culturally - to delivering enterprise class reliability to its user applications." - Edward Ho
Those types of statements seem like a classic case of denial by an established player being disrupted by a new competitor. They'll keep telling themselves that Google can't "deliver enterprise class reliability", and meanwhile their business will be eaten from below. (not that MS reliability is all that anyway, but obviously they think it is, and need some way to rationalize a lot of heavyweight process) - Paul Buchheit
One year seems a short time to fully understand the culture, particularly since it seems he was moved around (different projects, managers). I'm no Google fan-boy, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of there there. Seems more like he didn't like customer facing 'cool' product development. - AJ Kohn
Google is just like any other company in that it's made up of employees, many of whom have different opinions. This guy decided it wasn't the place for him. The media picks it up because they are bored with the "Google is great" stories, and are looking for some "Google sucks" stories. It's all kind of boring really. - Chris White
Not sure how much I'd pay for Gmail but I would pay heck of a lot more than for Hotmail. - Philipp Lenssen
AJ: a "customer" is somebody who buys something. I've never bought anything from Google, and neither have most of its users. Presumably this guy prefers to work on products where the customer is the user. It's like working for a cable station like Showtime instead of a commercial network like Fox. - Gabe Schaffer
That's a pretty limited view Gabe. If anything, Google cares about their users more than MS, because enterprise purchasing decisions are made by IT managers and not end users. MS is failing at search because the end users don't like their product and are continuing to abandon it. - Paul Buchheit
Paul, nobody ever said that Google cares less about customers, just that there is a fundamental difference in writing software where the user pays for it and software where the user does not pay for it. Of course a lot of MS software isn't paid for by the user because it came preloaded or was purchased by their employer, but somebody is still paying for it. In this guy's mind, that means it's good. I certainly care more about which of my photos get the most orders versus which get the most views. - Gabe Schaffer
@Gabe: I don't agree with your definition of a customer being someone who buys something. Blog readers are customers. You are a customer of FriendFeed. If you get utility out of a product, you are a customer. The strength of that relationship could be marked by how much you pay, but you are a customer nonetheless IMO. - AJ Kohn
Gabe, you personally may feel differently based on who pays, but what matters the most in product terms is who chooses, not who pays, because that is the person who has to be satisfied. For Google and Apple, the end user chooses the product, and for MS it's typically someone in IT, and that reality is reflected in their product decisions. - Paul Buchheit
Ideas are like good people. The Right People have good ideas , that needs to fit into the ideology of a corporation. Just like right people need to fit into the right culture. There is the fine difference between good and right.. watch the words and the way that we think about such things.. its important :)- - Peter Dawson
Paul, I think you are right when you say it sounds like "Innovator's Dilemma" denial, but I'm not sure the reliability observation should be dismissed on those grounds. I still think ISPs that have an older telco background (e.g. Verizon) have much better reliability cultures than those that don't (e.g. Comcast). While Google services have always been very reliable for me, I've also seen more than one FF thread in the last few days from people having problems with them... That *can* matter. - Karim
That *can* matter. - @Karim - it will matter when yo pay for it .. till then it really does not pinch its just an inconvenience only - Peter Dawson
I don't know about yours, AJ, but my dictionary defines customer as "One that buys goods or services." I consider myself to be a FriendFeed user, or possibly consumer or patron -- but definitely not a customer. This guy's problem with Google is that while their products (a few of them) are highly popular, they are not highly valuable. He wants to work on a product that has measurable value, so he has to work for some place that charges for their products. Maybe one day micropayments will become easy and I can pay Google per search, but in the mean time Google isn't that valuable to me. - Gabe Schaffer
@Gabe: Dictionary version of customer is too narrow. Splitting hairs on user, consumer, patron IMO. Should I assume that you'll no longer use Google search or Gmail or anything else that is free? I view value as the utility you derive from that product, not strictly purchases of goods and services. Clean air is valuable, any of the free search engines are valuable. Wouldn't the logical extension of your argument be to equate value of a profession to salary. I find teachers valuable, but not based on salary. - AJ Kohn
The definition may be splitting hairs, but to this guy it's an important distinction. He didn't want to work at Google anymore in part because he wanted to work for a company that sells a product to its users (which by definition makes them customers). It doesn't mean that he didn't want to work on user-facing products; it means that he wanted to work on paying-user-facing products. And I use Google's products particularly because they have no value (i.e. they're free). - Gabe Schaffer
Okay, I totally grok that Google may be a good job fit for some, not for others (and so, too, Microsoft). But this value/no-value thing has me totally confuzzled. Dude, Gabe... if products have "no value" then why on earth would you use them? Clearly they have value to YOU, and clearly they have value to Google, or Google wouldn't offer them. This isn't radical new think, it's just different types of value! :-) - Adam Lasnik
He says Google produces products that wastes people's time and he then goes on to use it to explain the rationale behind one of the important decisions of his life. Yeah, right!! Also, with his philosophy, he can only work at Microsoft and nowhere else. - Krish
Sorry, Adam, I tend to think like an engineer. A value is some quantity; in this case it's something's price -- not to be confused with worth, which is how much you're willing to pay for something. For example, an old silver dollar might be worth $50, but its value is only $1. - Gabe Schaffer
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree re: the definition(s) of value, but now I can better see where you're coming from. - Adam Lasnik
His is one way to measure the value of software. This week I was thinking about a different, larger cost that the user is willing to pay to use software: the amount of time she spends using it, multiplied by the value of time (e.g. her salary). That number is usually a lot more than what the user would have paid for the software in $, and I try to minimize it, because really my job is to get users what they want, not to use up their time getting it. Probably the most valuable thing, though, is to maximize the value you provide, and to try to measure that directly. - j1m
Er, doesn't every teen have a myspace? This is news?! :D - Adam Lasnik
Lol not news just mortification. I've seen what teenage girls do with MySpace accounts and it ain't pretty. Here's hoping my niece has better sense than most (I think she does). - Erica Baker
eh ? did not MYspace - TOS forbid children below 14yrs of age to have an account ? Secondly, if I may recollection serves me, the person responsable is actually the parent(s) !! -- not sure, can any1 confirm this 'hearsay' ? - Peter Dawson
LOL TOS. Hahaha! They aren't doing ID checks to make sure people under 14 aren't on myspace. I don't know about you but a large part of my personal teenage existence was getting away with stuff that my parents either didn't like or didn't know about. - Erica Baker
"(a) all registration information you submit is truthful and accurate; (b) you will maintain the accuracy of such information; (c) you are 14 years of age or older; and (d) your use of the MySpace Services does not violate any applicable law or regulation. Your profile may be deleted and your Membership may be terminated without warning, if we believe that you are under 14 years of age." http://www1.myspace.com/index.... - Peter Dawson
Right. That's why 12 year olds lie and say they're 20 (like my niece did). - Erica Baker
Erica, the point in making is that if something foul happens to your niece , parental responsibility kicks in. They become accountable for the actions of the kid/daughter. Albeit, as I have delivered the above facts, you too have become an accomplish to these misdemeanor's :)- - Peter Dawson
Uh what something foul are you talking about? I'm talking about little girls being snarky, posting in
