Tag Archives: Google

The Google vs Amazon Platform Rant – A Must-Read From Steve Yegge

Google logo

What does Amazon.com do so much better than Google? And why does Amazon do everything “wrong” while Google does everything “right”… yet offer a better platform? How should you construct a “platform” so that everyone can use it?

If you are a developer, IT manager, product manager, system architect, product marketer, CTO or even a CEO, you really need to take a bit to read this “Mother of all Reply-All failures” that was written by Googler Steve Yegge and accidentally posted publicly back on October 12th. Steve pulled down his own posting of the rant, but it was re-posted to Google+ by Rip Rowan and also posted over to Hacker News. The long rant – and the comments on both sites – are worth a read:

It’s a LONG piece that gives some fascinating insight into both Amazon and Google as companies, but also into what it takes to be a “platform”.

A bit later, on October 21st, Steve Yegge posted an update indicating that he did not get fired and in fact people actually listened within Google. He also dove a bit more into Amazon.com and Jeff Bezos. And just this week he wrote a lengthy piece describing how amazing it is to work at Google, explaining a bit more about what he meant in his rant about how Google “does everything right”.

The original platform rant, though, should definitely be on a “must-read” list for people thinking about how their services could really be a “platform”…

P.S. Are we connected on Google+? If not, you can find my Google+ profile and add me to a circle…

Google I/O 2011 Event Sells Out in 59 Minutes!

For the past few years, Google’s “I/O” developer conference has been THE conference for many developers to attend. It’s the place where you go to understand the latest and greatest tools and services coming out of Google… and where you can get to participate ahead of everyone else. Two years ago I/O attendees were the first to get Google Wave accounts… last year every attendee got an Android phone…

This year proved no different – the Google I/O 2011 registration opened up this morning … and then sold out less than an hour later!

To put this in perspective… about 5,000+ developers attend the event!

Kudos to Google for having created a conference that so many people want to attend.

The Twitter stream tells the tale…

And this compilation of tweets from Google’s Vic Gundrota shows it, too:

Googleio2011

P.S. Needless to say, some folks who had been eagerly waiting to register weren’t too pleased, particularly given some of the apparent difficulties with getting access to the registration site.