Slashdot Mirror


The Man Who (Really) Makes Google Tick

An anonymous reader writes "Like his friends Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Craig Silverstein abandoned his PhD studies at Stanford to become employee No.1 and technology director at Google. While building the search engine in a garage, never in his wildest dreams did he think Google would become what it is today. Not only is it the envy of software giant Microsoft, Google continues to redefine the technology market with its creativity and tenacity. In this in-depth interview, Silverstein discusses a wide range of issues including the backlash against Gmail among privacy advocates, the company's cultural changes and its shifting reliance on PageRank."

22 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. If you want to know more... by AnonymousDivinity · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you want to know more about this guy, just google him :)

    --
    --- To each of us a Truth is given.
    1. Re:If you want to know more... by Talez · · Score: 3, Funny

      Indeed. I googled and I found out he was a liar and a theif!

      In fact its pigeons that make google tick!

    2. Re:If you want to know more... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      You're new around here, aren't you?

  2. Oh yeah by TechnologyX · · Score: 5, Funny

    "You have portrayed the ideal search engine as one resembling the intelligence of the Starship Enterprise.."

    My new geek idol

    --
    Slashdot sucks
    1. Re:Oh yeah by DAldredge · · Score: 5, Funny

      This is the samn damn ship that blows panels everytime it is shot, gets stolen on numerous occasions, has next to no security on any of its computer systems, allows almost anyone into the heart of the ship, and places the bridge and all the exec offices on the top of the ship?

      That enterprise?

    2. Re:Oh yeah by Deitheres · · Score: 3, Funny

      damnit. I knew something didn't look right when I was typing that. See, that's why we need star trek-ish computer systems. In a perfect world, I would have hit the submit button and heard a wonderful female voice saying "Who's MABEL?!?", at which point I would curse the creators of this computer system for creating a silicon version of my meatspace wife.

      --
      Just like driving a car:
      (D) to go forward
      (R) to go backward

  3. Great Results by tobechar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because of this man's great efforts, we can google for 'failure' and be greeted with President Bush's Biography.

    Technology never ceases to amaze me. :)

    --
    -
  4. Name by Plaeroma · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've always wondered if Google will shut down once it hits a google of webpages indexed.

  5. Not a bad career choice by NightWulf · · Score: 5, Funny

    Drop the PhD study where right now he would probably be teaching at a college to kids who really couldn't care...knocking back 40k/yr. Or now be worth a few hundred million dollars. *Sigh* Reminds me of the day some hippy asked me if I wanted to join his computer company, darn thing was in a garage somewhere. I wonder whatever happened to him. Well I turned him down and now i'm a Walmart manager! Watch out for falling prices!!!!!!!

  6. Question. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Google might be another Intuit.

    Can I buy some pot from you?

  7. Re:The problem I see with Gmail privacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm a lawyer.

    Boo!

  8. Re:Boycott Google! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    wtf, you live in NZ. There's no 2nd ammendment there, nor is Google bound to it, not being a government agency and all.

    I thought you idiotarians were pro-business? Don't they have a right to determine, on their own, whose ads they do and do not want? Or should the nanny state step and tell them what to do.

    Moron, just like every other libertarian. Lay off the sci-fi, and come join is in the real world. The women here are real, and even better than those alien ones wou see with Captain Kirk in star wars.

  9. Re:In-depth Interview? by Phrogz · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hrm...apparently plain-old-text mode dropped the ... </namedrop> wrappers that I put around the snotty-sounding "I'm having dim-sum with him next Sunday" comment.

    Oops. That'll teach me not to use the Preview button.

  10. improve porn searching by sashang · · Score: 4, Funny

    man - if google could improve searching for porn what a relief that would be. Currently I have to wade through bucket loads of fake links, booby pop-ups, fake free pics, virii and other crap. I hope they improve the search engine so that it delivers the best free pussy on the net.

    1. Re:improve porn searching by FunWithKnives · · Score: 4, Funny
      images.google.com

      Turn off SafeSearch and you can find pretty much whatever you're looking for.. Oh, and stop doing that.. You'll go blind..

      --
      "We may face a scorched and lifeless earth, but they're accountable to their shareholders first."
  11. PageRank by karmatic · · Score: 2, Funny

    As an internet webmaster, I certainly would like to hire the guy for a little SEO work. From the sounds of the article, this guy sounds like he knows what makes PageRank tick.

    The rest of us only find out through experimentation.

    Hey, I'm the number 2 Nigruitude Ultramarine site on the web!

  12. I aways knew... by mingust · · Score: 3, Funny

    that google was just a juy sitting behind the wall that knows everything.

    Just like the standardized testing grading machines...

    --
    ~mingust
  13. Re:Google Spam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Was looking for setup details on a Siemens router today, so I googled the brand and model #. The first few pages were results from overpriced worthless drop-ship web "retailers" instead of useful information.

    Yeah? I got a porn site...

  14. They forgot to ask him... by lewko · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...his thoughts on negritude ultramarine

    --
    Do you or your partner snore? - Visit www.snoring.com.au
  15. Re:OT: grammar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    The sentance should read "I'm far more worried about the divorce lawyer or the ex-employee with an axe to grind than I am about the Government."

    I've been seeing this a lot lately, and can't understand why people screw it up so badly.

    "Sentance" refers to a non-existing word, but is probably a mispeling (PI) of "sundance". "Sentence" is a grammatical unit that is syntactically independent and has a subject that is expressed or, as in imperative sentences, understood and a predicate that contains at least one finite verb. The sentence should read "The sentence should read "I'm far more worried about the divorce lawyer or the ex-employee with an axe to grind than I am about the Government."" Yes, yes, typos happen, but this happens so often that I think people honestly think they're saying "sentence" when they're saying "sentance".

  16. Re:OT: grammar by bakes · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes, yes, typos happen, but this happens so often that I think people honestly think they're saying "then" when they're saying "than".

    Seeing mistakes like the one you describe makes me so angry that sometimes I think I might loose control.

    --
    Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!
  17. I want to know more about employee No.1. by Adhemar · · Score: 1, Funny
    Like his friends Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Craig Silverstein abandoned his PhD studies at Stanford to become employee No.1 and technology director at Google.

    I wanted to know why three people became all employee No. 1 after they abandoned their PhD studies. You would expect them to become employees No. 1, 2 and 3.

    Or even employees No. 0, 1 and 2, since Google is a geeky company. (With their IPO, they hope to raise 2,718,281,828 dollars with is floor(e billion) dollar.)

    I Googled, didn't find it. Just maybe Google's not completely perfect.