Slashdot Mirror


Evan Williams Posts Official Google Blog

Luis F. Escalante writes "Evan, creator of Blogger, owned by Google, finally convinced Larry, Sergey and Co. to start up a blog. According to Evan's first post, we'll soon be able to know "What Larry had for breakfast. What Sergey thinks of that Hellboy movie. Which Dawson's Creek character reminds us most of Eric.""

57 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. So, what did Larry have for breakfast? by `Sean · · Score: 4, Funny

    So, what did Larry have for breakfast?

    Yes, the Idea Man! What're his hopes and dreams, his desires and aspirations? Does he think all the time or does he set aside a certain portion of the day? How tall is he and what's his shoe size? Where does he sleep and what does he eat for breakfast? Does he put jam on his toast or doesn't he put jam on his toast, and if not why not and since when?
    1. Re:So, what did Larry have for breakfast? by bloggins02 · · Score: 3, Informative

      For those in the dark, see here.

      Really good movie, shame it didn't do very well at the box office. Oh well, good satires almost never do, people don't get satire. *sigh*

    2. Re:So, what did Larry have for breakfast? by glpierce · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "people don't get satire"

      More to the point: people don't get the Coen Brothers.

      --
      G
  2. Will we find out... by baudilus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ..why people think blogs are so cool, when they obviously aren't?

    1. Re:Will we find out... by beatleadam · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Perhaps more specifically asked is...Why do people choose to read so much about and into other people's lives and so little into their own?

      --
      I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours. -- Hunter S. Thompson
    2. Re:Will we find out... by lpangelrob2 · · Score: 5, Insightful
      A blog is a one-person message board, where people reply with comments. Usually. Slashdot is kind of like a blog. A bunch of one-person posts biased (often heavily) one way or another.

      People read blogs because it either a.) Validates their thinking (my guess: 95%), or b.) Offers an opportunity to challenge their current ways of thinking, and an avenue to respond to the opportunity (again my guess: less than 5%). Remember, blogs are usually heavily biased, so the people that read the blogs often enough to see every post probably agree with the author. Are not both stories and comments on /. heavily biased?

      So I've rambled enough, but to paraphrase Pirates of the Caribbean... You'd better start believing in blogs, because you're living in one. :-)

    3. Re:Will we find out... by baudilus · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The major difference is stories on /. can be posted by anyone, and bias aside, usually have content that is generally interesting to the /. demographic.

      The majority of personal blogs are about whatever mundane thing happened to the person on the way to the grocery store. Outside of posting one for family and friends, I don't see the point.

    4. Re:Will we find out... by dustmote · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Outside of posting one for family and friends, I don't see the point.

      I think that is the point. I have a blog, and it's a no-holds-barred crapfest to anyone who doesn't know me. (In fact, it's a no-holds-barred crapfest to most people who do...) I have a few friends who read it just to see what I'm up to, and I just use it as a semi-public journal/collection of links I'm afraid I'll never find again. I don't ask anyone to read it, I don't think anyone does. (I've had 3800 hits since 2001, most of them myself.) Still, more than one friend has re-found me through it, so I keep it up. That, and I'd miss the links to stuff that I've thrown up haphazardly. Yeah, it sucks, go to some other page.

      --


      -1, "1337" speak
    5. Re:Will we find out... by HD+Webdev · · Score: 4, Interesting

      People read blogs because it either a.) Validates their thinking (my guess: 95%), or b.) Offers an opportunity to challenge their current ways of thinking, and an avenue to respond to the opportunity (again my guess: less than 5%). Remember, blogs are usually heavily biased, so the people that read the blogs often enough to see every post probably agree with the author. Are not both stories and comments on /. heavily biased?

      Actually, there's also the silent majority to be taken into account also.

      There's always a bunch of people who just like to watch out of curiosity. Or, the site keeps up on things that they are interested in. Most people aren't bold, so they don't post.

      It would be interesting to see the # of people who read replies vs the # of people who read AND reply.

      If the ratio is anything like USENET, I would be surprised if 1 out of 100 readers post something on any given day.

      Something to back that up without statistics: Notice that sites often get slashdotted and stay that way before 10 replies have been posted.

      --
      This is not a dream, not a dream...we are transmitting from the year 1-9-9-9.
    6. Re:Will we find out... by phyruxus · · Score: 5, Insightful
      >> Perhaps more specifically asked is...Why do people choose to read so much about and into other people's lives and so little into their own?

      "I bid him look into the lives of men as though into a mirror, and from others to take an example for himself." ~Publius Terentius Afer

      If you gaze into an abyss, the abyss looks also into thee.

      --
      "A witty saying proves nothing." ~Voltaire
      "d'Oh!" ~Homer
    7. Re:Will we find out... by omega_cubed · · Score: 2, Interesting

      hear hear!

      I don't keep a blog for just blog's sake, I keep it as a random scrap book as what I've been doing: what programming projects I was working on, how much progress I made, or what-ever the heck interests me at the moment. It is mostly stuff I know I will forget sooner or later but would like to remember. Now, friends and family come and check it out (which is extremely useful when you have both scattered all around the world, makes a good way to keep in contact with everyone who cares without spamming 100 or so people).

      But I don't think I would ever keep a blog on places like livejournal and such. I also like to have room for other things on my website... the blog is only part of it.

      On the third thought, what exactly is the difference between /. journal and a weblog? I don't write in the former because, well, I cannot post to /. from the commandline, and I can for my blog. But aren't they practically the same? Except that /. actually allows moderation?

      --
      Engineers also speak PDE, only in a different dialect.
    8. Re:Will we find out... by Mateito · · Score: 3, Funny

      > If you gaze into an abyss, the abyss looks also into thee.

      In soviet russia maybe.

    9. Re:Will we find out... by pavon · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I disagree. Both of your reasons for reading blogs assume that people go there for the merit of the information and opinions itself (either to be affirmed or challenged by it). But only a few sites (usually written by highly egotistical people)are like that (aka drudge report), and they are really a completely seperate catagory. (although if they want to claim the title 'blog' they are welcome to it - damn I hate that word).

      What is much more often the case is that people read webjournals to learn about the person writing them. People write webjournals as a way of laying out their opinions on the table and saying "this is who I am - take me or leave me". They are a 2000 word personal adv, a way to vent your frustrations, a filtering mechanism to find people you like, a way keep distant friends up-to-date with what is going on in your life since you can't have one-on-one conversations with all of them all the time.

      Webjournals are inherently about people not information, which is what makes them such an annoyance for google, whose task is to find information.

    10. Re:Will we find out... by NaDrew · · Score: 3, Funny
      If you gaze into an abyss, the abyss looks also into thee.
      The Sphinx: Until you learn to master your rage...
      Mr. Furious: My rage will be my master, right? That's what you were going to say, isn't it?
      --
      Vista:XPSP2::ME:98SE
    11. Re:Will we find out... by Joey7F · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Perhaps more specifically asked is...Why do people choose to read so much about and into other people's lives and so little into their own?

      Because not much is written about my own life...except for my blog...which I actually read more often than is considered normal and acceptable.

      --Joey
  3. Blog? How about design notes? by 192939495969798999 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'd much rather see how he and those other smart folks designed & "thought of" all those cool services in the first place. I could care less what kind of breakfast he eats, unless he brews his coffee with a Mr. Fusion.

    --
    stuff |
  4. how interesting.. ! by rudga · · Score: 2, Funny

    how interesting.. ! just what i wanted as i have tons of time to read about others stupid blogs ... ..ohh and please dont forget to mention how many times he farted. That would make my day !

    --
    ~~~~~ rudga ~~~~~
  5. let me be the first to say... by happyfrogcow · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...thftp! who cares!?

  6. In the immortal words of Bender: by Neil+Blender · · Score: 4, Funny

    Interesting. No wait, the other thing - tedious.

  7. Inside insights by Random+Web+Developer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I really hope this provides us (web developers) with some insights on how google works and evolves so we can make sure good sites end up in the top results

    I know GoogleGuy has been making some posts on webmasterworld and in the google newsgroups, but this is a more "official" source and I have allready added it to my feedreader since this afternoon (4 hours ago)

    --
    Artists against online scams http://www.aa419.org/
    1. Re:Inside insights by _anomaly_ · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I really hope this provides us (web developers) with some insights on how google works and evolves so we can make sure good sites end up in the top results

      You really think that the engineers and other powers-that-be posting on this blog will give you the _Top_10_Ways_to_Get_to_the_TOP_?

      I thought Google's attraction was that it was as impartial as possible, and that the search results, aside from precisely placed ads, were directly related to matching ACTUAL content to the query.

      Not to mention that posting such a list of "things to do" on this blog would, practically speaking, become null and void when everyone and his half-brother started using them.

      Or, maybe I'm just taking your post the wrong way...

      --
      "I have no special gift, I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
  8. Re:Blog? How about design notes? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    unless he brews his coffee with a Mr. Fusion.

    Broogle?

  9. New name? by Patik · · Score: 3, Funny
    In light of "Froogle"...

    Bloogle
    Glog
    Gooble
    Gooblog

    Any others?

  10. Bloggle? by Power+Everywhere · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What Larry had for breakfast. What Sergey thinks of that Hellboy movie. Which Dawson's Creek character reminds us most of Eric.

    I'd be much more interested to know where the last few tweaks for the latest algorithm update came from, or what kind of servers they'll be upgrading to in the next few weeks. Their personal lives are of little consequence to Google or anyone involved with them.

  11. Whoo! by FunWithKnives · · Score: 2, Funny
    Finally! Insight into the making of Evan Williams. I can't tell you how many mornings I've woken up, hung-over, wondering: (besides, 'What happened last night?') "How do they make that whiskey so damn drinkable?" Now I'll finally get the answer!

    Oh.. wait...

    --
    "We may face a scorched and lifeless earth, but they're accountable to their shareholders first."
  12. Zuh? by RinkRat · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I thought that there was some sort of 'Quiet Period' before an IPO. Posting something like "I bought another Maserati today and I'll buy Caesar's Palace when I cash out my shares next week! Hahahahaha, see you in Hell, suckers!" cannot be considered a Good Thing.

    Of course, IANAMW - I am not a market weenie. My money's in CDs...

    --
    RinkRat
    1. Re:Zuh? by nosphalot · · Score: 2, Funny
      My money's in CDs...

      You must be the RIAA posterboy...

  13. too much information by pcp_ip · · Score: 5, Funny

    "What Larry had for breakfast. What Sergey thinks of that Hellboy movie. Which Dawson's Creek character reminds us most of Eric."

    So much for the IPO quiet period.

  14. Wow! by stratjakt · · Score: 2, Insightful

    More shit I dont want to read to clog up my google results.

    Seriously, why cant we have a "blog" flag or something, so I can filter that stuff out of google searches? It's really annoying when I'm trying to research a problem and get nothing but other people ranting about the same problem..

    Blogs are very rarely female supermodels with nude pics and lurid descriptions of their sexual fantasies.

    Something in robots.txt that says "unlikely that anyone gives a rats ass"?

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
  15. Interesting... by psst · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wonder if this new blog has anything to do with the long anticipated new version of Blogger rolling out on May 5th? After all, Blogger is owned by Google.

    Nah, it's probably just a coincidence.

  16. Add "-blog" to your search by Otto · · Score: 5, Informative

    Seriously. It's rare to see a blog without the word "blog" on the page somewhere. Works pretty well.

    --
    - Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
  17. Fantastic! by underworld · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is great news!
    I mean - uhm..

    What?

    er... wait. They don't mean Evan Williams as in Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey?

    ahem. nevermind.

  18. nameless by endquotedotcom · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's kind of weird that there are no names on the posts unless people "sign" them (as Evan did, but as the second poster did not). Who knows if that's a marketing wonk or the real person.

  19. Re:Cheap Whiskey by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    i will grant that it's not that cheap, but i insist that it remains nasty as shit.

  20. That's cool, as long as they don't start... by br0d · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's cool, as long as they don't start posting dark poetry.

  21. Re:Blog? How about design notes? by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hear hear!

    "Blogs"* have potential. Currently they are utterly disgusting because the whole thing regarding blogs and journals is ruined by boring people forcing their dull lives down our throats. Fortunately, the technology regarding journals is good and there have been some very good journals around. Now tell me, what's more interesting? A boring rand( 12, 50 ) year old (emo|goth|depressed) tosser from randomCity() ranting on about randomSubject() or having the creators of Google shed some light on the technical insides of Google? What about a journal where some people keep track of major (OS) projects? Gives one a view into what was considered during design, what was dropped, why it was dropped, what problems were encountered and so on. Even if you don't make your journals public, they'd make GREAT referrence material to improve oneself upon. After all, you learn the most from your own mistakes and if you can review the entire process instead of just the mistake itself, it ought to be more helpful.

    * ... Change of name please. Blogs will forever be stained by the stupidity that is currently infecting them. That, and whoever made that word up should be hung, shot, burned, quartered and then REALLY hurt.

  22. Re:So..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    The real question is how long before slashdotters slashdot Slashdot, and will Google have a Google cache of Slashdot for slashdotters who cannot read Slashdot because it was slashdotted?

  23. Re:STOP IT by SpaceCadetTrav · · Score: 2, Informative

    Thanks for the advice. Stagnated companies are always great.

  24. Re:New name? - You missed one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    'Blooger'

  25. Blogs.. BORING! by dustinbarbour · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I hate blogs. Why must everyone in the world think their thoughts are a veritable goldmine of entertainment? I don't get it. :-\

  26. Re:Blog? How about design notes? by VividU · · Score: 4, Informative

    You should check out blogs.msdn.com if your interested in stuff like this.

    Especially interesting is Chris Pratley's web log. He's got some great posts on the history of Word, the Open Source movement and other fun stuff.

  27. In case site is /.ed.... by vwjeff · · Score: 3, Funny

    here is the google cache.

    Oh, wait. Nevermind.

  28. Ok, I'm over blogs. Waiit, I've never been under! by hardaker · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I've just never caught on to the idea. I don't read celeberty blogs, I don't write one (who the heck would even care what I think). I used to keep a journal at one point (because, well, emacs had the ability to do it so I had to play with it of course). But seriously, I'd never consider publishing it not because its private but rather "who the heck would care"?

    We're in the information overload age. People, get a clue. We need to refine our content and make it worth reading, not spew endlessly hoping it'll be useful to someone. I'm much more interested in the few words that someone wise has to say than the 1000s of words that the average masses has to say.

    Of course... By posting this message to slashdot, I may have just killed my own notion of it's pointless to post stupid rambling thoughts.

    --
    The next site to slashdot will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and start slashdotting it early!
  29. Comment on outsourcing disappeared by Random+BedHead+Ed · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Hey, the second comment on that page (dated May 10th) has changed in the past few minutes. In the original item, he mentioned outsourcing. Now it says:
    When we announced the opening of our engineering office in Zurich, a lot of Europeans seemed pleased about the possibility of working for Google without a commute to California. Zurich draws Italians, French, Swiss, Germans, and other Europeans, and is easier to reach from most parts of the continent than the Amphitheatre Parkway exit off highway 101.

    Originally he said something like, "But when we opened an office in Balgalore, suddenly we were knee-deep in the debate about outsourcing." They must have asked him to change it. Does anyone have the original blog item in their cache? I'd be interested to read it again, and compare!

  30. Google blog entries by mabu · · Score: 4, Funny

    May 11, 2004

    Opened up an office in Zurich, interviewing people.
    McDonald's new chicken mcnuggets are actually pretty good

    May 22, 2004

    Worked very late today; also helped admin move some machines to the new location; local sandwich shop brought some roast beef po-boys

    June 11, 2004

    Our IPO went off today; stock jumped to $67/share; That new blonde we hired in the front office has begun flirting with me shamelessly.

    July 27, 2004

    Wolfgang Puck showed up in the offices today and made my favorite: Lobster & Truffle bisque with caviar. Though the Lobsters were only four pounders, I'll let it go this time.

    Stupid contractors have missed another deadline for installing the penguin-shaped jacuzzi in the east wing. This is getting frustrating.

    August 3, 2004

    Got my new Lambourghini in and someone scuffed the ivory-trimmed dashboard! I'm having the dealership fire the salesguy and promise to deliver a new car within a week or I'll cancel the order for the Hummer as well.

    August 4, 2004

    Quit Google. Joined the World Poker Tour.

  31. Re:Whoops, Google /.ed! by Frobisher · · Score: 2

    Can you please tell that to the myriad of US "shock-jocks". I'm not 4 years old. I don't watch Teletubbies. I don't need to go "Again! Again!", the moment after the video/joke has finished.

    As a Brit in the USA it PAINS me to hear the same "joke" over and over again, when I'm forced to endure listening to the radio by others. It's all so f*****' fake!

    Thank god my mate Peter is recording the latest BBC series of "Have I Got News For You."..., and thank god for BBC7.

  32. No RSS Feed? by JamesOfTheDesert · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Oh, right. Google/Blogger has picked sides in the feed format war.

    What a shame.

    --

    Java is the blue pill
    Choose the red pill
  33. Original Post. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative


    Insight into the news, technology, and culture of Google.
    Monday, May 10, 2004

    Going out of our way to find the right people.
    When we announced the opening of our engineering office in Zurich, a lot of Europeans seemed pleased about the possibility of working for Google without a commute to California. Zurich draws Italians, French, Swiss, Germans, and other Europeans, and is easier to reach from most parts of the continent than the Amphitheatre Parkway exit off highway 101.

    Interestingly, when we announced our engineering center in Bangalore, we found ourselves knee-deep in the debate about "outsourcing" -- the practice of cutting a company's American operations in favor of cheaper labor elsewhere. India in particular has been a subject of a lot of press coverage on this topic lately, which we find to be pretty unfair. It's not their fault they have a lot of brilliant computer scientists who don't care to relocate to the States.

    We recognize that talented engineers live in every time zone, not just Silicon Valley. That's fine with us, because when it comes to solving technical problems Google benefits from global perspectives, as well as a diversity of languages and working hours. We're not shipping jobs overseas, we're accommodating people we want to hire who don't feel like uprooting their lives, even for Charlie's cooking.

    So, if you're looking for a place to plug into Google, we're trying to make it easy for you. We're looking for talented software engineers, top programmers and visionary computer scientists to tackle everything from distributed systems and information retrieval to algorithms, UI, and scalability challenges. And of course to unplug the lava lamps occasionally so they don't overheat.

    So, whether you're in the market for a challenging engineering position in Mountain View or our new Tokyo office, or somewhere really out of this world, we hope you'll look us up.
    Posted @ 3:30 PM / Permanent Link

  34. Re:What beer am I drinking? by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 2, Informative

    Parent is a IBYAB post.

    As in I'd Buy You A Beer post. Feel free to use this acronym when you come across a post that you totally agree with or sympathise with and you can't think of anything else to say except 'Man, if you were in my area I'd buy you a beer'.

    Remember folks, IBYAB!

    --
    Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
  35. Re:Blog? How about design notes? by mdwh2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You do realise that you don't have to read a particular LiveJournal don't you? Nothing is forced down your throat. How on earth does this ruin things?

    If you are using LiveJournal to read entries of random people from randomCity() ranting about randomSubject(), then you are completely missing the point. I read LiveJournals of my friends (or possibly, some random person if I've found them to be particularly interesting, but certainly not people I find to be boring) - if you have friends, you should read their LiveJournals ;)

    It would be like saying Slashdot is a load of crap, because who wants to read a load of boring (geek|nerd) "tossers" ranting on about random things.

    Fortunately, the technology regarding journals is good

    Yes, as you say yourself, the technology is good, and this is independant of what people use it for. When people use LiveJournal to document technical things (as some people do), how does that fit into your view of blogs and journals?

  36. What did they have for lunch today? by kyoko21 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wonder if they will write about their daily yummy free lunches that are served at google?

    If anything, a free lunch is a good reason to work there!

  37. Re:New link redirection by siffring · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here's the story with the blogger redirects Hint: they prevent comment spam and promote PageRank fairness.

  38. Re:RSS? by CGP314 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I read all blogs via RSS reader - no time to check 200+ pages daily.

    If you are reading 200+ blogs, I think you have more that enough time to spare.


    -Colin

  39. Re:Ok, I'm over blogs. Waiit, I've never been unde by mandalayx · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I've just never caught on to the idea. I don't read celeberty blogs, I don't write one (who the heck would even care what I think).


    I am in full agreement with you. I don't really care what you had for breakfast, sorry.

    But it's clear that there's a large subset of the population that cares what Britney Spears had for breakfast. Look at all the folks who watch celebrity gossip, obsess over the lives of their idols, etc. We've even seen new idols created in front of our eyes (Survivor, The Apprentice, American Idol, et al), and I think that we're seeing much of the same with blogs. Check out some of the more popular blogs and I'm sure you'll find the same kind of pattern.
  40. Gotta admit... by AvantLegion · · Score: 2, Funny
    ... I expected this blog to have a better archive search feature.

  41. Re:Blog? How about design notes? by LikitaRenn · · Score: 2, Insightful

    the reason that "seth" is posting my lj as an example is because when we recently decided that we were tired of trying to be friends and putting up with each other's crap (after a misguided, and immature "internet relationship" over a year ago), he decided to be a spiteful little prick. the point is that he, though older than me, is even more immature in this stupid "post" of his, than all of my teenage crap that i rant about in the journal that i mistakenly gave him the link to. "seth"-no one's forcing you to do anything, i sent the link out as a group email to the people i considered my friends at the time. if you have anything bad to say about me (though i thought we weren't going to waste our time on each other anymore... are you mad that i blocked you?), please say it on something that i actually read, so that i don't have to get a link from an anonymous source to a post in which you are talking shit about me and posting my journal for everyone to, as i'm sure you hoped by the nature of this post, ridicule. thank you.

  42. You don't Understand why Information is Important by Laebshade · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You don't understand. When information is allowed to flow freely ideas abound. Sure, there are thousands and thousands of people who write about who they're dating and what color dress they're wearing to the movies tonight, but occasional you come across people that have ideas. Real ideas, good ideas. I don't think it's the information overload, as in the true meaning of it being excessive. Unrefined yes. Blogs are like slightly-refined brainstorming activities.

    The dissemination of information is freedom and is one of the rights we hold dearly.