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Google's Head of Research — We Don't Do Hardware

Posted by Zonk on from the to-the-gmobile dept.

mr_sifter writes "In a recent, wide-ranging interview Google's Head of Research, Dr Peter Norvig, revealed the firm has no interest in developing its own hardware. (Except a phone, apparently.) Said Norvig, 'We want to work everywhere and be neutral. That neutrality is important.' Interestingly, Norvig is tough on where the company's priorities are at the moment, saying: 'I think there could be much better tools, we're [Google] still kind of isolated in what we do. You give us a question and we give you an answer ... We're really focused on either the five second-type question ... We don't really support the five month or the five year queries, the project or life-long goal.' He also talks about the importance of adding a narrative to search, mobile technology, and how Google's strong financials mean the company can run research in an unusual way."

22 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Oh no!!! by wandazulu · · Score: 5, Funny

    My Google Search Appliance just disappeared in a poof of smoke and logic!

    1. Re:Oh no!!! by Mr.+Underbridge · · Score: 2, Funny

      "I have a masters and I do not do hardware"

      I'm curious what the hell that was even supposed to imply. Was he saying that hardware is relegated to BS and below, or PhD? And does he think that anyone's impressed by a masters' these days? They're usually no harder to get than a BS (or indicate that someone bailed on their PhD program).

  2. Is that "do" as in "make"... by eno2001 · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...or "do" as in "copulate with". Because if it's the later, I'm glad to hear they aren't going the route of Microsoft developers. ;P

    --
    -"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
  3. I remember another company once said this... by downix · · Score: 3, Funny

    I remember when Microsoft was all "We don't do hardware"...

    **looks at his co-workers X-box, microsoft mouse and microsoft joystick**

    --
    Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
    1. Re:I remember another company once said this... by apt142 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The funny thing is, MS arguably has better hardware than they have software.

      --
      Star Pirates
    2. Re:I remember another company once said this... by king-manic · · Score: 2, Informative

      Really?

      --
      "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
    3. Re:I remember another company once said this... by WilliamSChips · · Score: 3, Informative

      He's talking about their mice and keyboards.

      --
      Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
    4. Re:I remember another company once said this... by cp.tar · · Score: 2, Funny

      The funny thing is, MS arguably has better hardware than they have software.

      <troll>Well, it could hardly be worse.</troll>
      --
      Ignore this signature. By order.
    5. Re:I remember another company once said this... by empaler · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Running it on Vista?

      Seriously, I have a MS-keyb+mouse set, and it's awesome. Probably one of the best keyboards I've had - only, as soon as I installed Vista, half the cool functions weren't available. Kind of embarassing, that.

    6. Re:I remember another company once said this... by bobcat7677 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Microsoft WIRED Mice and Keyboards are pretty good. My first mouse was a Microsoft mouse and it lasted for a LONG time. Their wireless gear on the other hand sucks monkey ass. I have yet to touch a wireless microsoft mouse that didn't suffer from interference problems or render my system completely unusable (including locking up the wired keyboard) when the batteries got the slightest bit low. The one I bought for myself sits in a box even though it has the best resolution of all my mice. The conference room machine here at work is mostly useless because of the one attached to it. A friend has a wireless microsoft keyboard and has all sorts of issues with it too.

    7. Re:I remember another company once said this... by Realistic_Dragon · · Score: 2, Informative

      Microsoft WIRED Mice and Keyboards are pretty good.

      Too true. I have a first gen MS optical intellimouse that has seen 6+ hours of use per day for about 11 years now without failure. Hell the thing is so old that I didn't even dislike Microsoft when I bought it! Fortunately the logo rubbed off around 1999 and these days no one can recognise it.

      In fact when it was new my top-end machine was a blistering 400mhz PII with 64mb of ram running Win95. Who the hell knew that that Microsoft could make anything good for 24,000 hours of use with no faults.

      --
      Beep beep.
    8. Re:I remember another company once said this... by iabervon · · Score: 2, Funny

      You've got a good memory, then. I had a Microsoft mouse for my IBM XT 20 years ago. I hear they eventually made a GUI that used it, too, that's become somewhat popular. Unfortunately, they didn't document it nearly as well as their mice, so it isn't nearly as nice to work with.

  4. Of course! by biocute · · Score: 3, Informative

    Define hardware : major items of military weaponry (as tanks or missile)

    --
    Virtual Betting on Facebook for non-geeks.
  5. Re:Google doesn't make hardware? by masdog · · Score: 2, Informative

    Dell

    --
    My Sysadmin Blog
  6. Re:Google doesn't make hardware? by brunes69 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Some OEM partner. Google just makes the software that runs on it.

  7. Re:Apart from the cellphone and the Mini... by masdog · · Score: 2, Informative

    Google doesn't assemble the hardware for that device...they contract that out to a company in San Jose that does it for them.

    --
    My Sysadmin Blog
  8. Google does do hardware by DrDitto · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Just look at the job postings:

    http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/egr/408676278.html

    1. Re:Google does do hardware by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 3, Informative

      Just because Google needs hardware to run its operations, and thus, hardware testing engineers to test new hardware and infrastructures, doesn't mean that they 'do hardware.'

      Or were you trying to be funny?

      --
      My blog
  9. Re:They ought to... by jay-be-em · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm not sure it would be worth Google's time and money to create the
    infrastructure necessary to start producing chips for themselves. Why
    not just give a requirement list to some already established
    manufacturer? I'm sure they'd be happy to have a guaranteed massive
    contract for years to come.

    --
    "Orthodoxy means not thinking--not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness." --Eric Blair
  10. Re:Apart from the cellphone and the Mini... by chris_mahan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    In the same vein, Apple doesn't make the iPhone. They contract that out to a company in PRC that does it for them.

    --

    "Piter, too, is dead."

  11. Don't believe this by suv4x4 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They said they won't do email, chat, financial information, spreadsheets or horoscopes (making fun of Yahoo and Microsoft).

    And short of horoscopes, they now do all of this.

    1. Re:Don't believe this by drspliff · · Score: 2, Interesting

      They don't make hardware, and if I read the article correctly they don't plan to get into the that market.

      At the moment (iirc) their using off the shelf components bought in bulk to power their server farms. If you're buying anything close to the amount of hardware Google is using you need people who are well versed in the stuff in order to make the right architecture decisions. Otherwise you just get a huge 20+ geek argument about which Intel or AMD processor to use.

      Hiring hardware testers is not the same as hiring hardware designers with the intent to start fabbing your own stuff.