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What Went Wrong At Yahoo

Posted by Soulskill on from the doing-it-early-vs-doing-it-well dept.

kjh1 writes "Paul Graham writes about what he felt went wrong at Yahoo. He has first-hand experience — his company, Viaweb, was bought by Yahoo and he worked there for a while. In a nutshell, he felt that Yahoo was too conflicted about whether they were a technology company or a media company. 'If anyone at Yahoo considered the idea that they should be a technology company, the next thought would have been that Microsoft would crush them.' This in part led to hiring bad programmers, or at least not going single-mindedly after the very best ones. They also lacked the 'hacker' culture that Google and Facebook still seem to have, and that is found in many startup tech companies. 'As long as customers were writing big checks for banner ads, it was hard to take search seriously. Google didn't have that to distract them.'"

5 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What went wrong? by h4rm0ny · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    So you mean what happened to Yahoo was that oversilting and other pollution of rivers damaged the coastline? I never would have guessed.

    How the Hell are all the sensible arguments pointing out problems or contentious issues in my post sitting around at Score: 1, and you've been modded up +5 for crass absurdity? Just how many accounts do you have?

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    Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
  2. Re: Keep Moving by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Western Religion seems to have a problem with this.

    That's why the eastern ones are so much more fluid.

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
  3. buh? by drinkypoo · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    did you miss? or just misinterpret comment scoring based on relationship?

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    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:buh? by h4rm0ny · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      did you miss? or just misinterpret comment scoring based on relationship?

      And low and behold the 1 line post above gets another +5.

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      Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
    2. Re:buh? by drinkypoo · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      If you can't figure out your comment score modifiers, which you can change in preferences, I am going to have to unfriend you :p

      Hint: Part of my comment score is because you have willingly set yourself as my fan...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"