
Google CEO: We Won’t Repeat the Mistakes of Microsoft - nreece
http://gigaom.com/2009/11/05/google-ceo-we-wont-repeat-the-mistakes-of-microsoft/
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jacquesm
I can hear Caesar speak: We will not make the mistakes of the Greeks.

But there are so many other mistakes that you can make.

I'm sure Bill Gates never planned to make the same mistakes that IBM made. So
he didn't, but he found some original ones.

'This too shall pass' applies to google as much as it applies to microsoft.

It's hubris to think that you can go the distance simply by avoiding the
mistakes of your competitor.

~~~
michaelcampbell
Good points, all, but that's not really what he said. And by the tone of his
talk, I don't think HE thinks they can "go the distance" by just doing
avoiding past mistakes.

Then again, I could have mis-heard. But I did actually listen to it. =)

~~~
jacquesm
Google is making plenty of mistakes as we are writing this, and I think most
of those have a pretty good history of being 'past mistakes', including, but
not limited to not listening to your customers, crappy support and changing
your 'winning formula' to try to make a few bucks. Coupled with a total lack
of transparency I think they are well underway stringing out the rope that
will eventually hang them, or that will give a competitor a leg up.

Since the other giants don't seem to be too busy with really trumping them I
think the final challenger will be one that right now is maybe on a drawing
board somewhere, but not an established entity.

And google is geared very well to dealing with the existing competition, but
does not seem to do well with 'upstarts'. If the youtube vs google video
contest was a sample of how things will play out then they will have their
work cut out for them.

One thing is for sure, it will be interesting to watch.

~~~
DenisM
Excellent observations.

