No iPhone for me!

I do not want an iPhone. That's right, I said it. I do not want one.

I like my blackberry pearl. It's small. It's cute. Email works beautifully. It runs Google Talk, Gmail, Google Maps, etc. I can install new apps on it. It has actual keys on the keyboard. I like it.

Music on my phone isn't a bad thing, but it's not that great. If I want to play music, I'll bring my iPod with me. And besides, I'm fairly sure that the size of my iPod plus the size of my blackberry is still smaller than the iPhone.

I do, however, want to play with one... just for a few days.

On a related note - how much productivity will be lost over the next few days due to the iPhone launch? What's going on today at the Apple campus?

Scalability Conference - Notes

Google's Scalability Conference was held this past Saturday in Seattle (ok, ok, Bellevue...). It seemed to be very well received.

I'm told that videos will be posted shortly, and I'll update when this happens. Until then, however, someone has posted their notes on the conference.

Notes on the Scalability Conference

RE: Life at Google - The Microsoftie Perspective

Sigh... why do I always get sucked into these things?

By now, it seems like everyone has read Life at Google - The Microsoftie Perspective. And now, I too am getting sucked into this discussion...

1. The email pretty much states that one of the primary goals of this article is to give pointers for how Microsoft can convince candidates to come to Microsoft. eg, how can we spin Google's perks the other way? Keep that in mind. These are not necessarily things he does or doesn't like about Google.
   
2. People are walking away from this article thinking "oh my god people at Google work really long hours." That's not actually what it says. It actually says that people work 10am - 6pm, but also spend time working from home. 10am - 6pm is an eight hour day - including lunch. Not bad. I work for Google, used to intern at Microsoft, and most of my friends work at Microsoft. I've seen no difference whatsoever in working hours.
3. "Nearly everyone is on e-mail 24/7". Microsoft employees tend to have SmartPhones with work mail on it, Google employees don't. Also, Google employees tend to use separate accounts for personal and work emails, whereas Microsoft employees tend to use their work address for both (not sure why). So actually, Google employees can more easily stay away from their work email.
4. "Your [20%] project needs to be tacitly approved by your manager." Heh. That's not true.
5. "Most managers won't remind you to start a 20% project." That's true. Google has a more hands off management style. They don't babysit you.
6. "Google doesn't seem to think that private offices are valuable for technical staff. They're wrong." Ah, yes, the often discussed "open office" vs "private office" issue. There are pros and cons for each. The pros for a private office are pretty obvious, so I won't go into them. I think people overlook the pros for an open office: everyone on your team is right there. Have a question about the system architecture? Just ask. Everyone's right there. You don't have to call a meeting. You don't have to run down the hallway. You don't have to make a phone call. It saves a lot of time - and avoids unnecessary meetings.
   I actually had my own office for a few weeks when I first started at Google, and after that I shared an office with just one other person. It seemed cool at the time, but now, I actually prefer an open office plans. If I'm getting distracted I can put on my headphones, but normally, it's just nice to have everyone right there. (I've heard that the Bungie team at Microsoft was encouraged to switch to private offices when they were acquired. They declined. I didn't understand why they wanted cubes when I was at Microsoft either. It makes sense now.)
   
7. "My manager had over 100 direct reports and is the common case for managers at Google." A slight exaggeration on the reports, but anyway... The email discussion on management only tells one side of the story. You might think, for example, how can a manager with 100 direct reports review you? Well, they don't, your peers do. That's just one example. I guess what I'm saying is that you can't apply Microsoft's management structure (eg, reviews by managers) to Google's numbers (100 direct reports) - that's mixing and matching, and it doesn't work. The structure is very different between the two companies.
   
8. "Oh and conflict resolution between team members is very complex." Not complex, just different. Instead of some PM or manager coming down and saying "this is my decision - now go implement!", decisions are made more as a result of team discussion. A manager could step in, but usually a group consensus is better than just one person's decision.
9. "Of course, if Google handles everything for you, it's hard to think about leaving because of all the "stuff" you'll need to transition and then manage for yourself." Heh. Now you're just being silly!
   

Is he happier at Microsoft than Google? Why did he leave Google? I'd be curious about those two points which are never addressed.

In my mind, there's one pretty powerful fact in Google's favor: many people have left Microsoft for Google. Microsoft would be more than happy to take them back. If they were happier at Microsoft, don't you think they would return? I don't know anyone who has.

And... I really have to stop getting involved in petty debates :-)

Applying to Google. Or just stealing food.

Recently a few friends of mine have applied to Google - without letting me refer them. It makes me cry inside. :-(

So, I'll make the following statements:

• If I know you (or you know someone I know), and you want to apply to Google, send me your resume. I'll submit it for you.
• If I don't know you, you're welcome to send me your resume anyway. If your resume looks good, I'd have no problems referring you. No promises though :-).

Also, lunch!

• If you know me or anyone I know: Yes, we have free food. It's tasty and free for guests as well. Join me!
  

I'm in the Google office in Seattle/Kirkland. Email address is at the bottom of the page. Hope to hear from you soon :-)

Where does spam come from?

Most (technical) people by now know that it's not a good idea to give your real email address to websites when you register your account. But how much of a difference does that really make?

I have one email account for work, another that I give to family and friends, another that I post (obfuscated) on glaak.com, another that is posted in plain text on a university webpage, and one that I use to register for websites. All of them (other than my work email) forward to my "family and friends" email account, and all get spammed in their own special ways.

A few stats:

8000 spam per month: Generate-able Email Address ([First Name] @ [a common domain.com] )
This email address has a (remotely) common name + a common domain. It has never been posted anywhere, or been used to register for another service.

4000 spam per month: Plain Text Email Account
This email address was posted in plain text on a university webpage

1000 spam per month: Less Easily Generate-able Email Address ([First Name + Last Initial] @ [a common domain.com])
This email address has also never been posted or used to register, but is easy to generate.

100 spam per month: Registration Email Address
This email address would be difficult to generate, but is always used to register for services. Of course, the number of "legitimate" mailings this email address receives is a bit higher.

13 spam per month: Obfuscated Email Address
This email address is posted on this website, but is obfuscated with javascript. Yes, yes, it appears in plain text when the page is rendered, but in the source it's in javascript.

Of course, this wasn't a totally fair experiment. Not all email addresses have existed for the same amount of time, some are posted in more places than others, and there's overlap between some figures (for example, I'd guess that some of the spam going to the obfuscated email address is actually from people generating the address).

Conclusions:

• Don't have an email address that you can easily generate (or make sure you have a good spam filter)
• Don't post your email address online in plain text

Registering for a website with your real email address? You're probably ok. (Still, I recommend a secondary gmail account which auto-forwards to your real email account).

Luckily for me, Gmail's spam filter gets nearly all of the 13,000 montly pieces of spam (missing maybe 10 or so per month). Not bad.

Ahhh.... Plaxo

I've been using Google Calendar since it launched (well, actually, a bit before it launched :-)) and loved it. Yeah, I've used Outlook's Calendar and it's nice and all, but without an exchange server, I can't access my calendar from home and work. Plus, Google Calendar has Quick Add which is pretty much the best feature ever.

The only issue with Google Calendar was that since there was no way to sync Outlook & Google Calendar, there was no way to sync my blackberry with Google Calendar. Boo :-(

Plaxo just released a new version though which solves this. It can now sync between Google Calendar & Outlook (and a bunch of other services which I care less about). Ahh... meetings on my blackberry now :-).