From the article Lars says that facebook has changed the world. I don't see this being the case. So a lot of people like to see what their friends are doing and play games that challenge the average sheep's IQ, but what does facebook do that is world changing? Aside from keeping an enormous number people 'busy' for hours a day that might otherwise have been spent studying, working or actually doing things? I am skeptical about facebook's benefit to the world as anything more that entertainment du jour. Maybe Lars was just interested in giving wave another try under the facebook brand instead. It certainly might make more sense in a social connectivity company. I'm not arguing that facebook isn't very popular, just with point that it's world changing. Regardless, I wish him all the best in his new job.
Something I notice in common about many of these stories is how much people cite Zuckerberg in particular as a reason for joining/liking Facebook. I don't see anything like it for Larry or Sergey at Google.<p>My guess is that Zuckerberg has his own "Reality Distortion Field", albeit of a very different style than the original (Steven Jobs'), and this is a major factor in the recent migratory wave.
After 6 years and after the stressful situation he describes with Google Wave, it is reasonable for anyone to make a clean break and try out something new<p>Among the things I find interesting - the guy was the co-founder of what is now Google Maps (after Google's acquisition). However, now, he has chosen to join Facebook instead of setting out on his own new venture.<p>Perhaps he could have a bigger impact if he founded a new company.
I'm always a little sad to see good talent go to Facebook, because I have no intention of using their products. I would rather see that talent working somewhere else.
The cynical side of me imagines all these people are joining FB for its inevitable blockbuster IPO. But then another part of me wonders if FB is coming out with something completely revolutionary. Something so amazing that all these smart folks cant wait to work on it.
I've done this myself: "I've got a job description of 'come hang out with us for a while and we'll see what happens'"<p>It didn't really out. Best of luck to him.
Surprised to hear him say he thought Wave just needed more time and Google wasn't patient enough.<p>Wave was brilliant, but Google definitely made the right decision there.
Email had a metaphor, your mailbox.<p>Wave has no metaphor, it is complete non-sense to my mother. Neat idea, totally useless in reality. What worked (real-time collaboration) should be (has been?) ported to gmail and google docs, period.<p>I love Google products and I didn't shed any tears when they shut down wave...
I found it interesting to hear that the size of the company (2.5K employees) would feel very different to that of google (25K employees). Does this size difference simply mean that google has one extra layer of management (many centers) compared to facebook, or is there some other difference? The author speculates about the compensation, including stock options, but is there anything else?
My take on it is this:<p>As someone else noted thoughtfully in this thread, Norvig once said "Go where the data is." [extreme paraphrase]<p>Google's data isn't largely proprietary. The web is accessible for any to crawl. Google Maps is based on essentially public data, or easily obtained data. A savvy and well funded enough competitor could enter these markets.<p>Facebook's data is proprietary and user-created. The users have built-in inertia for Facebook 'cause they sure as hell don't want to abandon the three years of content they've built on a whim.<p>Add to that Google's recent missteps like net neutrality, and their insane and technocratic hiring policies, and I don't think I know a single truly bright person who would want to go to Google right now.<p>Facebook, however, is looking pretty damn sexy... all that data that the users forked over... hmmm... Not to mention the fact that if you're a social person, Facebook is FUN.
Facebook really changed the world, as far as new advertising platforms go.. as for communication, it is funny how many of us continue to use IRC just as effectively as 15 or so years ago.
"I've got a job description of 'come hang out with us for a while and we'll see what happens', which is a pretty exciting thing."<p>He took a job without having any idea what he will be doing? And why would that be an exciting thing?
This is a great move for Lars. Look for him to integrate his Wave vision with FB chat. Wave wasn't bad it just never came close to critical mass and with Facebook he gets that instantly.
One could say Wave failed because of a lack of users. Especially users meaningfully connected to each other. Really it doesn't matter if the software is shit. Millions of people flock to crappy PHP forums all over the world. Facebook has those users with reasons to talk to each other.<p>Whether that makes Facebook more important than Google I don't think is what's really going on here.