Why I left Google (2012)

This is from March of <i>last year</i>, BTW, and has been discussed numerous other times on HN.<p>(Ironically, there have been so many other articles titled "Why I left Google" on HN that I can't actually find this one in the archives. But it's there :)

So he leaves Google because of steps they are taking to protect and enhance their revenue stream, and joins Microsoft? As a former Microsoftie, all I can say is that is like going from the kettle to the fire and doesn't make sense.

The way these things read... I wonder if people are getting paid an extra bonus to have PR write up a "why I left the other guy" post and put their name on it as way to just bundle up a bunch of FUD in one place.<p>I'm not a big fan of either Google or Microsoft, so I don't really care about what they say. It's just that these "why I quit" letters have become boilerplate PR pieces that don't really offer anything new or interesting.

I lost all interest in reading the article after looking at the msdn.com domain.<p>EDIT: Downvoters, I don't see how this is wrong. Microsoft has a long history of spreading FUD about competitors (Florian Mueller/FOSSPatents, <a href="http://www.scroogled.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.scroogled.com/</a> [when their own practices are very much the same], sponsoring fake studies that show that the TCO of Linux is much greater than that of Windows, and so on.) I certainly would be interested in an unbiased opinion on the topic, but I don't think anyone on Microsoft's payroll can give me that.

This guy was only at Google for three years (less, in fact), but this reads like he was a 10 year veteran or something. I can't really take it all that seriously because of that.<p>He was offered a Partner position at Microsoft. That's why he left. No need to philosophize about corporate culture here.

Are Google's driverless car just a way to show more ads? Instead of driving a car you could be watching an ad.

I think this person's opinion is rather colored. Google has been about ads since before they were public. I personally don't have a Facebook page, and don't use g+ that much, so I'm not as infatuated with social networking as much as some I suppose, but I keep track of my karma on HN hourly when I post a message here, so to each his own.<p>I have no idea what his second article about Microsoft and the mobile space is getting at. Look, if you think g+ is failing, what makes you think Microsoft is going to suddenly own the mobile space? I interviewed at a place in Seattle about 7 years ago that was doing Windows phone stuff, and again at MSFT at a different point for the windows mobile team as an embedded SWE. Microsoft has been in the mobile space forever, yet he's saying they are the innovative company capable to turning on a dime and taking over a new space? I don't believe it.<p>My wife has a windows phone, I don't like it, she hates the Bing search. I just bought a nexus 4 to replace my G2 because I want software updates for a long time. My wife is probably moving to an iPhone or Nexus. Last I looked gmail supports imap, you don't have to view ads. I only see ads on my nexus when I use google services, they don't flash up on my screen randomly.<p>I work on security for Windows, but for my own personal use, I just bought an ARM chromebook. It's a great price, despite the 'secure bootloader', it took me about 5 minutes to get the Ubuntu install started on an SD card, and if I screw up the recovery is drop dead simple. Right now, we are sweating bullets because if we make a mistake on Win8 boot, we are going to hose up the machine and recovery is long and painful.<p>Google has plenty of problems, and sure if you ask me, Google+ has a terrible interface and shipping it without a good API was brain dead, but Microsoft sure doesn't seem to be setting the mobile world on fire.<p>So I'd take this and many articles like it with a giant cake of salt.

"Sharing is not broken"<p>"Share this on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, Reddit, LinkedIn, SlashDot, Myspace, Technorati, Friendfeed, Messenger, or Stumbleupon."

I recently switched from using the Google Translate API to the Bing/Microsoft Translator API for my Android app, because Google charges usage fees while MS is free at the lowest tier. This was the first time I saw Google charge money for a service that Microsoft offers for free.

Shouldn't the title be <i>Quitting Google</i> instead? This title sounds like Google is quitting, when instead an employee quit Google.

Little mention of Android and Chrome? No mention of Docs/Drive, self driving cars, Go, Google Fiber or their growing forays into hardware (Nexus, Glass)?<p>As a lot of these indicate, one of Google's chief contributions in recent memory is helping to make computing cheap, ubiquitous and decidedly not monopolized by Microsoft. In the blink of an eye, we've gone from a world where everything the average person owns that can install software runs on Windows to a world where more like 1/3 (and shrinking) of a household's computing devices run Windows. And in 2013, Chromebooks and Steamboxes look like they could displace a lot more of MS's presence.<p>There's a conflict of interest here. Even if their game is more complex than Coke vs Pepsi, these are very direct competitors. An ambitious Microsoftie has something to gain in a coy, well written put down that conveniently ignores the competition's bigger recent achievements.

I feel like I've read or seen a fair bit of Google criticism from ex-Googlers on the msdn blogs. Can anyone confirm I haven't just been seeing this post over and over?<p>I don't care if it's just optics; having a post about this on your current employers blog platform makes me highly suspicions, no matter how many people share his opinion

Between this piece and other comments I've seen in the wake of the anti-Google backlash of this past week, why is it that supposedly under Eric Schmidt, a "business guy" Google was all innovation and tech, and then when Larry Page, a very technical cofounder, took over, the company is now some sort of ad machine? If this is true, what does this say about leading personalities and company culture?

Google first Kills or acquire small companies and then kill the acquired company for integrating it with Google Plus. Then turn off the service without thinking about the peoples using it.<p>It is the power of huge money, monopoly and over confidence.

Hate to be that guy, but who is James Whittaker?<p>(nice writeup, as it mirrors the feelings many of my google friends feel)

Why is this being upvoted now is beyond me. Am I missing something?

So it's a year later and sharing still isn't broken and Google still isn't part of it. Maybe that's the point?

The fact that this 'personal blog' is on <i>blogs.msdn.com</i> says a lot :)

"The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads."<p>- Jeff Hammerbacher, Facebook

So he goes to microsoft?

This is going to come back every time Google does something the community here doesn't like, or which they see as "corporate-minded focus" over innovation.

Working at Google have much higher pressure than MS. not a place for loser.

This site has very wide columns. Here's a readability link that might be easier to scan:<p><a href="http://www.readability.com/articles/nljhmuka" rel="nofollow">http://www.readability.com/articles/nljhmuka</a>

I don't know. Google has come up with Glass and is working hard on the self driving car. Sounds pretty innovative still to me. I hope the author is wrong about the pipeline of new stuff.

The way I see it, Google is the new Microsoft, and Microsoft is not dead yet, but becoming more and more irrelevant. Now, what has to happen for Google to become irrelevant?

I don't like Google. But I don't like Microsoft either.<p>And this guy has evil written all over him. He worked at Microsoft for 3 years prior to joining Google. He is now back working for Microsoft. Blogging on msdn.com.<p><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/james-whittaker/13/878/229" rel="nofollow">http://www.linkedin.com/pub/james-whittaker/13/878/229</a>

This blog post is one year old.

Google+ is a bizarre

The guy joined Microsoft as a Partner, Partners got it good at Microsoft, 500k/year (range is around 300k to 1 million a year) average and they were exempt from the yearly 10% mandatory cut the rest of the workers are exposed to.

Google's New Portal Provides Help for Hacked Sites <a href="http://www.hackersnewsbulletin.com/2013/03/googles-new-portal-provides-help-for.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.hackersnewsbulletin.com/2013/03/googles-new-porta...</a>

"Why I left Google" - said no Guido ever.