The last 24 hours have likely been the darkest in the history of Yahoo! Inc. as the company fired 1000 employees, some deserving, some who deserved a better chance. The company’s decision to fire just over 7% of its workforce was pretty much a requirement as the company attempts to transition to more profitable systems and a leaner, more productive and accountable workforce.
News of the layoffs and those laid off spread like wildfire thanks to social services like Twitter and Techmeme. We heard of Ryan Kuder, who Twitter’d every step of the way, from nervous trepidation, to getting the call, to clearing out his desk, having his computer and badge confiscated, replacing his company cell phone, and celebrating unemployment with a giant margaritas at Chevy’s.
We watched Susan Mernit talk about her last day, knowing full well that she’s one of those who will be in high demand from dozens of other companies. We watched Salim Ismail, head of Yahoo Brickhouse, get fired and then try to claim he chose this and was a lucky man, followed by the inevitably more honest and emotional response from Valleywag (to paraphrase, “Go to hell and don’t even think of coming back”). And we saw Randy Farmer, supposedly an architect of Yahoo’s comeback, lose his job anyway, a confusing and self-defeating turn of events.
No doubt, there are Yahoo who badly deserved this, and no one is sad to see them go. A floundering company like Yahoo is filled with some employees who collect a paycheck, talk a lot of bull, and do nothing but consume company resources. However, the majority of those who lost their jobs were just regular folk doing regular jobs trying to support their families, and that is the tragedy of the day.
Often, companies do a round of layoffs in order to boost the stock price and earn a decent profit for board members at the expense of the average worker. Yahoo certainly can’t be accused of that, as Wall Street barely touched the stock today, due to its already inflated price caused by Microsoft’s offer to buy the company.
It’s hard to see this happen and not want Microsoft to buy Yahoo immediately. This company is bleeding, and Microsoft is offering a very expensive tourniquet. Sure, a lot of people will get fired if Microsoft buys it, too, but at least it’ll be a colder and more sensible integration and redundancy layoff round, and not the firing of good people because of management’s missteps and mistakes.
No one wants to see this happen again, but who honestly believes that there won’t be a round two if nothing drastic changes?
At least Google did okay. A smart Bradley Horowitz, head of Yahoo’s Advanced Technology Division, jumped from the sinking ship to join the Goog. Bradley will reportedly work on OpenSocial, and should be a huge asset for Google.
February 13th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Culture, Yahoo, Microsoft |
no comments
The latest version of the Google Toolbar replaces standard browser 404 pages with its own distinctly Google pages. 404 is the error code used by web servers when a page does not exists, and usually returns a page with little information beyond the error code. Some webmasters create their own custom 404 pages, designed to assist the user in finding the missing information, and Google’s Toolbar is replacing the pages of those who didn’t bother to do so, in most cases.
According to Matt Cutts, what the Toolbar does is detect if a custom 404 page is in use. It does so by checking the size of the 404 page being served, and if the page is under 512 bytes, Google determines there is no custom page, and serves up one of its own. In a small number of cases, a custom 404 page is so small that Google accidently replaces it, a mistake that, based on Matt’s post, isn’t going to be fixed anytime soon.
Google’s page is pretty useful. It contains links to the home page of the site you are trying to access, a Google search for searching within the site for the missing information, and a search box, pre-populated with words based on the URL you were trying that didn’t work. There’s also a link at the bottom saying “Why am I seeing this page?”, which will give you instructions on how to turn off the feature.
As Ionut points out, even the “standard” 404 error page returned by Internet Explorer 7 is actually a custom page created by Microsoft, which replaces the standard text-only 404 page actually returned by the server (and displayed on other browsers). However, it’s not like Microsoft put a Live Search box in the 404 page, which is mostly just window dressing on an error.
I’d like to point out I can’t even see that page, since my internet service provider (Earthlink) hijacks all 404 pages and displays its own crap page, one that contains a ridiculous giant blinking ad for checking my credit score. Now that’s scummy.
image by Barry under CC license
February 13th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Controversy, Toolbar, Tools |
4 comments
Philipp and Tony are asking Google Blogoscoped readers to try their hand at redesigning Google’s iconic logo. It’s just getting started, but already a few decent entries are in. Here’s my try, just for the fun of it:
I used three fonts and colors to represent the three faces of Google, crossing the standard RGB color space. The playful Jokerman font, in basic blue, represents the playful, almost child-like attitude of Google’s corporate culture. The more dynamic Magneto font, in a bright green, represents Google’s desire to be an exciting technology innovator, expanding into fields like mobile devices. The classic Old English font, in an almost brown dark red, represents Google’s academic roots and hiring strategies.
Some entries attempt to edit the current Google logo, others, like myself, tried to start from scratch. Try to come up with something yourself, and post it in their forum.
February 13th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Doodles, Culture |
no comments
The latest issue of Marie Claire, which my wife gets, has a big spring fashion feature shot on Google’s Mountain View campus. The 12-page spread features model Britni Standwood on a roof in front of giant Google letters and solor panels, a giant Google Earth globe, an aluminum foil-decorated office, scootering around the grounds, near the lap pool, in a sleep pod, on an electric car, in a “huddle room” and by a dry-erase board.
Here are some low-fi images of the magazine spread:
There is also a page featuring the women of Google, specifically (from left to right):
- Shona Brown (Senior VP of business operations) in a $320 Calvin Klein pantsuit jacket and $276 pants
- Sukhinder Singh (President of Asia-Pacific and Latin America operations) in a $950 Boss jacket, $225 Theory pants and $745 Manolo Blahnik shoes
- Megan Smith (VP of new business development) in a $374 jacket and $282 Chaiken pants
- Francoise Brougher (VP of business operations) in a $148 Calvin Klein jacket and $250 Tigal Azrouel scarf
- Susan Wojcicki (VP of product management and Sergey’s sister-in law) in a $435 jacket, $385 Tory Burch dress and $540 Casadei shoes
- Marissa Mayer (VP of search products and user experience) in a $396 Chaiken jacket, $68 Cosabella camisole, $250 Tory Burch skirt and $850 Chanel shoes
Lest you think this is how the women of Google dress every day, Marie Claire only priced out the clothes it provided. When the exec wore her own clothes, like Brown and Smith’s shoes, it was noted, without the cost or designer (and, oddly, those were the most prominent shoes in the photo). As Valleywag’s Owen Thomas says, “I’ve known Megan Smith for years, and cannot recall ever seeing her wearing something that was not (a) made of denim and (b) priced at less than $100″.
Her shoes seem nice, though, being a heterosexual male, I really don’t know much about shoes.
Anyway, Marie Claire’s profile of the women is here and Neil Kirk’s Googleplex photoshoot can be seen here.
February 13th, 2008
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Googleplex, Culture, General |
one comment
