FW: CEO Eric Schmidt on Google, Apple and Microsoft
Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/google/ci_12953995
Mercury News Interview: CEO Eric Schmidt on Google, Apple and Microsoft
By Elise Ackerman
Mercury News
Posted: 07/31/2009 02:00:00 PM PDT
Updated: 08/02/2009 07:27:22 AM PDT
When Eric Schmidt joined Google eight years ago, he didn’t think the popular startup was destined to become one of Microsoft’s most formidable challengers. As Schmidt said in an exclusive interview with the Mercury News recently, he didn’t even think Google would ever make a significant amount of money.
But that didn’t matter. Schmidt had already had an illustrious career as a top executive at Sun Microsystems and, more recently, as chief executive at Novell. He wanted to have good conversations and be around interesting people he liked who were working on cool technology. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin fit the bill, with an emphasis on “interesting.” And thus was born one of the most successful management teams in recent history.
Near the fifth anniversary of Google’s initial public stock offering, Schmidt recalls some of his early, jarring days as Google’s top executive, explains the company’s unique relationship with Apple and addresses recent scrutiny of its business practices. The following is an edited transcript.
Q Looking back, what amazes you most about the journey?
A I came to Google because it was interesting. I liked the founders; the technology was interesting. I never thought that search would be a very viable business. I didn’t really understand the power of advertising, or in particular the kind of targeted advertising we do. I obviously do now. The thing for me that has been
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most surprising is that we have been able to do all these great things and also make very strong money at the same time.
The most important advice you can give to someone in life is to be lucky. I could have found two other people that are also equally interesting. But I was lucky that I found these two and so from my own perspective it was luck.
Q What was interesting to you about Google?
A When I would walk down the hall, there was a new idea out of every office. It was the biggest collection of ideas I had ever walked into.
Q Can you remember any particular idea that stands out from back then?
A I’ll tell you a story. We were trying to figure out what to do about ads. So Larry printed out the ads that we were showing, the search ads, and he posted them on the wall in the old building on a Friday afternoon. And I walk over and I said, “Larry, what are you doing?” He said, “I’m going to see if anyone has any ideas.” Now today, this would be normal for me, but at the time I thought, “Well, we have an ads department; they are over there.” And this was not in the ads department, which was not very far away from where this was. He said, “No, let’s see what happens.”
I went home and on Monday morning I come in and the problem has been solved. What had happened was a completely different group had been bored on Friday night. They’d looked at this and they had started to mark up: This one is good, this one is bad and so forth. So on Saturday and most of Sunday, they rewrote the algorithm which became the underlying ad system.
Q What makes search a hard problem?
A It’s a race between the amount of data that is out there and our ability to categorize it. The problem is you don’t know how much data is out there. In physics this is called the event horizon. You can’t see past it. So if we don’t see the data, how do we know it is not there. The reason search is so hard is there is so much more data than even Google has and we are in a race to get all of that data. We are much larger than our competitors, so in that sense, I think we are ahead. But are we 10 percent into all the data? Even if we are 10 times larger than the competitors, that still doesn’t mean we are 100 percent.
Q What is your typical day like?
A Well today is a reasonably normal Monday. What evolved in the structure of the company was we run the business on Monday. We run products on Tuesday and Wednesday. I don’t know what we do on Thursday. It is sort of a filler day. And on Friday, Larry and Sergey do detailed product reviews. So it is business, product, product, cleanup day and detailed product reviews. Then there is an employee meeting on Friday.
So at Mondays at 11 a.m., we have a meeting of all of our executives for two hours. It’s called 60 minutes, because it is a one-hour meeting that takes two hours. And then we get lunch and we have a deal meeting that afternoon and then we have special business topics. So today we are working on earnings. Basically we have all of the day-to-day business stuff, financial reviews and so forth, on Monday afternoon. Google usually tends to start late. It is not an early morning place. It is not an 8 a.m. kind of place.
Q During a recent visit to New York, you said Google had made you smarter. Can you describe how you use Google?
A If you are a person who cares about information, which I do, then imagine a world where you can’t ask the most basic questions. What is the address? Where is the map? Where am I going? At Google, when someone says something we just check.
Q What did you check recently?
A I do it so naturally, I don’t even think about it. The name of the restaurant that I am going to tonight. What are the reviews?
Q You recently worked together with Microsoft to make Gmail and Outlook interoperate. What is Google’s relationship like with Microsoft?
A Can I rephrase your question? Google has recently announced a product called Glook and that product allows Outlook users to use Gmail as their back end. How is that going? And the answer is it is going pretty well.
Q How did the relationship go? The companies had to work together to make that happen.
A Not very much. I don’t want to overstate it. Because of the historic tension with Microsoft, we do not have a lot of collaboration with Microsoft. (This interview was conducted before the search partnership between Microsoft and Yahoo was announced.)
Q You and Steve Ballmer have not smoked a peace pipe?
A That is correct.
Q Google and Apple are increasingly in the same businesses, namely operating systems for mobile phones and now with the announcement of the Chrome OS, personal computers. Is it also becoming increasingly problematic for you to be on Apple’s board?
A I am not sure about the board question. The board question can be solved by recusing yourself, which I do with the iPhone. It is also important to remember that unlike Microsoft and Google, Apple and Google have a lot of technical partnerships. The underpinnings of Chrome are the same as that of Apple’s Safari browser. There is a lot of collaboration around Web standards. We collaborate on the maps area. We have a large number of iPhone apps. There are significant benefits to Apple and to Google for me to be on both boards with the caveat that you mentioned that you have to be very careful.
Q At one point, people were talking about you as a candidate to be the nation’s technology czar. Is government service appealing to you?
A I think working with the government and helping them out is very important. And not just the U.S., also other governments. For example, I am an adviser for one of the political parties in Britain. For me personally, I looked at what is the best use of my time, and compared to the other choices that might be available to me, serving the world through Google as the CEO is the highest leverage point. You asked me what I was most amazed about. The thing today that I am most amazed about Google is how deeply it reaches into society everywhere. Countries I’ve never been to, they use Google every day. It’s the power of the Web, it’s the power of information and there is a lot to be done there. If you think about the power of video, the political aspects of information, the kinds of things that we face everyday now are of great interest to me personally. And that is what I want to work on.
Q Is there any government position that would lure you away from Google?
A You never say never. Let me give you a stronger answer. Larry and Sergey and I have a very, very strong partnership. We have worked together for many years and we are sort of best friends and I’d like to keep it like this.
Q You recently advised college graduates to turn off their computers. When you leave the office, do you follow your own advice?
A Sometimes. Most people who are so knowledge-centric get addicted to this real-time flow. This tweet and this Facebook page and this piece of information and this alert and this thing going on YouTube. And I’m like everyone else. For me, what I try to do is I try to turn it off during dinner. If you can turn it off during dinner you have made some progress. But it is actually hard.
Q You were closely involved with Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Have you been surprised by the aggressive approach the Department of Justice has taken with Google regarding everything from the book settlement to interlocking boards of directors?
A No. We thought a lot about it and if you think about information, Google is the leader now in terms of providing information on a daily basis to literally millions of people around the world. So we concluded that we should expect such scrutiny. The government has its role to do and we have our role to do. And we are really sophisticated now with respect to what do we do, why do we do it, are we staying within legal and moral bounds and so forth and so on. In general, when people ask specific questions, we say we are taking the position of the consumers.
Q Did you get any heads up that there might be some antitrust issues involved with Google from anybody in the administration?
A No, nor should I have.
Q You recently gave Bill Gates some advice on handling the media. If you were Steve Ballmer, how would you compete with Google?
A I am not going to give Steve Ballmer any advice. He is doing just fine without my advice.
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导读：当埃里克·施密特(Eric Schmidt)8年前成为谷歌CEO时，并未想过当时处于创业期的谷歌能成为微软最强大的挑战者，他甚至从未想过谷歌能如此盈利。随着谷歌上市5周年纪念日的到来，施密特接受美国媒体专访，回忆了早期在谷歌的工作，解释了谷歌与苹果的独特关系，并谈论了谷歌近期的业务动向。以下为访谈的实录：
记者(以下简称“记”)：你觉得在谷歌的工作中最有趣的是什么？
施密特(以下简称“施”)：我来到谷歌是因为谷歌很有趣，我喜欢它的创始人和技术。当时，我从未想过搜索能成为极具竞争力的业务，也没有真正看到广告的力量，特别是我们从事的目标广告。现在我当然已看到这一切。对我来说，最惊喜的事情是我们能完成所有这些出色的工作，同时挣到很多钱。
对人的一生，你能给出最重要建议是保持运气。除了谷歌两名创始人，我当时认为另两人也很有趣。幸运的是，我选择了谷歌。从我的角度看这就是运气。
记：关于谷歌，你认为什么是有趣的？
施：当我在办公楼里漫步，每个办公室都有新点子。这是我走进的最大的“点子仓库”。
记：你能否记起一些特别引人注目的点子？
施：我想讲一个故事。我们曾试图找出开展广告业务的方式。拉里·佩奇(Larry Page)打印了我们将展示的搜索广告，并在周五下午贴在旧办公楼的墙上。当我走过时，我问他：“拉里，你在做什么？”他回答：“我要看看是否有人有什么点子。”今天这对我来说很普通，而当时我想：“我们有广告部门，他们就在那里。”而这里并不是广告部门，距它们办公室还很远。而佩奇说：“不，让我们看看会有什么发生。”
周一上午我回来时，问题已得到答案。周五晚，一个完全不同的团队观察了这些广告，并标记出哪些是好的，哪些较差。周六和周日也是一样，他们重写了算法，并成为我们广告系统的基础。
记：是什么导致搜索成为一个困难的问题？
施：这是一场有关数据量和分类能力的竞赛。问题在于你不知道有多少数据。在物理学上，这叫做“事件视界”，你无法看到事件视界以外的东西。而如果无法看到数据，那我们如何知道那里没有数据呢？搜索存在困难的原因是，数据量非常大，甚至比谷歌拥有的还大，我们正处在一场获得全部数据的竞赛中。我们比竞争对手大很多，从这种意义上来说我们是领先的。然而，我们是否已获得全部数据的10%？即使我们比竞争对手大10倍，也不能说我们已获得100%的数据。
记：你一般如何度过一天？
施：今天是相当普通的周一。周一我们通常会关注公司架构的改变。周二和周三我们主要关注产品。我不知道周四会做些什么，这只是填充性的一天。周五，拉里和谢尔盖·布林(Sergey Brin)将进行详细的产品评估。因此一周的大概情况是：业务、产品、产品、大扫除、详细产品评估。周五我们举行员工大会。
周一上午11点，我们全体管理人员将举行2小时的会议。这一会议被称作“60分”，因为这是一个需花费2小时的1小时会议。随后我们吃午餐，在下午举行交易会议。然后会关注特定的业务主题。例如，今天我们从事有关季度业绩的工作。基本上来看，周一下午我们会从事日常的业务工作及财务评估等。谷歌的上班时间通常较晚，这不是一家8点上班的公司。
记：你近期在纽约表示，谷歌使你更聪明。你能否描述一下，你如何使用谷歌？
施：如果你和我一样，对信息非常关心，那么你可以想象一个无法问最基本问题的世界。这些问题包括：一个地址在哪？哪里有地图？我将去哪里？在谷歌，如果有人问这些，我们就会去查。
记：你最近查过什么？
施：我会很自然的做这些事情，甚至没有意识到在做。例如，我今晚要去的饭店的名字，以及顾客对饭店的评论。
记：你最近曾与微软协作，使Gmail和Outlook实现互操作。谷歌与微软究竟是什么关系？
施：我想纠正一下你的问题。谷歌最近推出了名为Glook的产品，允许Outlook用户在后端使用Gmail。该产品的进展很顺利。
记：那么谷歌和微软的关系怎样？两家公司必须协作才能完成这样的工作。
施：并不是有太多的合作。我不希望过分强调它。由于我们与微软的关系以往一直很紧张，我们并没有与微软有大量合作。
记：你和微软CEO史蒂夫·鲍尔默(Steve Ballmer)还没有和解？
施：是这样。
记：谷歌和苹果逐渐从事同样的业务，例如手机操作系统和计算机操作系统。这对于你担任苹果董事会成员是否存在困扰？
施：董事会问题可以通过主动回避来解决，就像我在涉及iPhone(手机上网)时采取的做法。需要记住的是，与微软和谷歌的关系不同，苹果和谷歌拥有各种技术合作伙伴关系。Chrome浏览器的基础与苹果Safari浏览器一致。双方在网络标准方面也有很多合作。我们在地图服务上合作，并推出了多款 iPhone应用。我担任苹果董事会和谷歌董事会成员对两家公司都有利，但我必须保持谨慎。
记：外界一度传闻，你是奥巴马政府美国首席技术官的人选。为政府服务是否有吸引力？
施：为政府工作，向他们提供帮助非常重要。不仅是美国政府，也包括其他各国政府。例如，我是英国一个政党的顾问。就我个人来说，我希望以最好的方式利用时间，并比较各种选择。通过谷歌CEO的职位为世界服务是我最能发挥影响力的方式。目前，我最高兴的是谷歌已深入到社会的方方面面中。即使是一些我从未去过的国家，他们也每天使用谷歌。这是网络的力量、信息的力量，这一领域还有许多工作要做。我个人最感兴趣的是视频、政治领域的信息，以及我们每天面对的事物。
记：是否有什么政府职位能让你离开谷歌？
施：绝不要说不可能。拉里、谢尔盖和我是非常紧密的伙伴，我们已共事多年，是最好的朋友，我希望能保持这样。
记：你最近建议大学生关掉他们的电脑。当你离开办公室时，是不是也按照这样去做？
施：有些时候是。大部分以知识为中心的人会对实时信息上瘾，例如Twitter消息、Facebook页面、一条信息、一条提示，或是YouTube上一则视频。我也和所有人一样。对我来说，我会试图在晚餐时关闭电脑。如果能做到这一点，你就已经有进步。不过这确实很难。
记：你紧密的参与了奥巴马竞选活动。对于美国司法部针对谷歌采取的做法，你是否感到惊讶？
施：不。我们经常考虑这一问题。当提到信息行业时，谷歌是领先者，每天向全球数百万人提供信息。因此我们认为必须尊重某些监管。政府有自己的角色，我们也有我们的。我们目前非常复杂，因此我们必须考虑要做什么，为什么要做，是否符合法律和道德标准等。总而言之，我们总是站在用户一方。
记：你是否从政府部门人员处听说，政府有可能对谷歌发起反垄断行动？
施：没有，我也不应该听说。
记：你近期向比尔·盖茨(Bill Gates)提供了如何与媒体打交道的建议。如果你是鲍尔默，你将如何与谷歌竞争？
施：我不会向鲍尔默提供任何建议。没有我的建议，他一样可以做得很好。
