Google vs. Yahoo: On a Collision Course

An anonymous reader writes "It's pretty clear from this analysis as to which company is ahead of the game. Take this simple comparison: at Google, engineers are expected to spend one day a week on a project of personal interest. This has resulted in new offerings like Google News and social networking site Orkut. At Yahoo, there are posters promoting the "Idea Factory", where employees are invited to well, submit ideas (read boring)."

I wonder

[jav1231]

I wonder how much of this has to do with Yahoo's age. Yahoo has been around long enough to become a more "standard" company. One that eventually loses touch with its grassroots beginnings and has to take it's catchy phrases from travelling self-help speakers. Google is probably headed that way, but for now they seem to have a few original ideas left in their backpacks.

Is it me...

[InVinoVeritas]

Or are Yahoo! and Google somehow worth billions of $(US) by selling banner ads.

not a portal?

[bad_outlook]

Remember when Google said they weren't going to become a portal, and while they have tons of innovation, their 'personalized home page' and email service are starting to feel just like that. Are they just trying to avoid being 'tagged' as one thing and instead trying to retain their own personality? From what I've seen they've taken the leadership role from Yahoo years ago, so I wouldn't worry about anyone trying to piegeon-hole them; they are their own entity and a driving force for the Internet as a whole. Will be interesting to see what Google looks like in 10 years, heck, we'll be able to say "When I was a kid, Google was a search engine, that's it"

personal projects not necessarily helpful

[LoverOfJoy]

While there are great possibilities concerning those personal projects of google employees, it's still a risk. For many employees it could just turn into a wasted day. For others, it could turn into something that Google puts a lot of money into and ends up being a flop. Hopefully enough good (profitable) ideas come out of it but there's no guarantee.

Google + Yahoo

[justforaday]

Google + Yahoo = Twingine [twingine.com] (formerly the much better sounding yagoohoogle)

Re:Hiring?

[Quasar1999]

Sounds fun, but I much rather work at a company that gives me a task to do, that both the company and I know will generate revenue and continue my employment for the longterm.

Skunk works projects and the like are really fun... but at the end of the day, fun doesn't pay the bills, real work does... and unless you happen to be a genius (or extremely lucky) at coming up with great ideas that make money (in which case why the hell don't you start your own business?), when the times get tough for the company, those who produce the least amount of actual work are the first to go.

So although it sounds great now, when things turn a bit more realistic for google, these perks will very quickly disappear, and you'll see more of what 'yahoo' has...

Boring is sometimes good

[bigtallmofo]

This has resulted in new offerings like Google News and social networking site Orkut. At Yahoo, there are posters promoting the "Idea Factory", where employees are invited to well, submit ideas (read boring)."

Is this a flashback to 1999 or what? A sky-high IPO from a company that "thinks outside the box" when it comes to employees. Do they have pinball and video games for their employees to use whenever they want too?

The only difference is that Google actually has a business plan and makes some money. Do they make enough money to support an $80B market cap though? Only time will tell that one.

Room for both.

[alex_guy_CA]

IMHO the idea behind this article is just plain dumb. It would be like an article saying that in 5 years we won't have ABC and CBS or Disney Land AND 6 Flags. I use Yahoo AND Google every day, and I think I'm not alone.

Apples and Oranges - Time is the Difference

[Kinetic Kit]

Google and Yahoo are much different companies today and part of working at either business means understanding really what each company is trying to do. Google is a technology company; Yahoo is now a media company. The biggest difference, however, is this:

Google makes money by keeping people on their website for as short a time as possible. Yahoo makes money by keeping people on their website for as long as possible. The Internet traffic statistics are quite telling.

http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?ts_mode=lan g&lang=en [alexa.com]

Target audience

[Iriel]

...is the lesson I learned getting my degree in Interactive Media Design. I don't see Yahoo and Google in competition as much as simply different services. Some of their departments cross over, but I use Gooogle for finding just about anything and email, while Yahoo is my portal to movie listings, my stock quote and a place to store bookmarks, notes and calendar based events.

It really depends on what you're looking for in most of the areas of service from each company. Google seems more interesting in refining ways to search and pioneering new uses for the internet. On the other hand, Yahoo is where I go for a remote login PDA. I'd like Google to provide notes/calendar features, but if they don't then I'm happy with a 2GB inbox, picture uploading, specialized searches and nifty maps. I'll just use Yahoo as an internet organizer.

Re:I wonder

[Fitzghon]

I agree.
Google is an innovative company that comes up with fantastic ideas again and again, and implements them.
On the other hand, the article notes that Yahoo bought the VoIP service DialPad. Yahoo's in-house research team appears deficient when compared to Google's.
Google is snatching up a myriad of the brightest minds around, and I think that over time this will prove to be their most important assent in the "search engine race".

Fitzghon

It's Technology, Mate

[SpinningAround]

I am waiting for a company for the courage of its convictions. The company that won't sell it's soul for the NASDAQ. Maybe it's Google. Maybe it's not.

I like Google 'cause they are GOOD. Good at what they do. Yahoo is worthless as a portal and a search engine.

Stay with it boys and girls. Don't be a NASDAQ whore. Take the long view. Ignore the market. Do what the geeks do best.

new offerings, but stalled.

[Anonymous Coward]

. This has resulted in new offerings like Google News and social networking site Orkut

Yeah, but orkut sucks. It's plagged with problems, not the least of them being the attitude of part of the population. But, for example, it's been over a week since the communities listing doesn't update, and I was over a month unable to post anything once.

I don't know google news, but right now I think the best is google groups, gmail and the search engine.

There is no comparison

[Anonymous Coward]

Yahoo is a destination, while Google is a tool. Yahoo offers so much more than search, ads, and maps. Google is yet another overpriced dotcom that will be eating a healthy dose of reality before too long. Yahoo amy not have Gmail, but whoop-de-do. Gmail isn't all that anyway. I've had an account since the week they started, and while I use it, I like my Yahoo account much better becuase its tied in with all of Yahoo's other offerings. Yahoo is here for the long run. Google, in order to survive will have to become more like Yahoo, because while it now enjoys the top spot among engines, so did Altavista at one time, only to be replaced. Google will be replaced by something else within a few years.

Re:Apples and Oranges - Time is the Difference

[arethuza]

Last time I checked, Google hardly made any revenue supplying technology. AFAIK the overwhelming bulk of their revenue comes from showing adverts to people who use their service, which sounds like a fairly traditional media company business model to me.

Yahoo is winning?

[nonsequitor]

"Yahoo has a big branded advertising business. Google is all search. To the extent that brand advertisers want to participate in the Internet, Yahoo's a better bet,"

I guess this was written before a bunch of advertisers pulled their ads after finding out they were popping up while entering chat rooms for pedophiles. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/19/063920 5&tid=95&tid=98&tid=1/ [slashdot.org]

So who wins? Though Google is bigger, Yahoo appears to have the upper hand when it comes to warm relations with Madison Avenue.

I just think its funny that the article lists its relationship with ad agencies as one of the strengths Yahoo has over Google. Personally, I think Google's ads are less obtrusive since they dont flash at you and try to get your attention.

Re:Hiring?

[mcho]

Well, I've heard/read from other sources that Google is the "Wal-Mart" of the internet, in the sense that they don't pay well. (And if I'm wrong, please correct me.)

Working for a cutting-edge company (and working on "skunk works" projects) would be a great experience -- but it's probably not for everyone.

In my short career, I haven't ran into too many people that think of ideas that they want to build. The majority of people just want to put in an honest day and go home. And that's okay.

(I, on the other hand, have a start-up as a side-project -- in addition to my day job -- because of my relentless curosity. I'm just an uber-geek.)

Google being flooded

[phorm]

I've noticed that with its increased popularity google is increasingly becoming victim to spamming/etc. A lot of sites I'll visit which (according to google cache) have exactly what I need , but the current website is just a big block of advertising.

My latest attempts to find speaking installation instructions for my Corolla lead to tons of these. The intro page will be full of sites which, despite seeming to have good content in the summary, end up with just links that want to sell you a $4 PDF on how to install door-panel speakers.

There seem to be a few companies in particular that are guilty of this, but they have massive amounts of domains. Hopefully google can fix this soon (yahoo had a lot less ads though neither had the specific info I needed).

Re:Yahoo may be boring

[Anonymous Coward]

Well let me the first one to admit that I left Google few weeks ago. Yes they are innovative company and blah blah, but they are getting more into consumers than doing good science/mathematics. If you are into writing softwares etc, go ahead. But if you are like me who is more into algorithms and applied mathematics, innovations have stopped long ago. The neat stuff about data scavanging and mining is long gone. They have one infrastructure built and trying to milk it.

I am not trolling, but the sweet research days are over at Google. But as I said, if you are programmer and that sorts - you are ok and you may like it. For me I was one among who laid the foundation and time to move on.

Re:ZDNet r0x0rz!

[Eil]

Let's see here, Google's being criticized by "industry insiders" for giving their employees loads of free time, starting up new and enormously popular projects, "disregarding the status quo", and making billions of dollars in the meantime.

Sounds like somebody's jealous. Isn't it even remotely possible that Google is simply proving to the old-fashioned business world what can be accomplished when you take real, meaningful steps boost and maintain morale among employees?

Re:Hiring?

[frostman]

I applied for two different jobs at Google, neither one of them really up my alley (but both things I could've done in my sleep, and hey, at that time I thought I wanted to work for them).

One went directly to a hiring manager, who got back in less than a week to thank me and say I wasn't really what he was looking for.

The other went through 'normal channels.' After a couple of MONTHS, I got an e-mail with an utterly ridiculous questionnaire (how many years of this, that, etc.) Apparently within the couple of months someone had sorted the CV's but there was no relation whatsoever between the questionnaire and my credentials.

I'd already decided I didn't really want to drink the Google KoolAid, but I filled out the questionnaire just to see what would happen. Despite it looking like part of an automated screening process, it took more than a week for them to send me a form letter brush-off.

Neither of these were fancy PhD-ish positions... they were mid-level, Perl-intensive, things I might be overqualified for but which sounded like fun in the context of Google.

So I think they have some smart managers - I bet the first guy has put together a great team by now. But they also have a big hairy HR department straight out of Dilbert, and I bet that monster is slowly crushing the soul of an ever-larger chunk of the company.

I do hope the future of Google is great things like Google Maps, but I fear it could just as easily be train wrecks like AdSense customer service.

Re:20% personal project?

[javajedi]

I have a friend who's worked there for about 6 months and so far neither the pay nor the bonuses are anything special. It seems like the big draws are rather the chance to work with some really smart people, lots and lots of perks, and your company's name being a household word.

Re:Yahoo may be boring

[Cpyder]

I recently interview with them, and was offered a job, even though I've only got (the Belgian equivalent of) a Bachelor's Degree in CS. Maybe they require lots of paper for their R&D positions, but for positions in their NOC it's skills that matter, not paper. I didn't take the job because I got a better offer closer to home, but my lack of 'impressive' degrees wasn't a problem with them.

Re:I wonder

[Snaller]

If Google was headed that way, they would have been there by now. They are huge. They are "standard".

Oh no, they are heading that way. With their new design of Google groups which many people, myself include find has greatly reduced readablity and navigability - and they don't care. And with the way they refuse to give the user the right to store his password in his MSIE browser, etc etc. I think they have peaked, thats not to say they aren't going to make some wonderfull inventions on their way down - when behemoths fall it can take decades.

Re:*cough* dot-com implosion *cough*

[michaelhood]

That post is completely off-base. I provide Lead Generation services to companies who want to advertise online in order to get real-world customers. Companies who often don't convert sales online at all, and rely entirely on driving customers to their sites in order to submit an information request or "RFQ" (Request for Quote). Companies like these, ones with real business models, account for probably 95% of the AdWords (Google's text advertising program) gross.

Take mortgage companies for example. Many of them are bidding $8/click or more. Life Insurance, too.

Re:Yahoo may be boring

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, you are aware sys admins at Google are only paid $35,000 [wired.com] ?

That's fucking insane.

Re:I am shocked, shocked

[chrisd]

You know, we have a number of free shuttles with wireless network access that pick up googles from SF and the east bay.

I'm just sayin...

Chris