Thursday, September 08, 2005
Google Hires Father Time aka Vint Cerf
In a move I understand and don't understand at the same time, Google hired Vint Cerf to be their Internet Evangelist. Most evangelists in high tech companies [not sure there are any other kind of evangelists other than televangelists], especially one in the Valley, are in the 25 - 40 age range. Vint Cerf is undoubtedly a genius but not in the typical Evangelist date range.I understand they want to begin moving in a broader direction than just search, a simple look at their business model expansion gives us that. I also understand they want to show they're maturing as a company. They just had their 7th birthday, they're now a publicly traded company and they're expanding their reach so having a face of wisdom other than Eric Schmidt is a wise move.
But, now I shift into mshift sarcastic mode, come on. Vint Cerf is obviously a genius, hard worker, has a great reputation, but he's really old and in my opinion, too old. Can he pull the 80 - 90 hour work weeks? Can he handle the rigorous traveling schedule? I understand he is a founding father of the internet and he co-designed TCP/IP and all that's great but can he hang with the kids? Sure he's not suppose to hang with them, he's suppose to lead them, but Google culture is Google culture. I know I know, innovation is innovation and it knows no discrimination but will he fit in, does he need to fit in? I think he needs to and I'm not sure he will. He looks more like father time than an internet evangelist.
Google wooed him away from MCI [I bet that was a real tough negotiation] [sorry I'm still in sarcastic mode] where he had a pretty good gig. He got to wear his thinking cap all the time and talk about the internet and publish a few writings but I doubt the pace at MCI was anything like what it is at Google.
erf joins Google from MCI, where he led technology advancements since 1982, with a break to return to research at the Corporation for National Research Initiatives from 1986 to 1994. On his return to MCI in 1994, he helped to put MCI on the Internet map. With Robert Kahn, he recently received the ACM's A.M. Turing Award, considered "the Nobel Prize for computing," for his achievements in computer networking. Cerf is also working on the Interplanetary Network, a project of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, which aims to extend the Internet into outer space for planet-to-planet communications. He will also continue in his role as the Chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
Man I gotta lay off the cruelty, anyone have suggestions on how I might be able to do that? Or would you rather me not and continue with my sarcastic tone 1 - 3 times a week?
Posted By Jason Dowdell at 12:27 PM
Permanent Link: Google Hires Father Time aka Vint Cerf
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