20 Questions for Sergey Brin

Questions for one of the original GoogleGuys

[Brett_Tabke]

Post your best question you would like to ask Sergey. (note: Sergey has not agreed to this [yet]), but these will be hand delivered to him next week. We shall see if he responds ;-)

Thread Rules:
-q's about Google operation. (not sergey himself - sorry gals)
-one question per person only please.
-no noise or clarifying questions.
-no specifics about your site please.
-off topic stuff will be zapped (nffc is still on duty! 'he loves this stuff).
-Keep it short. Don't drone on for more than 2 sentences.

[projectphp]

Assumming Microsoft made an offer for Google, would you ever sell to them, or anyone else, or is Google "your baby" and you'll never sell it? (three questions in one :)

[percentages]

What is your favorite M&M color?

[juniperwasting]

I would like to know more about your thoughts on the future of AI and its relationship to search, advertising, and/or civilization in general.

[born2drv]

If it were up to you and no one else, would you ever sell Google for a price you deem to be fair or keep Google more or less independant? (less the 10% Yahoo owns, of course). And if so, would you even consider selling to Microsoft?

[nanocet]

Ginger or MaryAnn?

[incywincy]

how much of your success do you attribute to stanford?

[Morgan]

What's your favorite game to play with Google results? Like "Find the Ugliest Dude in Google Images", etc.

[NeverHome]

Do you see any possibility that one day you may run for President of the USA?

[shaadi]

As Google continues to innovate and iterate on its breakthrough technology, expect more improvements in the way you find information - or information finds you.

From Google Today [google.com]

Can we soon expect Google offering document clustering? (and a Vivisimo type interface)

Shaadi

[flowilu]

It's hard to find information on Google that can't be described in a few words. Can you give us a tip?

[groovyhippo]

What's the biggest mistake you've made in your professional career?

[w31rd0]

Google isn't the perfect system, althought it is the one which is closer to it, than, maybe all the others. People (economy, education, etc) depend on it more and more. How do you feel about a dezastrous mistake, isn't it a too much responsability for Google, or for the tommorow Google?

[Dave_Hawley]

Will you allow the big companies (Microsoft etc) to outbid all the plebs in AdWords?

Dave

[brotherhood of LAN]

How will AI be involved in the workings of Google in the comings years, if not already?

Does that little bot have a mind of its own?

[Visit Thailand]

With technology evolving at such a rapid rate what is Google doing to enter in partnership or directly the 'House of the Future' market?

For example a refrigerator would automatically know you are running low on beer, would then conduct a search to find the cheapest beer available in your locale, would add into the calculation any delivery charges etc and automatically order the beer to be delivered.

[HitProf]

Google features like Frooge, synonyms (~), measurement recalculation (miles --> kilometers) etc are purely English/US oriented. Will Google internationalize further by making these functions available to other languages/countries or will it stick to indexing foreign pages and translating the Google website? Will we ever see 'translated' searches?

[spud01]

How big is Google lightly to grow within the next year with regards to searches performed and pages ammased?

[Jenstar]

(not sergey himself - sorry gals)

DARN! There goes my first question ;)

When AdSense launched related searches, Google "started
receiving feedback about concerns we didn't fully anticipate". When the call was made to remove the related searches, was that decision made within the AdSense team, or did that decision require the AdSense team to go to a "higher authority" within Google. And kudos to Google for acting so promptly on publisher's concerns regarding the related searches.

[Monkscuba]

"For example a refrigerator would automatically know you are running low on beer, would then conduct a search to find the cheapest beer available in your locale, would add into the calculation any delivery charges etc and automatically order the beer to be delivered."

My dream fridge :)

[Namaste]

when are you launching spidering via the toolbar?

[curryrivel]

Is the Yahoo directory PR value 'as is' or is it favoured in some way.

Therefore, if a Yahoo directory listing gives a PR2 with 10 outlinks on the page - for PR reasons only - is that any advantage over a listing in XYZ directory with a PR2 also with 10 outlinks.

[mil2k]

What are your thoughts on offering Related Keywords option once a person searches for something. It would give them a list of Keywords most people generally use. You already have the technology in place for Adwords. The main concern in implementing such a technology would be issues related to user interface and query response time. Still have you given it a thought? :)

[caine]

if and when you go IPO, will the submissions (currently free) be fast-streamed via PFI, with a slow lane for non-pfi?

[TellyTubby]

Is it possible that Google will in the near futur releas any sort of guidlines that will help honest hard working webmasters not to get chucked out or penilized for trying something new. TT.

[skipfactor]

Perhaps a few of the commonly overlooked ingredients in Google’s overall secret sauce are the jovial corporate atmosphere enjoyed and perpetuated by its staff and the never stuffy, sometimes comical, corporate presence that it exudes.

How do you maintain and how will you evolve this unique corporate sense of humor, and what are the initial steps that a company might take to break out of traditionally conservative office environments?

[ritualcoffee]

What is your take on Kaltix?

[meta_PI]

Will Google ever entertain a buyout by Microsoft?

[meta_PI]

Oh yeah... this one too...

How is AdSense performing so far? And will there be more advanced targeting for advertisers who are running content ads?

[c1bernaught]

What do you envison the search engine, and the search experience, of the future to be like?

[just_a_bean]

About AI - I think the CyC project would be very useful, what do you think on this?

Will there be an AI for images, something like that will answer for "I need a picture with blue sky, a big bridge, some ships"? (daydreaming? maybe...)