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.

[edit_g]

What steps are Google taking in response to the potential of determined competition from a standalone Microsoft search product?

[xcandyman]

Ohhh

How much do you handle spam reports e.g Are they regulary monitored and only looked into if GoogleGuy is mentioned?

[starec]

Name your three biggest competitors.

[mat]

What are your thoughts on the ODP/Google relationship?

[creative craig]

The Google IPO has been mentioned alot on this forum over the last few months. How important does Google see it?

Craig

[dmorison]

Sergey,

Do you believe that a free inclusion, algorithmic opinion based search (i.e. today's Google) is a viable element of the commercial Internet?

If yes, how do you justify returning the same results every time for a commercial query; resulting in an unfair distribution of wealth to those that are considered the best commercial bet by an algorithm designed to find information; not products and services?

[edited by: dmorison at 2:32 pm (utc) on Aug. 12, 2003]

[martinibuster]

You live, breathe and are saturated by Google every day.

But does the saturation ever reach a point where you step outside and feel like you're in a scene out of Being John Malkovich, where everyone, including the cats, seem to be saying, "Google, Google. Google. Google-Google?

(I ask because I think it happens to me now and then- and I don't even work there! ;) Y)

[edited by: martinibuster at 3:52 pm (utc) on Aug. 12, 2003]

[Imaster]

Whats next after groups, froggle, news, adwords, adsense..... :)

[edited by: Imaster at 2:33 pm (utc) on Aug. 12, 2003]

[More Traffic Please]

Given the fact that CSS allows Webmasters to present a page to a viewer that is visibly different from what a spider is seeing, will Google start to read CSS?

[pmkpmk]

Why is there only one African American on only two women in the Google Management team?

See [google.com ]

[EarWig]

Would Google like to provide a very expensive "Members Only Forum" for Webmaster discussions with Google Techies? (googletes?);-)
Entry would require pre-qualification of course!
EW

[Chndru]

When can we expect Froogle to be launched on G's homepage?

[David_M]

If you had the oppurtunity to start anew, what would you do differently?

[amazed]

What will be Google's future in relevant SERPs vs. relevant advertisements? Where will be the difference?

[ukgimp]

Have you ever spammed your own index or given a little help to a relative?

[ryan26]

What is Google doing to counter the current growth in the number of "blog" pages, news articles, and dynamic database driven sites that are driving the growth of the Internet? Will the Google database reach a "capacity" in the foreseeable future?

[Herenvardo]

It's known that Gbot has requested some .js files. Will google spiders follow links like those in JavaScript, JAVA, VBScript, forms, etc? Until wich point will it be done?

[bcolflesh]

What is the current general hardware/software makeup and specifications of the Googleplex?

[rfgdxm1]

Will Google ever have the option of Paid Inclusion?

[driesie]

Does it bother google that many pages in its index have no informative value but are websites purely designed to get traffic from search engines and (sometimes) direct it to relevant pages?
(For example the kelkoo, dealtime type of pages that often return a "Sorry, we don't have any 'widgets' in our database, try again" type of page)

[claus]

Google's getting diversified: Search, News, Blogger, Adsense etc - what's the primary focus in terms of webmasters/surfers/research community, ie. in which direction will we probably see future developments?

[robertito62]

How long before Google's algo can search for *themes" based on on-page semantics?

[dougb]

What sorts of data mining does Google do that makes use of ID information stored in the user's cookie?

[edited by: dougb at 3:11 pm (utc) on Aug. 12, 2003]

[johnnydequino]

How does the merger between Yahoo and Overture effect Google?

Also, when the pending loss of Yahoo's search business, in Google's view are they a major competitor or friend?

Johnny Dequino

[mack]

When you and Larry Page where writting the Google search engine, did you ever think it would have became this big?

Mack.

[killroy]

With the amount of log data available through AdSense and Google partners, anybody with access could create commercially hugely successfull ventures at the drop of a hat, and in the millions.

How do you deal with this temptation for you and google employees?

SN

[atadams]

How does Google use the information that is gathered when using the toolbar with advanced features turned on and is this data only used in-house or do they share this information with other companies?

[edited by: atadams at 3:27 pm (utc) on Aug. 12, 2003]

[mipapage]

You (and Larry) have mentioned in the past that you aren't overly satisfied with the search results on Google (or any search engine) and that there is room for improvement.

Are there 'great leaps forward' to be expected in the world of search as consolidation continues and competition for the user base gets more fierce?

[chewy]

Some speak that Google is "increasingly delivering information tied to the searchers IP" and that this is a form of delivering geo-centric information to the searcher.

Can you speak to this and / or tell us what Google is planning / doing in regards to geolocation features for narrowing searches to targets within a geographic range?

Thanks