Thoughts on Google

...not from me though.

Steve Lacey has a nice summary of an MSR research lecture from John Battelle, co-founder of Wired mag, over on his blog.

John was talking about his latest book, and thoughts on Google. A favorite quote, as quoted from a Google insider, was "We’re one bad PR event away from being viewed as Big Brother".

There are also some comments on the problems with the company's direction (or plurality thereof) and growth rate.

Anyhow, it's a good read.

And before anyone comments; I'm not an MS "google hater". I use some of their tools, including search, pretty regularly. I'm just a hobbyist student of organizational structure, growth, and transition, and I think they are, and will increasingly be, a good case study.