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I take it you are a SWE. There's plenty of non-SWE folks at Google FWIW.


I'll second this comment.

20% are a great way to a) pursue your own passion b) try out a new product area c) try out a new type of job

Note that 20% is not a reason to do "nothing". Based on your goals, most people use 20% to build upto something. (a) can lead to a new product, (b) can lead you to gain knowledge of a new domain (c) can help set you up for a different role if you want to switch.


The AMP team is working on the exact opposite, which is adopting Web Packaging [1] that fixes the URL issue you are describing.

https://amphtml.wordpress.com/2018/11/13/developer-preview-o...

[1] - https://github.com/WICG/webpackage


As a nice side effect of Google pushing Web Packaging, we get one step closer to having web apps that are signed with an offline key and served with a clear version number.

This would mean you could have at least a TOFU security model, where a web app that you trust can't be replaced (without you knowing) by an insecure version you haven't seen before.

Add some binary transparency [1] logging on top of that, and it might be possible to make browser-based JavaScript crypto almost as secure as the equivalent desktop app.

[1] https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Binary_Transparency


You could do this quite simply by requesting trusted apps to be identified by Named Information (ni:// or nih://) URIs (see https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6920 ) using a digest algorithm of sufficient strength. But the ability to "seamlessly" replace web apps is something that many websites would insist on, I think. Of course ni:// and nih:// can be applied to documents as well. They work on the IPFS model, where you enter some digest of the desired content as your URI (it's actually a URN, not a URL!) and then it's the user agent's job to fetch it from wherever, perhaps in a decentralized way.


From the parent:

> ... then Chrome gets to decide what name to show you in the address bar - potentially a name that has very little to do with the actual location of the document

That doesn't seem to be the opposite of what the parent post is describing, it seems to be an implementation of it.


How so? The web package comes from the real source you see. The only reason Google needed to serve the content from its own domain is because of security and limitation of content delivery. But with this, they can serve you a "package" that's identical to what you get from the source.


Common techniques like relative paths will allow the proxy-cache to see much deeper into a site than the end user is aware. The url bar might say that you're on some site you trust but your traffic may all still be openly readable by Google (or some other proxy). Of course, Google is always going to know about links that users click in its search result list and a huge number of sites blindly run Google (or other third party) scripts anyway but this opens up a new vector for Google to see into your traffic.



Didnt read past the first section since that appears outdated already. AMP Project is run similar to nodejs by adopting an open-governance model. This was first announced here - https://amphtml.wordpress.com/2018/09/18/governance/ and the went live later that year.

https://amphtml.wordpress.com/2018/11/30/amp-projects-new-go...

In the link above you can see non-Google decision makers that drive strategy and vision of the project.


> AMP Project is run similar to nodejs by adopting an open-governance model.

OK, but the only thing I want out of AMP is for it to not exist. Is there any chance that I can get involved in AMP's open governance with a "stop existing" goal?

It is already quite surprising that AMP has gone in the direction of "We'll accept signed webpackages and publish those so we aren't acting as the origin". But my goal is that even this should not need to exist: websites that genuinely load fast on their own, comparable to downloading the webpackage, should be ranked as high as AMP websites. And it's preferable for websites to do that. So there should be no boost for AMP websites, just a boost for fast pages, and if AMP does anything it should just provide guidelines for how to build fast pages. Examples of fast pages include HN and most things published before 1998.

At the end of the day AMP exists because it's privileged by Google Search, and AMP is privileged by Google Search because Malte Ubl has whatever amount of influence he does within Google and has convinced them that AMP is a good idea (or other people have decided it's a good idea and have put Malte Ubl in charge of making sure it happens, or whatever). No matter how many non-Google people you put on the steering committee you won't change that. You don't have the internal access to change Google's mind about it.

This is like saying that it's okay that I should be happy living in a city that always votes $party because I can get involved in the party. If my personal political views are $opposing_party, that statement is technically true but completely useless.


> OK, but the only thing I want out of AMP is for it to not exist. Is there any chance that I can get involved in AMP's open governance with a "stop existing" goal?

You can choose not to use it. It's just like when you find a project on Git(hub|lab|etc) and it uses a language, tool, or package manager you've never seen before. You either try to work with it or look at other projects.

If you don't want to deal with AMP, you can click the link icon at the top of the page, then click the link so that you actually end up on the webpage you wanted to visit. You can't force everyone to adopt the "amp shouldn't exist" model just as much as you can't force "electron shouldn't exist and everyone should write native apps" on others.


1. I do in fact click the link icon. Half the time it takes me to an AMP version of the website (not the google.com/amp version, but example.com/amp/ or something) instead of the full version.

2. Why is it being framed as me forcing everyone to adopt the "AMP shouldn't exist" model, instead of Google forcing everyone to adopt the "AMP should exist" model?

3. You're talking about me as a consumer. As a publisher, I don't want to use AMP, but I want the favorable SERP placement that comes with using AMP. I think that my website satisfies the actual goal behind AMP, of loading fast. But that isn't enough, and I have to use AMP - and force my visitors to either use AMP or click through AMP (making it slower, and defeating the point of everything). As a publisher I'm actually pretty excited about the webpackage stuff (and it'll be straightforward since I'm using a static site generator), but it's still not the same as being able to run a real website that actually loads quickly.

4. None of this answers my question, which is not "How do I, personally, avoid using AMP" but "Does the AMP open governance model, in which people can allegedly become involved in setting the direction of AMP, allow people the opportunity to make AMP cease to exist"?

5. Google's monopoly power in search results and vertical integration makes everything more complicated. Electron does not have monopoly power on native apps, and nobody is giving an artificial boost to native apps that are written in Electron. Any advantage to Electron is due to Electron's own technical merits.

My bet is that the majority of people on the AMP advisory committee are primarily there because they need to avoid unfavorable placement on the Google SERP and so they're forced to implement AMP and want to make sure they can still render half-decent web pages using AMP, not because they inherently like AMP.


The number one reason I constantly use desktop mode is so that I don't get AMP pages. I've even switched search engines to get rid of them, but still have to sometimes use Google search because it finds what I'm looking for.

>You can't force everyone to adopt the "amp shouldn't exist" model just as much as you can't force "electron shouldn't exist and everyone should write native apps" on others.

Considering that the reason AMP is even used is because Google puts AMP results higher in search results you could argue that Google might be leveraging their market position into using a technology under their control.


> If you don't want to deal with AMP, you can click the link icon at the top of the page, then click the link [...]

Apart from that that is "dealing with AMP," why is it so hard for Google to offer a "no amp in search results" setting? It's not like there is no case or desire for it.

Until they take that simple step, I see no reason to assume that pushing AMP isn't on an ethical par with distributing crapware. Google should know better.


> my goal is that even this should not need to exist: websites that genuinely load fast on their own, comparable to downloading the webpackage, should be ranked as high as AMP websites.

My understanding is this is also Malte's goal, and the goal of the Google Search folks. We need a way that Search can know that a website (a) will perform well and (b) can be preloaded in a privacy preserving manner. Right now only AMP can do this, but with Web Packages people will be able to do this without AMP. Once you can get (a) and (b) without AMP I will be super surprised if Search still prioritizes AMP.

(Disclosure: I work at Google, on making ads AMP so they don't get to run any custom JS. Speaking only for myself, not the company.)


I don’t want web packages, nor AMP, how do I get the ranking bonus and lightning bolt icon with my website (which has Google Pagespeed of 100 and Chrome Lighthouse Pagespeed of over 95)?

That’s the goal. Killing web packages and AMP, and actually ranking websites by its actual speed.

With web packages or AMP, if I navigate from Google Search to Page A, and then from Page A to Page B, Google can see that I went to page B. This is wrong. In an ideal world, Google wouldn’t be able to track anything, but as they are able to, we should limit this. As web packages and AMP lead to more ability for Google to track stuff, they need to be eradicated.


> I don’t want web packages, nor AMP, how do I get the ranking bonus and lightning bolt icon with my website (which has Google Pagespeed of 100 and Chrome Lighthouse Pagespeed of over 95)?

First, those metrics say how well optimized your site is, not how long it takes to load. For example, a tiny site that's text and a single poorly compressed image might load in 500ms but get a low score, while a large site that loads in 5s can still get a perfect score if everything is delivered in a completely optimized way. These are metrics designed for a person who is in a position to optimize a site, but not necessarily in a position to change the way the site looks. When speed is used as a ranking signal [1][2] Google isn't using metrics about optimization level, it's using actual speed.

But ok, metrics etc aside, Google could switch to using loading speed instead of AMP to determine whether a page is eligible for the carousel at the top, and whether to show the bolt icon. But AMP means a page can be preloaded without letting publishers know that they appeared in your results page. You can't just turn on preloading without solving this somehow. AMP is kind of a hacky way to do this, and I'm really looking forward to WebPackages allowing preloading for any site in a clean standard way.

> With web packages or AMP, if I navigate from Google Search to Page A, and then from Page A to Page B, Google can see that I went to page B.

No, web packages don't allow this, what makes you think they do?

(Disclosure: I work at Google on making ads AMP so they don't get to run custom JS. Previously I worked on mod_pagespeed which automatically optimizes pages to load faster and use less bandwidth. Speaking for myself and not the company.)

[1] https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2010/04/using-site-speed-i...

[2] https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2018/01/using-page-speed-i...


AMP isn't "run openly" because everything key to Google's business is non-negotiable, and at the end of the day, Google will do what Google wants. This is what I found out when a few of us tried to talk about AMP4Email, where before threatening us with the code of conduct (for bringing up valid security concerns), Malte Ubl admitted that AMP4Email would be implemented however the Gmail team wanted to implement it, and that no amount of community concerns on the GitHub were going to have any say in the matter.

The reality is the "open governance" AMP spec means nothing, because as a monopoly, the only AMP cache which actually matters is Google's. And it's implementation is Google's proprietary business, not part of what they allegedly allow open governance of.


Oh god I'd forgotten about AMP4Email. It's such a blindingly obvious bad idea, and the GitHub response was overwhelmingly negative. They do not care at all.


> AMP Project is run similar to nodejs by adopting an open-governance model

I won't believe this until I see the tech lead and the committee go from being totally opaque to actually answering direct questions.

So far "after months of research" they can't even provide a description of how working groups are selected, which are the criteria, what exactly they govern and many other things described, e.g. here: https://github.com/ampproject/meta/pull/1#pullrequestreview-...

Or, e.g. they are going to have an AMP4Email working group. For a feature that no one asked for, no one wants, no one was discussed with. How did it get there? Oh "Gmail team said they are going to do it". But yeah, the "Approvers" working group will surely have something to say about this. Riiiight.


How's this different from open source android-proprietary play services and open Chrome-proprietary translate?


No, I can see that Google presents it as them backing off.

Who are the actual decision makers? What percentage are google employees?


As an engineer who has an MBA from HSW, I'm even more torn.


erikpukinskis, airstrike, jeffjose: I did not criticize MBA's in general!

My comment mentioned specifically "MBA-types with only a superficial, qualitative grasp of deep learning and AI."

MBAs who understand what they're managing (and who know what they don't know) are not in that group. And BTW, I suspect most MBAs who read HN are not in that group either :-)


Provocative title. I guess that's what you were going for :)

I see no evidence why this isnt another also-ran social network.


Have you tried vscode?


Vscode is not native and uses the same underlying architecture (Electron) as Atom.


It's not native; uses Monaco as it's editing component and is built with TypeScript :)


The article is riddled with typos. Coupled with the exaggerated claims that "All shared photos are public" leads me to believe this was written purely to get internet points.


My apologies. Father of two little kids here and didn't know if it was going to get any attention. I just had my wife proof read it, but if you find some other typos, please let me know.


after reading this i assumed english was your second language. there are still more obvious typos.

also yeah the hyperbolic language combined with the coinbase link read as "attention seeking" to me.


English is my second language. Re attention seeking, I though it was a big deal. Both my wife and I were shocked by it, so I wanted to share.

Coinbase link, is my experiment of trying to monetize my blog. Like I said, 2 kids...


If I need to make a post every time my wife was shocked by something on the internet, the internet would be twice as big.

I still use email if I want to share a picture with somebody? I must be old school.


>If I need to make a post every time my wife was shocked by something on the internet, the internet would be twice as big.

JFYI, in case of need:

http://www.marriedtothesea.com/030306/gracious.jpg


Email is the way to go.

I only wrote this because I was shocked too. I genuinely did not expect this behavior, and I've been using Google Photos a lot in the past year.


Aren't you the same guy who kept posting articles about Google AMP to gain upvotes on HN?

Sensing a clear agenda here.

Edit: looking at your submission history -- wow. I'm surprised you haven't been dinged for spamming.


I am the same guy...

Re AMP, I was not just posting to gain up-votes, I believed in all the things I said. But I did underplayed the benefits that AMP provided, for which I apologized. You can read more about that here if you'd like: https://www.alexkras.com/google-amp-is-winning/

I don't have an agenda... I saw something the surprised me concerning my security, realized that other's might have overlooked it, and wrote a blog post about it...

Re continues re post, it is not against HN terms. I was doing it because I thought that there are people who can benefit from my writing, I take a lot of time to write my posts and it sucks when nobody gets to read it. I did however go overboard towards the end, I have been warned, and I am only submitting articles once now. Such as this post, as you can see in my history.


Advertisers love segmenting and targeting their audience. With Apple's stance on privacy, how effective will these days be?

In other words - I thought it was widely understood that Apple made excellent products and was poor in services that required personalization.


This ad product doesn't rely on personal information which is why it's the perfect kind for Apple. Once you've typed something into search they have your intent and can show related apps to it.

On other types of ads, a former iAd exec said it did hold them back [1].

[1] https://9to5mac.com/2015/07/14/iad-user-data-privacy-policy/


> With Apple's stance on privacy, how effective will these days be?

IMO Apple's stance on privacy is a bit smoke and mirrors when they allow tracking services like flurry to exist in apps.


I don’t think we can hold Apple responsible for 3rd parties like Flurry. Those companies will always find a way to do what they do because there is incredible value in having access to such data (as a developer).


I'd imagine it will be the same as google's stance on segmenting audience in search - you can't do it. You can really only target based on search query and very little else (geo, etc).


Took a course from Fader himself (author of the linked paper) and it changed how I look at things. https://marketing.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/faderp/


This is an easy trap to fall into. Try to think from the victim's perspective. Countless women had to suffer mental and emotional distress due to Lasseter. Who knows, without such stress, some of these women could have been even bigger than Lasseter himself.

The ends never justify the means.


I think it’s probably an exaggeration to say that ‘countless’ women were personally harassed by Lassiter personally, but countless women have been harassed by people like him and continue to be today.

I think people are focusing too much on individuals and missing a very important question: Why are we relying on journalists for this? Presumably all of these people work at corporations with HR departments. Why weren’t there consequences sooner?

Something is fundamentally broken with the incentives around harassment in the work place — HR departments exist to protect the company and its executives from lawsuits. They don’t exist to protect employees from the company. Until there are serious financial consequences for failing to act on harassment complaints sooner, nothing is going to change.

Every newspaper on earth can’t exclusively commit itself to uncover sexual harassment. Eventually this is going to die down— and then what? If Jane Engineer is harassed by Joe Manager today— where does she go? The media only cares about celebrities. Are HR departments changing their policies to stop the ongoing harassment today? I seriously suspect not.

In another ten years we’ll be seeing another round of these stories.


[flagged]


You're violating the guidelines by commenting like this. If you won't start posting civilly and substantively we'll ban the account. That means—especially on controversial topics—cleaving to the subject at hand and not fighting some secondary ideological battle.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html


> I don't believe any mental or emotional distress was suffered

I don't believe a grown up adult human being with an ounce of empathy could hold the beliefs that you hold. And yet, you exist and hold those beliefs. I presume you're an adult human and that you do have empathy for others.

Sometimes things happen that challenge our beliefs. Maybe a better approach would be to ask why your beliefs don't seem to line up to reality, instead of ignoring the evidence in front of you.

If you keep denying this social change, you're going to sound exactly like the old family member at Thanksgiving that says racist things. Society will have moved on and left you behind.


> Someone who can't tolerate the "stress" of being hugged is never going to be able to pull together Toy Story. As someone who worked in Hollywood, you cannot be farther from the truth.

Movies are not produced by aliens. They are done by people like you and I. Similar to people who work at Uber, or Google, or Goldman Sachs. Or at your employer. There isnt a "hollywood" type.


So again, you're of the opinion that unwanted physical contact from your superior is not a problem?


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