Recently Larry Page took to Google+ to talk about his vocal-related medical condition, which has kept him out of the speaking spotlight in recent years, and even caused him to miss taking the stage at Google I/O 2012. Luckily, this year, Page did in fact make an appearance as the 3-hour keynote neared its closing.
Larry Page started by pointing out all the great technological innovations that has happened in recent years.
He then stated that despite how quickly tech seems to be moving, “We as Google, and as industry all of you, are really only at one percent of what is possible. And probably even less than that. And despite the faster change we have in the industry, we are still moving slow, relative to the opportunities we have.”
According to Page, the reason for this is that negativity is controlling the direction of the industry.
“Every story I read about Google is about us versus some other company is kind of us versus some other company or some stupid thing, and I really don’t find that interesting. We should be building things that don’t exist”.
Page stresses that instead of fighting, we should be worried about making great things and moving forward with technology. Additionally, technology needs to continue pushing towards the goal of making lives easier around the globe and solving real problems.
Some of the examples mentioned by Page included Google’s driverless car technology and how it can not only reduce accidents, but also free up time for us to do other things during a commute.
To get there, Page says we need to continue to get future generations interested in computing and in development. Page says in order to do that, they need to make computer science fun and exciting, which is one of the reasons why Google got involved with the upcoming movie, The Internship.
Page ended his speech saying that “today we are just scratching the surface of what’s possible”. He then opened up the floor for questions from some of the developers attending I/O.
Questions from the developers
The first question came from Robert Scoble, who had Google Glass in tow with him. He asked Page to talk about the sensors in Google Glass and other mobile technology.
Page mentioned that sensor technology is important to Google, and how it is still in the early stages. He further stressed that as technology improves, sensors will make live easier. As an example, Page brought up having to shut off all his phones before coming on stage, and how sensor technology could eventually solve these kinds of problems.
Next up, Page was asked about whether the web would eventually “be the operating system” as opposed to Android, and if it would eventually be the main source of innovation from Google. While Page didn’t directly talk about the web superseding operating systems like Android, he did instead talk a bit about the future of the web and how right now the web is at a poor state when it comes to standards. Page further asserted that the solution to that problem is further cooperation between different companies that utilize web technology.
Some of the other questions mentioned included asking what the production run might be for Google Glass, though Page said he couldn’t say for sure. Page said that the company’s main focus with Google Glass is getting the experience right and having happy users.
As his Q&A session came to a close, Page was asked what could be done to combat some of the industry “negativity” . Page mentioned that part of the problem probably has to do with the laws, citing how when Google went public the laws “about that were 50 years old”, “How could those laws be up to date? It’s crazy”.
While he didn’t specifically mention it, his statement on the “laws being old” could also be his way of referencing to patent laws and the continued wars that are fought over them.
What do you think of Page’s statements about the negativity in the industry and how it potentially is holding back technological innovation? Agree or not?
Android Authority
