Google Guys interview in Time is lame

Time did this softball interview with the "Google Guys".

TIME: YOU TALK ABOUT THE NEED FOR TRANSPARENCY IN THE BUSINESS. WHAT PROBLEM ARE YOU ADDRESSING?

SCHMIDT:
With all the headlines we're making, we don't want our announcements to
surprise or confuse anyone. We don't want our partners to think we're
competing against them.

but later Larry Page makes this comment in response to another question.

IS THERE A GRAND STRATEGY FOR GOOGLE? IT SEEMS AS IF YOU'RE DIVING INTO ALMOST EVERYTHING.

SCHMIDT:
We try very hard to look like we're out of control. But in fact the
company is very measured. And that's part of our secret.

PAGE:
We don't generally talk about our strategy ... because it's strategic.
I would rather have people think we're confused than let our
competitors know what we're going to do. That's an easy trade-off.

  So what is it, do you want be transparent about what you are doing or do you want to be opaque? How come the Time interviewer doesn't say "hey, you just said you don't want to confuse anyone and now you are saying you do? What's up with that?".

And then there is this gem.

HOW MUCH DO PEOPLE USE GOOGLE TO LOOK FOR PORN?

PAGE: It's a
small, single-digit percentage. We generally think that having more
access is better, as long as you're not a child or overly offended. But
we can help people do filtering if that's what they want, though there
is no technology that can tell with 100% accuracy if an image or
website is pornographic.

More access is better, unless you are in China then scrub rule #1 because less access is actually better.

Comments

[Ivan Pope]

Thank you, I couldn't quite put my finger on it - but what a softball interview. They come across as two people who don't really have a clue. I'm sure they won't be with the business in the near future.