14 DAY TRIAL // Vic Gundotra, the well-known Google senior vice president that has created Google+, has announced his departure from the Internet giant.
“I have been incredibly fortunate to work with the amazing people of Google. I don't believe there is a more talented and passionate collection of people anywhere else. And I'm overwhelmed when I think about the leadership of Larry Page and what he empowered me to do while at Google. From starting Google I/O, to being responsible for all mobile applications, to creating Google+, none of this would have happened without Larry's encouragement and support,” Gundotra wrote on his Google+ page.
The SVP also took the time to thank his Google+ team, saying that they were a group of people who built the platform even when others were of its success. “The growth of active users is staggering, and speaks to the work of this team. But it doesn’t tell you what kind of people they are. They are invincible dreamers. I love them. And I will miss them dearly,” Gundotra said.
Lastly, he also addressed the many people he met on Google+ and thanked everyone for showing so much support.
The exec said that it was time for him to go on another journey, but didn’t exactly say what he was going to do from here on out.
Larry Page took the time to express his own feelings on Gundotra’s departure. “Thank you for a tremendous almost eight years at Google. You cut your teeth on our mobile apps and developer relations, turning our disparate efforts into something great. When I first used turn-by-turn navigation, it blew me away. And, walking onto the stage at I/O last year, it was amazing to see developers so excited about Google,” said Page on his own Google+ account, reminding everyone of the other projects that Vic was involved in.
Then, he praised him for the courage to start a project such as Google+ and his hard work and all the passion he put into it. “I really enjoy using Google+ on a daily basis, especially the auto awesome movies which I really love sharing with my family and friends. Good luck with your next project after Google,” Page concluded.
When it comes to Google+, we can’t exactly say that it’s been an easy trip for the platform and quite frankly, the “staggering“ growth of active users is mostly related to the fact that the company has basically pushed the product down everyone’s throats, whether they wanted to use it or not. A good example for this is the mandatory Google+ account to post comments on YouTube.