Harry Shum, Brian Bershad
TechFlash reports on the Xconomy-sponsored “Future of Search” event held at the University of Washington on November 30. UW CSE’s Ed Lazowska moderated a panel of four experts: Google Seattle site director (and UW CSE affiliate professor) Brian Bershad, UW CSE professor (and Farecast founder) Oren Etzioni, Vulcan investment manager Steve Hall, and Microsoft Bing engineering director Harry Shum.
” … the primary challenge facing any company thinking about getting into the business was summarized succinctly in a zinger from panelist Harry Shum … ‘Google is like smoking cigarettes. It’s a habit that’s going to be difficult to give up.’ [Etzioni] joked in response: ‘It is a known fact that more Google users die every year than users of all other search engine combined.'”
The TechFlash article — a terrific synopsis of the evening — is here.
An Xconomy photo gallery is here.