Vic Gundotra
Encyclopedia
Vivek "Vic" Gundotra is Senior Vice-President of Social Business for Google
and was previously a general manager at Microsoft
.
of Platform Evangelism. His duties included promoting Microsoft's APIs and platforms to independent developers and helping to develop a strategy for Windows Live
online services to compete with Google's web-based software applications.
Gundotra joined Google
in June 2007, after taking a one-year delay working on charitable endeavors due to a Microsoft employee non-compete agreement
.
His responsibilities as Vice-President of Engineering include Google's mobile phone applications, and its developer efforts, including OpenSocial
, Google Gadgets
, Google Gears, and the more than 40 product APIs Google exposes. It was reported on Gigaom
that he is considered to be Google's Social Czar. He is apparently known to be the man behind Google+
, and is responsible for the controversial removal of social features from Google Reader
.
Technology Review
TR100
as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35, for his contribution to Microsoft's .NET Framework
.
, due in part to a near-crash when Gundotra took his eyes off the road for a few seconds. The Mercedes-Benz
technology, which scans the road in front of it for impending accidents, perceived the car in front of him had stopped, which he [Gundotra] was fast approaching. Gundotra's car then stopped itself. Gundotra wrote Mercedes a letter expressing his thanks for this technology in their cars. Mercedes jumped at the opportunity to have Gundotra star in an advertisement promoting the technology.
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
and was previously a general manager at Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
.
Career
Gundotra joined Microsoft in 1991 and eventually became General ManagerGeneral manager
General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...
of Platform Evangelism. His duties included promoting Microsoft's APIs and platforms to independent developers and helping to develop a strategy for Windows Live
Windows Live
Windows Live is the collective brand name for a set of services and software products from Microsoft, part of their software plus services platform. A majority of these services are Web applications, accessible from a browser, but there are also client-side binary applications that require...
online services to compete with Google's web-based software applications.
Gundotra joined Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
in June 2007, after taking a one-year delay working on charitable endeavors due to a Microsoft employee non-compete agreement
Non-compete clause
A non-compete clause , or covenant not to compete , is a term used in contract law under which one party agrees not to pursue a similar profession or trade in competition against another party . As a contract provision, a CNC is bound by traditional contract requirements including the...
.
His responsibilities as Vice-President of Engineering include Google's mobile phone applications, and its developer efforts, including OpenSocial
OpenSocial
OpenSocial is a set of common application programming interfaces for web-based social network applications, developed by Google along with MySpace and a number of other social networks.It was released November 1, 2007....
, Google Gadgets
Google Gadgets
Google Gadgets are dynamic web content that can be embedded on a web page. They can be added to and interact strongly with Google's iGoogle personalized home page and the Google Desktop application, as well as Google Wave...
, Google Gears, and the more than 40 product APIs Google exposes. It was reported on Gigaom
GigaOM
GigaOM is a Web 2.0 blog started by Om Malik and published by Giga Omni Media, Inc. in San Francisco, California. According to the company website it has a monthly global audience of 500,000. It is among the top 50 blogs worldwide by Technorati Rank, and is listed on CNet's Blog 100 list...
that he is considered to be Google's Social Czar. He is apparently known to be the man behind Google+
Google+
Google+ is a social networking and identity service, operated by Google Inc.The service was launched on June 28, 2011, in an invite-only "field testing" phase. The following day, existing users were allowed to invite friends who were over 18 years of age to the service to create their own accounts....
, and is responsible for the controversial removal of social features from Google Reader
Google Reader
Google Reader is a Web-based aggregator, capable of reading Atom and RSS feeds online or offline. It was released by Google on October 7, 2005 through Google Labs. Reader was graduated from beta status on September 17, 2007.-Interface:...
.
Awards
In 2003, Gundotra was named to the MITMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
Technology Review
Technology Review
Technology Review is a magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as "The Technology Review", and was re-launched without the "The" in its name on April 23, 1998 under then publisher R. Bruce Journey...
TR100
TR35
The TR35 is an annual list published by MIT Technology Review magazine, naming the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35.Some of the most famous winners of the award include Larry Page and Sergey Brin , Linus Torvalds , Jerry Yang , Jonathan Ive , Mark Zuckerberg...
as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35, for his contribution to Microsoft's .NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
.
In Advertisement
Gundotra starred in a 2011 advertisement for the Mercedes-Benz S-ClassMercedes-Benz S-Class
The Mercedes-Benz S-Class is a series of luxury sedans produced by Mercedes-Benz, a division of Daimler AG. The classification was officially introduced in 1972 with the W116 S-Class, which succeeded previous Mercedes-Benz models dating to the mid-1950s...
, due in part to a near-crash when Gundotra took his eyes off the road for a few seconds. The Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
technology, which scans the road in front of it for impending accidents, perceived the car in front of him had stopped, which he [Gundotra] was fast approaching. Gundotra's car then stopped itself. Gundotra wrote Mercedes a letter expressing his thanks for this technology in their cars. Mercedes jumped at the opportunity to have Gundotra star in an advertisement promoting the technology.