There are probably no more than 500 words on the entire site, but the first sentence of ooyala’s “About Us” section sure gets one point across: “The company was started by former Google engineers and product managers.” That was originally written in bold, by the way.
As for what ooyala does, well . . . One source indicates that the goal of an ooyala founder, Bismarck Lepe, might be to irritate Google. “Even more curious is Lepe’s reported disdain for Google, predicting that more will leave the company to follow the dreams that Google rejected,” writes Mashable’s Kristen Nicole.
She then asks, “Isn’t that the case with most former Google employees?” Of course, as murdok noted last week, this practice could lead to some difficulties.
In any event, ooyala isn’t talking about its difficulties, its successes, or much of anything. It claims to be “focused on delivering a high-quality, interactive, video-viewing experience,” but the site, such as it is, is unwilling to share any further details. This has led to a bit of frustration in some corners.
“The startup has raised funding but is in stealth mode so is not saying who or how much nor what the hell they are doing other than video,” states an alarm:clock article.
But in “a couple of months,” an open beta should become available from ooyala, and we should all find out what these ex-Googlers are up to. Until then, let’s just hope a sort of civil war doesn’t break out in Mountain View.
