Father of Google Maps and Google Wave went to Facebook?

When Google made a bid for the ambitious Wave project last year, they knew it was a gamble. But most of it was hidden behind the team that developed this project. It was headed by Lars Rasmussen, an engineer, known as one of the creators of the very successful Google Maps service. Now he has left the company and is rumored to lead the Facebook team.

Rasmussen confirmed his move to his Facebook page. Yesterday was the last day of his work at Google. He did not say anything concrete about where he would be located next (until now he lived in Australia, where the entire Google Wave team was located). But the fact that he started sharing information about his fate through Facebook speaks for itself. According to rumors, in the near future he will join the team of the largest social network.

The official request to Google returned without comment. And from Facebook they answered that according to the requirements of the internal policy, they do not comment on potential employees until they start work.

This is a huge loss for Google and at the same time a benefit for Facebook. But it is not surprising that Rasmussen left Google, because the search giant closed down "killed" the ambitious Wave project, Rasmussen's brainchild, a year after its first presentation to the public.
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Rasmussen is not the only person who has recently changed Google to Facebook. But this move is probably one of the loudest, along with Matthew Papakipos, who led the Chrome OS team, along with the June Facebook transition. It is also worth noting that the current CTO of Facebook, Brett Taylor, was actively involved in the launch of Google Maps. Also, so far there is no information about the future brother Rasmussen - Jens, who helped Lars in his work on the creation of Wave and Maps.

It will be very interesting to hear that Rasmussen is working on the development of a social network. Alternatives to Facebook for Rasmussen could be perhaps Apple and Microsoft, but neither company has ever demonstrated the ability to make innovative web services. Facebook is likely to be much more beneficial environment, and the fact that it will benefit the technology like Google Wave should not be doubted.

via TechCrunch