Feature

Five Questions For Paul English, CTO of Kayak.com

J. Nicholas Hoover
Senior Editor, InformationWeek Government

The co-founder of the booming travel site Kayak.com also created a 100,000-member online Chinese chess community, the "gethuman" consumer movement to improve customer service, and a mailing list of top Boston CTOs.

Paul English
CTO of Kayak.com

Interview by J. Nicholas Hoover


Paul English, CTO of Kayak.com -- Photograph by Jason Grow

Photograph by Jason Grow
1
Million-Dollar Challenge
"Congratulations to the Deep Blue team," English says of IBM's chess computer that beat a world champ. "But if they can beat an international master in my community, I'll give them a million dollars."


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2
Get Busy
"Americans complain that people from other countries are going to take away the economy and our jobs. The difference is not free trade. The difference is our kids are sitting on the couch watching MTV bump-and-grind videos for six hours a day."

3
No Robot Voices
"No one would tell you, 'I want to pick up the phone and have a computer on the other end.' Not only is it arrogant, but it's bad for companies."

4
Boo, Dell
"Dell is in a customer service death spiral. As a user of a Dell computer, you have to go through seven layers of devices or people or management before you get to anyone who has directly handled a Dell computer."

5
Does Africa Need Laptops?
"As an African friend once told me, 'I appreciate your interest in helping, but these guys are dying from a lack of clean water, and they have no electricity.' So what are they going to do with a laptop?"

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