When all the Google blogs (notably Google Blogoscoped and Google Operating System) picked up on the departure of Kevin Fox from Google, all that was known was that he was leaving to join a start-up (the only information he left in his blog entry). Now we know where he's going. The start-up is FriendFeed, whose widget can currently be seen in the sidebar of this very blog (you might have to scroll down a bit, er, a lot). Kevin Fox designed the interfaces for Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Reader's current interface, and now is heading to FriendFeed HQ to join fellow Xoogler (short for Ex-Googler) and FriendFeed founder Paul Buchheit, who was the creator and lead developer of Gmail.
FriendFeed's blog entry, posted by Paul Buchheit himself, talks about the challenges and lost versions of Gmail that Google developed years before it even let out a peep to the public, and how Kevin took all the not-quite-meshing features, functions, and interface components and fused them all into a great interface. The hope is that Kevin will be able to apply his extraordinary talent for interface design to FriendFeed, which is planning lots of new functionality (or at least, that's the implication). I hope to see his work as well; it's just so darn good! Best wishes, Kevin!