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Google Launches Google Code
ibjhb writes "Google is at it again and has launched Google Code. It appears to be "Google's place for Open Source software". " Can't say that I'm surprised that our old friend (and former Slashdot Author) Chris DiBona is working on this one. They have links to several open source projects, as well as to Google API information.
I remember complaining for months that /. didn't even have an icon for Google. Now I wish they'd make google.slashdot.org and get this stuff off the front page. Maybe take the place of Apache, which has had a grand total of one article in all of 2005.
Auto-reply to ACs: "Truly, you have a dizzying intellect."
The cultural significance of Google's position on F/OSS software is their ace in the hole against Yahoo and MSN. That's not to say the technology needs a hidden ace, but only that the geek appeal toward Google will remain strong if they continue to "don't be evil," the highest manifestation of that being their willingness to share code.
I Want To Believe
In that case, though, who would ever want to work on personal projects there? I know I certainly wouldn't.
I think you're missing the point of these personal projects. The point is to allow employees some freedom in what they do for the company, not to pay them to work on their hobbies. Google's goal is to allow the employees freedom to explore interesting ideas in the hope that some of those ideas may ultimately turn into things that will make money for Google. All of the work in question is on Google time, and belongs to Google, the only difference is that one day per week the employees get to pick what they want to work on rather than just doing what they're told.
This is a scaled-back version of the approach taken by the best pure R&D labs: Hire very smart people and then don't give them any specific assignments beyond "Do something new and interesting."
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
yeah. ALL THE PROJECTS ARE ON SOURCEFORGE!
Good point. Because Sourceforge, Freshmeat, and Slashdot are all OSTG pages. This is nice to see Google taking an interest in OSTG, not competing with it.