Google Wants You To Be Its Unpaid Muse

theodp writes "So where do you turn to for great ideas when tough times force you to abort your engineers' brainchildren? If you're Google, reports Nicholas Carlson, you simply outsource brainstorming to your users. Google's launched a new Google Product Ideas blog as well as a Product Ideas for Google Mobile site where users can submit feature and product ideas and vote on others. So what's in it for you if you come up with Google's next billion-dollar-idea? 'If you post an idea or suggestion and we put it into action, we may give you a shout out on our Product Ideas blog,' explains Google, 'but we won't be compensating users for their ideas.' Lucky thing don't-be-evil Googlers don't have to live up to the IEEE Code of Ethics, or they might have to credit properly the contributions of others." So what's wrong with a shout out among consenting adults?

Comments

Don't want Google to steal your ideas?

[phayes]

Don't contribute to their ideabox. It's not like Google is forcing people to contribute. Why is that too difficult for the article submitter to understand?

Re:Don't want Google to steal your ideas?

[PFI_Optix]

Or, do. I would LOVE if every service provider gave me a place to voice my opinion on how they can improve their service without me having to have the expertise to actually execute the idea.

An idea is just that: an idea. It's not a product, it's not a service, it's not even the result of a great deal of work. There are a lot of things I'd like to see companies do that I can't begin to make money off of, but I think they could and I would benefit from them. I don't care if they profit off my ideas, my gain is that they are doing what I want.

Leave it to Slashdot users to find a way to negatively spin it when a company goes to great lengths to give their consumers a voice.

Re:Don't want Google to steal your ideas?

[Manfre]

Or, do. I would LOVE if every service provider gave me a place to voice my opinion on how they can improve their service without me having to have the expertise to actually execute the idea.

Most companies have customer support forums, email address and phone numbers. They have been receiving "opinions" on how they should do their job for a long time.

Re:Don't want Google to steal your ideas?

[phayes]

Google has warned that they will not pay for any ideas that are submitted to them through this interface.

If you think that you have an idea that is worth money to Google, then don't use the ideabox. Go negotiate with Google directly. Patent it (Ugh). Sell it to Yahoo. Start your own company & exploit it. Don't expect anyone else to feel sorry for you because you're jealous but can't think of a way to sponge off of google's wealth.

Re:Don't want Google to steal your ideas?

[fyngyrz]

Like how EVERY SINGLE PROJECT that is worth its salt first starts with a business case.

No. Some start because they seemed like fun to do. Some start because of a simple code fork for something that appeared to be minor, but turned out not to be. Some start as demonstration projects. Some start as academic proof of concept, no initial business intent at all. Some are intended from day one to be public domain, and some are intended to be free to anyone *but* commercial enterprises, unless the commercial enterprise conforms to certain conditions. Some start as a favor to the spouse. Some start because of a personal need. Some start to entertain the kids. Some are outright accidents.

Business is not the be-all and end-all of human goals. It never was; one has to hope it never will be.

The Gift Economy.*

[Ostracus]

"So what's wrong with a shout out among consenting adults? "

For those who envision the domination of a gift economy. Now's your chance to make it happen. First software, now ideas.

*Aka "ideas want to be free".

Re:The Gift Economy.*

[Hal_Porter]

"So what's wrong with a shout out among consenting adults? "

For those who envision the domination of a gift economy. Now's your chance to make it happen. First software, now ideas.

*Aka "ideas want to be free".

I think I preferred the old economy where we sold our skills to billion dollar companies.

Re:The Gift Economy.*

[afxgrin]

Too bad not everyone plays their fair part in the gift economy. Instead, there's a very high likelihood, that Google can just take the ideas that are submitted, and implement them without providing any reward to the submitter.

Even if there's some EULA/Contract/legal stuff that Google provides at first, good luck taking them to court and winning against this multi-billion dollar corporation.

There's also the problem of providing relevant ideas. In a public forum listing ideas, there maybe many very good ones, but may hold no relevance to a corporation like Google. By posting the non-relevant idea, you then leave that idea open to the public, where some other corporation who has no intention to 'play fair' at all, can take it, and become profitable, or completely ruin the idea by implementing it poorly and creating an atmosphere of negative public opinion.

I don't blame people for -not- sharing their ideas, even if they never have the resources, time, or dedication to see them through. In the wrong forum, you may face nothing but hostility, and ignorance, because the audience just doesn't understand what you're presenting, or finds your idea a threat to theirs.

Sounds like a nice idea however.

Re:The Gift Economy.*

[rolfwind]

All too often, we are brought up on the perspective that the "killer" idea is more important than the execution. It's like some type of get-rich-quick scheme for thinkers. This is one area where the patent system used to work, only granting patents on working models are specific implementations - nowadays it's the "killer idea" which some corp or troll patents, sits on it, and waits for someone else to do the work. Truly novel or killer ideas are uncommon - great execution is more important. I would say that Apple's iPods and iPhone are a testament to this. Not one super novel idea in itself, but a slew of good compromises and vision to see it through. Good execution.

I don't think society progresses far when people hoarde their ideas in the mistaken beliefs that it's all gold (rather than the 99.999% fool's gold that they are) or actually more novel than it really is and not collaborating with anyone. I would look to Paul Erdos as the ultimate example of intellectual collaboration.

The problem is that ideas that seem good are plenty. It's like blades of grass. The problem is getting yours to stick out, so that the corporation actually picks your and pours their resources into executing it. I would imagine it's a good feeling if something actually came out of it.

*Note, I'm talking ideas, not some specific design.

Re:The Gift Economy.*

[Mr. Slippery]

You can't restrict people from having the same ideas as yourself.

No, but you can stop them from using those ideas. That's what a patent is for.

All of the terms are put clearly

[Peaker]

How could this be illegitimate, if it does not intend to hide or mislead Google's intentions?

Re:All of the terms are put clearly

[Peaker]

That is irrelevant. What's relevant is that Walmart have every right to do so if they fully enclose that they take the ideas without any compensation.

Re:All of the terms are put clearly

[thetoadwarrior]

Department stores (and maybe even Wal-Marts) used to have suggestion boxes. As did many restaurants or often you'd get questionnaire cards with a purchase which often asked for suggestions on how they can improve. I suspect a lot of places still do this.

Google at least lays out all the terms and let you decide what to do. Most other suggestion methods say nothing and if they use your idea you don't even get a "shout out" so all Google has done was take an old idea and made it more open. If you don't like it keep your idea, implement it and patent it yourself. It's not rocket science.

I suspect most of the people moaning about this don't have an idea worth patenting otherwise they'd be doing that instead of sitting here and crying about Google wanting to eat their soul.

There's nothing wrong with it

[matt4077]

Why shouldn't they ask for ideas from users? It's part of any business relationship that both sides profit. Since I rarely click on ads, I've probably gotten more use out of google products than they got in return. If I had a good idea, I'd have no problem to let them know. At the least, their products get better and I get to use the cool new feature. Most of the ideas are probably worthless to individuals anyway, since they might only be a feature, not a product.

Plus, all the ideas are out in the open for everyone to see, so any competitor is free to implement them as well.

Re:There's nothing wrong with it

[Hognoxious]

I've got several ideas for Microsoft.

• Make WPA work reliably.
• Make WPA (the other one) work reliably.
• Make it so you can save power management settings without having to frig the registry.
• Make XP Pro SP3 install properly even if it can't read a stupid music file. Or at least tell you that it needs to run as administrator at the start

They can implement those and I won't ask for a penny.

(I have several others that are quite unprintable).

It also

[camcorder]

...makes you unpaid advertisers.

How is that different than /.?

[rolfwind]

Other people create the articles, we create the original content that draw people to this site. People love having a soapbox where they think others will listen to their ideas. So I don't understand the tone of the summary.

OTOH, years ago, people working at Nintendo (USA) told me that when they recieved letters, they put them in the trash as soon as it became apparent it was an "idea" letter for a game. They didn't want the liability. How is google going to curb this aspect?

Slashdot should pay me!

[an.echte.trilingue]

This is ridiculous. Should /. have paid the guy who submitted this? What about me for all the moderation I have done? Should my company pay people who fill in customer satisfaction surveys?

I am really getting tired of this /. "google really is evil" meme. I mean, jeez, here we're jumping on them for doing standard market research. When they do something that really is evil (like when Microsoft killed netscape), that will be news.

Re:Slashdot should pay me!

[ExtremePhobia]

hey, I wouldn't mind getting paid for my ideas. If you put a significant amount of work into something that's going to get somebody else paid, I don't think it's that wrong to expect some compensation. On the flip side, if you know you aren't going to be paid then you know that your compensation is strictly just getting props. If that bothers you, it's not their fault. If this ideabox doesn't work out then they may start paying people for their ideas.

Supply and Demand - The Supply is huge, the demand nearly non-existent... so you don't get paid.

Re:Slashdot should pay me!

[thetoadwarrior]

This is nothing new. It's essentially a suggestion box which companies have been using for ages. None of them ever paid you for your ideas.

Secondly you don't what they'll actually do to compensate you. My guess is they would do more than you think but saying so ensure you'll get every moron and their family suggesting anything and everything and it will turn into a legal mess.

It's same reason developers won't take unsolicited ideas from people. Most good ideas will be thought up by more than one person. So if Google were to pay for ideas and Person A gets picked but Person B gave a very similar suggestion then he'll get pissed off and want his compensation.

Or, you suggest something which, it just happens that Google has been working on for 6 months already. They don't give you the money because it's already 80% done. They release it you get hacked off and sue them.

As it is if they forget to give a shout out to someone with a similar suggestion what's the worse that happens, they list their name too?

You can almost certainly guarantee that if you really do have a load of good ideas they'll want to do something to make sure they stay with them and no other company and you could end up with a job there or something.

But the odds are still likely that most suggestions will have been suggested by hundreds, if not thousands of others so it becomes more of a voting system on what people want rather than you giving them the holy grail of internet business.

They could make your idea real... for free

[wyoung76]

Most people I know (myself included) have a lot of ideas, both good and bad, but have no idea or resources to make the idea into a marketable and/or profitable idea. The fact that your idea could be made real by anyone else and accessible worldwide is pretty much its own thing to brag about.

Re:They could make your idea real... for free

[Xugumad]

Not to mention, just being credited with coming up with Google's next big thing is enough to almost certainly land you a well paid job for life somewhere.

Re:They could make your idea real... for free

[Rastl]

Not to mention, just being credited with coming up with Google's next big thing is enough to almost certainly land you a well paid job for life somewhere.

Yeah, good luck with that one on your resume.

"I came up with the idea for Google's 'Whatchawhoozit' module that has revolutionized the industry. Um, they didn't give me any credit for it or anything but trust me I did submit it through their idea portal."

Alternatively, "I came up with the idea for Google's 'Whatchawhoozit' module that has revolutionized the industry. If you go into Help, About, Credits, Contributers, North America, Submitters and increase the font you'll see me. Right there! Yes, I'm that John Smith!"

I agree that there's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip but I'm not about to sign over all rights to my ideas on the off chance that they'll be used. I'll keep them to myself and see if at some point I can bring them to fruition.

OR

[WindBourne]

patent the idea, and then submit it to Google's box while you work on the idea.

Garbage

[Hognoxious]

The article mentions that Google won't be compensating submitters, then quotes like holy writ the IEEE code of conduct which mentions crediting them.

Last time I looked, those words weren't synonyms.

Read as: "We've got tons of talented engineers...

[Assmasher]

...with absolutely f*** all to do right now as we only have one real product, search, and we're hesitant to make big changes to it... Please give us the ideas we obviously cannot think up on our own so we can give these guys/gals something to do because bored smart people tend to leave no matter how good the bennies are." ;)

Re:Apples to Apples

[Penguinisto]

Probably due to perception of result.

When Canonical/Ubuntu takes an idea and runs with it, odds are good that everyone benefits, and the results are freely shared without any real encumbrance or price.

When a for-profit company takes an idea and runs with it, odds are better than good that everyone will have to pay for the privilege of reaping the benefits, and a patent or two will prevent anyone else from implementing it for at least the next 25 years.

Not that I'm taking sides (after all, Google's idea-gathering is voluntary), but that's how it usually shakes out.

/P

Wait, what?

[KingJ]

A way to finally contact Google? It's so difficult to get in contact with them normally - even if you're paying them (in the case of AdWords). Perhaps we can finally start talking to real people at Google, or at least have them read some of our grievances.

Re:What meme?

[Mr. Slippery]

it's just plain paranoid delusional thinking.

If you're a zebra, it's not paranoid or delusional to think that a lion will eat you first chance it gets. It's the nature of the beast. Yes, you might have found the one lion in all the jungle that was raised in a vegan commune, or that doesn't have a taste for zebra; but that's an extraordinary claim requiring extraordinary evidence.

If you're an ordinary citizen, it's not paranoid or delusional to think that a large for-profit corporation will screw you first chance it gets. It's the nature of the beast - the corporation that doesn't maximize its short-term profits by any means necessary gets hit by shareholder lawsuits. Yes, you might have found the one multinational corporation in all the world that has found a way to keep profits high without screwing anyone over; but that's an extraordinary claim requiring extraordinary evidence.

Re:What meme?

[N1AK]

It isn't reasonable. No organisation is run in a completely open manner, with ALL communications (and everything else) logged and released. In fact I doubt any human lives a life with that level of transparency.

To say it is the truth that something is evil just because you don't have 100% access to information proving it is paranoid, as it is defining everything you don't know everything about as evil.

I never said they're the lapdog of Satan or big brother

You said they were evil, if that isn't what you meant retract it and state what you did mean. If you did then don't obfuscate the issue with irrelevant things you didn't call them ;)

Re:What meme?

[cephah]

So it's guilty until proven innocent, then?

Re:What meme?

[alvinrod]

Unfortunately, there are enough people with this point of view who will never be satisfied. It's almost akin to a conspiracy theory in that if things were made completely transparent and all the facts and evidence were laid out, some people would still maintain that a complete lack of any evidence of evilness or wrongdoing just proves that the organization is hiding something and really is evil.

Google probably isn't evil, but that doesn't mean that they're saints either. There's a pretty large gray area between the two where most people, companies, and organizations tend to operate. Some people, for whatever reason, tend to blur these shades of gray into either black or white. Then again, "Google does some things that I don't like or agree with, but on the whole I find them to be a pretty good company," doesn't generate as many comments or page hits.

Re:What meme?

[REALMAN]

All people are evil to a degree. The degree to which we are evil is almost always relative to the amount of power and/or wealth we have obtained.

Re:Apples to Apples

[LandDolphin]

Funny, I checked my wallet and bank account and no where do I see those adds taking money out. Hmm, maybe the advertisers pay for those adds so that I can use those services for free. I'll have to call them and verify this outlandish claim.