To be fair, nobody else has been successful at any of the moonshots Alphabet is going for either. It's not like they're getting trounced by the competition or a

To be fair, nobody else has been successful at any of the moonshots Alphabet is going for either. It's not like they're getting trounced by the competition or anything, for the most part there is no competition. I'm not sure how one would quantify the effect that the Google Glass' faceplant has on Joe Blo's decision to choose between ios or Android, but I'm guessing it's negligible. With Alphabet's space camp subsidiaries there does seem to be some dissonance. While pursuing far-sighted pie-in-the sky projects is laudable, the expectation that these projects be monetized within visible horizons is a bit naive. Lately Alphabet has been dealing with a reckoning of sorts. They kind of have to decide whether or not they're committed to throwing money at these projects indefinitely. Larry and Segei have allowed themselves to get swept away by their grand visions for the future.