5 ms·

One of the biggest criticisms against Microsoft over the years is that they suffer from Not-Invented-Here syndrome. Is it just me, or does Google seem to be in

One of the biggest criticisms against Microsoft over the years is that they suffer from Not-Invented-Here syndrome. Is it just me, or does Google seem to be increasingly heading down this path? Granted, Google tends to go down the open-source route, where Microsoft has tended not to, but I'm not sure that excuse holds up well over the long-term. Either way, I'm genuinely curious if anyone else feels this.

jrockway 16y ago
You're deriding Google for only supporting open standards that everyone can use instead of supporting closed formats that require you to pay money to a bunch of patent holders? Yeah, they sure are evil. I hate freedom, especially when it means I will have to add a command-line argument to my video encoding process!
- alanh 16y ago
  Stop trolling. Your reply is off-topic. Parent was talking about a trend he is noticing, you're shouting about openness.
lincolnq 16y ago
Yes, Google has an enormous reputation for NIH. Great technology companies often do.
- jerhinesmith 16y ago
  Great technology companies often do. If that's true, at what point does that trait change from an advantage to a liability? Is it purely about openness? Or is it more subjective (e.g. I don't like Silverlight, so Microsoft should support standards vs. websockets sound awesome, and I'm glad Google is innovating)?
  - lincolnq 16y ago
    It may be an expression of hubris (and always a liability). I'm not really trying to imply a causal relationship.
junkbit 16y ago
Google dropped their own O3D plugin to adopt the open standard WebGL. They also sunsetted Google Gears to push HTML5 offline storage (some say prematurely) They also based their browser around Webkit which is promoted by their main rival Apple (although based on the original KHTML) and many Google engineers are bullish about the Apple endorsed LLVM for the Portable Native Client code.
- ot 16y ago
  Also Unladen Swallow, which was developed inside Google, is based on LLVM and they have sent a lot of useful patches upstream.

jrockway 16y ago

You're deriding Google for only supporting open standards that everyone can use instead of supporting closed formats that require you to pay money to a bunch of patent holders? Yeah, they sure are evil. I hate freedom, especially when it means I will have to add a command-line argument to my video encoding process!

alanh 16y ago
Stop trolling. Your reply is off-topic. Parent was talking about a trend he is noticing, you're shouting about openness.

lincolnq 16y ago

Yes, Google has an enormous reputation for NIH. Great technology companies often do.

jerhinesmith 16y ago
Great technology companies often do. If that's true, at what point does that trait change from an advantage to a liability? Is it purely about openness? Or is it more subjective (e.g. I don't like Silverlight, so Microsoft should support standards vs. websockets sound awesome, and I'm glad Google is innovating)?
- lincolnq 16y ago
  It may be an expression of hubris (and always a liability). I'm not really trying to imply a causal relationship.

junkbit 16y ago

Google dropped their own O3D plugin to adopt the open standard WebGL. They also sunsetted Google Gears to push HTML5 offline storage (some say prematurely) They also based their browser around Webkit which is promoted by their main rival Apple (although based on the original KHTML) and many Google engineers are bullish about the Apple endorsed LLVM for the Portable Native Client code.

ot 16y ago
Also Unladen Swallow, which was developed inside Google, is based on LLVM and they have sent a lot of useful patches upstream.