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Although it's generally quite hard to get fired from Google, leakers have always been dealt with severely. Google once upon a time fired a member of the origina

Although it's generally quite hard to get fired from Google, leakers have always been dealt with severely. Google once upon a time fired a member of the original Macintosh team for leaking information about the Christmas bonus. My guess is that the increased closing off of various documents is to do with the increased amount of confidential partner-related information as Google scales its cloud business. But, as is often the case with Google, much of the disillusionment here seems to be due to unrealistic expectations and nostalgia. There have always been secretive projects at Google. Chrome was super-secret; you needed special authorization to get into the Google+ area; you needed special authorization to get into areas where new Android hardware was being worked with; you needed special authorization to get into the X area; etc.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
Iv 7y ago
> unrealistic expectations Basically thinking "Don't do evil" and being a profitable competitive corporation are compatible.
- dvfjsdhgfv 7y ago
  We will never know if it's just wishful thinking or not as Google chose the dark path and basically everybody hates them as much as FB. People still use their products as the're forced to, but are switching at the earliest occasion. So I don't know what the final result would be in the long run.
- Nokinside 7y ago
  There is nothing evil in keeping company secrets secret.
  - dmos62 7y ago
    You're plain wrong. It always depends on the secret. Secret acts are just acts that some people don't know about. The debatable thing is if there are secrets that are not evil, which is difficult to answer.
  - francisofascii 7y ago
    Unless the secret is evil.
- lucifirius 7y ago
  It's entirely possible to be a profitable competitive corporation and not do evil.
rajacombinator 7y ago
Thank god they kept all those spies from stealing that primo Google+ IP ...
- vianneychevalie 7y ago
  Hindsight is 20/20, but Google+'s plan (circles of friend) is the current situation of social networks. People communicate selectively with circles of friends through iMessage, WhatsApp, Snapchat groups, selective Instagram accounts, etc. So Google+'s IP could have been very valuable
  - el_cujo 7y ago
    I remember at the time of its release, social media was pretty monolithic as well. All of my friends at the time thought it was a joke that the search engine company was trying to ape Facebook. Twitter was big, sure, but nobody I knew had one for socializing with people they knew, mostly just for following celebrities or news personalities. These days, Snap Chat, Instagram, and others have opened the field up more, so maybe if it had been released in that age people would have been more open to giving it a shot. Then again, it feels like privacy is much more in the zeitgeist, so maybe the idea of giving google access to even more of your life would be more laughable than it was previously.
tomohawk 7y ago
Hopefully this is a sign that Google is changing course and focusing on providing value. For a glimpse of the future if course is not changed, take a look at ABC/Disney, where the whole org has bought into partisanship so much that they are now tearing the whole company apart trying to find a the person responsible for leaking the video talking about their Epstein cover up. > The source added ABC investigators have been rifling through staff emails, news logs and grilling staffers. The company has been isolating certain employees and putting them under pressure to turn on their colleagues in a bid to find the culprit, the source also claimed, adding the investigation reports back up to the very highest levels at HR at ABC’s parent company Disney. https://pagesix.com/2019/11/12/abc-scrambles-to-figure-out-identity-of-amy-robach-leaker-who-goes-by-ignotus/ https://pagesix.com/2019/11/12/abc-scrambles-to-figure-out-i...

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

Iv 7y ago

> unrealistic expectations Basically thinking "Don't do evil" and being a profitable competitive corporation are compatible.

dvfjsdhgfv 7y ago
We will never know if it's just wishful thinking or not as Google chose the dark path and basically everybody hates them as much as FB. People still use their products as the're forced to, but are switching at the earliest occasion. So I don't know what the final result would be in the long run.
Nokinside 7y ago
There is nothing evil in keeping company secrets secret.
- dmos62 7y ago
  You're plain wrong. It always depends on the secret. Secret acts are just acts that some people don't know about. The debatable thing is if there are secrets that are not evil, which is difficult to answer.
- francisofascii 7y ago
  Unless the secret is evil.
lucifirius 7y ago
It's entirely possible to be a profitable competitive corporation and not do evil.

rajacombinator 7y ago

Thank god they kept all those spies from stealing that primo Google+ IP ...

vianneychevalie 7y ago
Hindsight is 20/20, but Google+'s plan (circles of friend) is the current situation of social networks. People communicate selectively with circles of friends through iMessage, WhatsApp, Snapchat groups, selective Instagram accounts, etc. So Google+'s IP could have been very valuable
- el_cujo 7y ago
  I remember at the time of its release, social media was pretty monolithic as well. All of my friends at the time thought it was a joke that the search engine company was trying to ape Facebook. Twitter was big, sure, but nobody I knew had one for socializing with people they knew, mostly just for following celebrities or news personalities. These days, Snap Chat, Instagram, and others have opened the field up more, so maybe if it had been released in that age people would have been more open to giving it a shot. Then again, it feels like privacy is much more in the zeitgeist, so maybe the idea of giving google access to even more of your life would be more laughable than it was previously.

tomohawk 7y ago

Hopefully this is a sign that Google is changing course and focusing on providing value. For a glimpse of the future if course is not changed, take a look at ABC/Disney, where the whole org has bought into partisanship so much that they are now tearing the whole company apart trying to find a the person responsible for leaking the video talking about their Epstein cover up. > The source added ABC investigators have been rifling through staff emails, news logs and grilling staffers. The company has been isolating certain employees and putting them under pressure to turn on their colleagues in a bid to find the culprit, the source also claimed, adding the investigation reports back up to the very highest levels at HR at ABC’s parent company Disney. https://pagesix.com/2019/11/12/abc-scrambles-to-figure-out-identity-of-amy-robach-leaker-who-goes-by-ignotus/ https://pagesix.com/2019/11/12/abc-scrambles-to-figure-out-i...