Came here to say this and post the same link. However, I wouldn't go so far as to say the article's idea is an all around bad one. If the described sister comp

Came here to say this and post the same link. However, I wouldn't go so far as to say the article's idea is an all around bad one. If the described sister companies were how new ideas got brought to the Google table, and only after their success were they integrated into the moat, then Google can persist with their current business model (Castle-Moat), and the rest of the world can get sans-barnacle developed products. I think this might actually fit into that entire "returning to startup roots" initiative that Larry Page keeps mentioning. If you think about it this moves all the development overhead mentioned to the integration with Google rather than the core feature development of the product, so no good idea gets hindered by red tape, and integration can then thereafter be prioritized by the degree of each products success. I realize I'm talking abstractly, from a far, an without any account for constants, project nuances, or implementation details, but I wanted to post about the techcrunch moat/castle article, and when I saw you had already posted it, decided to give a brain-dump instead. Enjoy! haha...