I think Google really was more idealistic. With their 20% time, thinking new businesses would grow from it. There was also Sun's business model, of free softwa

I think Google really was more idealistic. With their 20% time, thinking new businesses would grow from it. There was also Sun's business model, of free software (eg java) to sell hardware. It's not that they were selfless... but their interests were aligned with others. Of course, looking back, MS's open platform seems positively benign today, yet te were habitually vilified at the time... maybe today's corporations will seem similarly benign in hindsight? After all, you can't make money without some alignment with customers. Or, maybe it's just "power corrupts".