Google generates a lot of good will in the developer community: lots of open source projects, Google Summer of Code, free hardware at developer conferences, Goo

Google generates a lot of good will in the developer community: lots of open source projects, Google Summer of Code, free hardware at developer conferences, Google tech talks, hacker "jokes"... I don't know if this is a deliberate strategy, or if it simply stems from the company's culture and values, but it sure helps them. I personally love them. Winning the hackers and early adopters is a key to winning a market. I'd bet the majority of Google+ early adopters belong to the tech crowd. Similarly, many Android early adopters (from the tech crowd) convinced their friends and family to switch. It's also good for recruiting :)