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> RE this whole conspiracy (not mocking it by calling it that...) Then I will. It's a conspiracy theory, worthy of all the mocking typically associated with su

by nknight 15y ago

> RE this whole conspiracy (not mocking it by calling it that...) Then I will. It's a conspiracy theory, worthy of all the mocking typically associated with such a thing. Anyone who's been watching Google long enough, closely enough, knows how out of character this would be. Such efforts, not to mention the purported motivation, is not in their nature. Google employees start hundreds (thousands?) of new projects every year with little coordination. Some of these end up becoming big, official things, and we end up with Gmail. They throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. There might be some group inside Google thinking along the lines this guy is. I doubt it, but it's possible. It might even be the native client guys. What there isn't, is a massive internal conspiracy crossing every product team up and down the chain of command, aimed at making Google the sole arbiter of what can run on your device. Even if the executives wanted it to happen, it couldn't. How do I know this? Because Google is full of hackers who would instantly revolt. They've had enough problems with things like their real name policy and the handful of places they've had to acquiesce to DRM. A coordinated effort to make Google into The One True Gatekeeper into your electronic life on a scale unmatched even by 1990s Microsoft? I await the flying pigs.

ootachi 15y ago
There is not a single company in history that failed to get away with malicious behavior due to being "full of hackers that would instantly revolt". Engineers do not have executive power within companies. Executives do. Engineers "revolt" by quitting, and at Google they are easy to replace.
- nknight 15y ago
  You're right, they do revolt by quitting. I don't see a big exodus. I have several friends there I know would be out the door in a heartbeat, and 5 years ago I knew one of the guys who is now one of the most senior on the Chrome team. Unless his character has been very fundamentally altered, there's not a snowball's chance in hell he would aid such an effort.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
- nl 15y ago
  at Google they are easy to replace Must be why they are paying those huge retention bonuses...
- Angostura 15y ago
  "Engineers "revolt" by quitting" - and then blogging about it.
forgotusername 15y ago
Conspiracies usually involve some kind of illegal or immoral activity, on the other hand what is described seems a perfectly natural growth strategy for a company of Google's size, wishing to grow larger (as dictated by its very existence), and to root itself more firmly in the areas it's most interested in (data interchange).
nl 15y ago
Speaking of conspiracy theories, from the footnotes: I'm strongly of the belief that Google's internal strategy has long surpassed "organising the world's information", and is now something like "become the world's biggest private intelligence agency.", but that's a paranoid side-note.. ask me more on this at your peril. ;) http://www.hackerspews.com/ http://www.hackerspews.com/
- forgotusername 15y ago
  To clarify, they appear to have a strong focus on mass analytics, data collection, acquisitions of facial biometrics companies, and most recently a push towards a "real ID" policy on their services, that to some extent sets me on edge (I'm not certain any single company should be doing all these things). Regardless, I wouldn't have written any of this if I didn't have a certain love for the company, and desire to follow their movements with some level of intimacy. I just don't agree with everything I suspect they'll be doing 20 years from now.
- einhverfr 15y ago
  Well, they certainly have become the world's largest adware vendor, and that is hard to deny. The problem is that they want to aggregate more and more information from each of us in order to sell more ads. This makes them the world's largest spyware vendor too. So I think that comment is just a little over the top, it's not that far beyond what the undisputed reality is.
  - freehunter 15y ago
    Can you really call ad-supported SaaS "adware"?
    - einhverfr 15y ago
      But via things like Android, they tend to lock tou into their SaaS offerings. The goal is the same adware/spyware system that has long plagued Windows. Maybe not to the same extent or with the same OS implications, but I wouldn't discount the problems that this can cause in the future as Google expands into more areas. For example it recently occurred to me: Google Voice transcribes your voice mail to text. I wonder to what extent they index that and use this as a sample of your telephone conversations as a way of better targetting ads to you. That strikes me as very scary because at that point I have no control over the retention of this information and then it becomes something the government can easily subpoena via something like the Stored Communications Act.
dextorious 15y ago
"""Even if the executives wanted it to happen, it couldn't. How do I know this? Because Google is full of hackers who would instantly revolt. They've had enough problems with things like their real name policy and the handful of places they've had to acquiesce to DRM.""" Your argument about the "google hacker's revolt" is is even more laughable that the conspiracy theory.
bct 15y ago
> Then I will. It's a conspiracy theory, worthy of all the mocking typically associated with such a thing. When we're talking about a company what's the difference between a "conspiracy" and a "plan" or "strategy"? (Serious question.)

by nknight 15y ago

ootachi 15y ago

There is not a single company in history that failed to get away with malicious behavior due to being "full of hackers that would instantly revolt". Engineers do not have executive power within companies. Executives do. Engineers "revolt" by quitting, and at Google they are easy to replace.

nknight 15y ago
You're right, they do revolt by quitting. I don't see a big exodus. I have several friends there I know would be out the door in a heartbeat, and 5 years ago I knew one of the guys who is now one of the most senior on the Chrome team. Unless his character has been very fundamentally altered, there's not a snowball's chance in hell he would aid such an effort.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
nl 15y ago
at Google they are easy to replace Must be why they are paying those huge retention bonuses...
Angostura 15y ago
"Engineers "revolt" by quitting" - and then blogging about it.

forgotusername 15y ago

Conspiracies usually involve some kind of illegal or immoral activity, on the other hand what is described seems a perfectly natural growth strategy for a company of Google's size, wishing to grow larger (as dictated by its very existence), and to root itself more firmly in the areas it's most interested in (data interchange).

nl 15y ago

Speaking of conspiracy theories, from the footnotes: I'm strongly of the belief that Google's internal strategy has long surpassed "organising the world's information", and is now something like "become the world's biggest private intelligence agency.", but that's a paranoid side-note.. ask me more on this at your peril. ;) http://www.hackerspews.com/ http://www.hackerspews.com/

forgotusername 15y ago
To clarify, they appear to have a strong focus on mass analytics, data collection, acquisitions of facial biometrics companies, and most recently a push towards a "real ID" policy on their services, that to some extent sets me on edge (I'm not certain any single company should be doing all these things). Regardless, I wouldn't have written any of this if I didn't have a certain love for the company, and desire to follow their movements with some level of intimacy. I just don't agree with everything I suspect they'll be doing 20 years from now.
einhverfr 15y ago
Well, they certainly have become the world's largest adware vendor, and that is hard to deny. The problem is that they want to aggregate more and more information from each of us in order to sell more ads. This makes them the world's largest spyware vendor too. So I think that comment is just a little over the top, it's not that far beyond what the undisputed reality is.
- freehunter 15y ago
  Can you really call ad-supported SaaS "adware"?
  - einhverfr 15y ago
    But via things like Android, they tend to lock tou into their SaaS offerings. The goal is the same adware/spyware system that has long plagued Windows. Maybe not to the same extent or with the same OS implications, but I wouldn't discount the problems that this can cause in the future as Google expands into more areas. For example it recently occurred to me: Google Voice transcribes your voice mail to text. I wonder to what extent they index that and use this as a sample of your telephone conversations as a way of better targetting ads to you. That strikes me as very scary because at that point I have no control over the retention of this information and then it becomes something the government can easily subpoena via something like the Stored Communications Act.

dextorious 15y ago

"""Even if the executives wanted it to happen, it couldn't. How do I know this? Because Google is full of hackers who would instantly revolt. They've had enough problems with things like their real name policy and the handful of places they've had to acquiesce to DRM.""" Your argument about the "google hacker's revolt" is is even more laughable that the conspiracy theory.

bct 15y ago

> Then I will. It's a conspiracy theory, worthy of all the mocking typically associated with such a thing. When we're talking about a company what's the difference between a "conspiracy" and a "plan" or "strategy"? (Serious question.)