I won't give you the welcome to google spiel. There are a couple of reasons for this imo: * Most things are built off the internal codebase/repo (only androi

I won't give you the welcome to google spiel. There are a couple of reasons for this imo: * Most things are built off the internal codebase/repo (only android and a couple of others afair has it's own repo/independent setup). So when exposing something to the public not only does it have to go through layers of legal/compliance processes, it also has to go through "uniformity" processes. * Engineers don't just build mvps, they try to build the perfect thing where every thing integrates with everything (or there needs to be a road map for this). * Everything has to be an API first, uis are thrown on top of things. While these aren't bad engineering philosophies these add up and need to intrinsically build and maintain umpteen layers of decorator/bridge patterns everywhere. Now combine all this where you don't have the luxury of being the first person in the market but are reacting to a sudden competitive pressure. Lots of processes to undo or get around!