> Going public gave Google a lot of nearly-free money to grow, and it's how you've gotten ... Gmail And in retrospect, was that really a good thing? Short-term

> Going public gave Google a lot of nearly-free money to grow, and it's how you've gotten ... Gmail And in retrospect, was that really a good thing? Short-term, yes - I remember how much better it was than the alternatives. Long-term, we ended up in a situation where email = GMail for most users, and this in turn gives Google undue leverage and strangles competition.