Actually, I think the proprietary technology problem at Google is an entirely different beast from that at companies like Microsoft. At least there are comparab

Actually, I think the proprietary technology problem at Google is an entirely different beast from that at companies like Microsoft. At least there are comparable competing components, libraries and, heck, entire open source operating systems, to Microsoft's internal and proprietary technologies. Google, on the other hand, is so far ahead in some areas that tools that are commodities within Google don't have anything even remotely comparable outside.