3 ms·

I don't think the decision had anything to do with money. It's part of the whole "more wood behind fewer arrows" initiative. Essentially, a defrag. 20% time was

by deelowe 13y ago

I don't think the decision had anything to do with money. It's part of the whole "more wood behind fewer arrows" initiative. Essentially, a defrag. 20% time was seen as having created too much fragmentation with little benefit. Gmail was the only major success to come from the program. Also, Google has a separate team for working on skunk works style projects.

samatman 13y ago
Metaphor is not reality, but that metaphor is terrible. I'm an archer: you want as many arrows as fit in the quiver, and as far as more wood, well, we've switched to carbon fiber shafts for a reason. When you shoot an arrow, velocity gets you to your target, and velocity penetrates it too. Extra weight is a literal drag.
- DigitalJack 13y ago
  Go the other way. You could have 500 arrows made with toothpicks or 5 traditionals.
  - samatman 13y ago
    Our modern "arrow" is essentially a field point expelled via explosion at incredible velocity. It's a bad metaphor.
voidlogic 13y ago
>Gmail was the only major success to come from the program. Adsense, Go? I'm sure there are others too...
- deelowe 13y ago
  I don't think adsense has done very well. Does Go generate revenue?
  - mattw1810 13y ago
    While Go doesn't directly generate any revenue, it's probably not without reason that Google is rewriting some important pieces (dl.google.com for example) in Go. I can imagine their engineers being much more expressive in Go than in C++, causing them to spend less time on writing the code as well as resulting in simpler code (easier to comprehend and maintain, so less time/money spent on maintenance). This doesn't generate revenue but it does optimize development processes, which could indirectly save them some money.
Shooti 13y ago
Google Now: http://memeburn.com/2013/03/from-a-20-project-to-googles-future-qa-with-google-nows-co-creator/ http://memeburn.com/2013/03/from-a-20-project-to-googles-fut... If IO 13 is to be believed its become an essential pillar of their current vision/roadmap for search (Answer, Converse, Anticipate).
- deelowe 13y ago
  Did not know about now. Thanks.

by deelowe 13y ago

samatman 13y ago

Metaphor is not reality, but that metaphor is terrible. I'm an archer: you want as many arrows as fit in the quiver, and as far as more wood, well, we've switched to carbon fiber shafts for a reason. When you shoot an arrow, velocity gets you to your target, and velocity penetrates it too. Extra weight is a literal drag.

DigitalJack 13y ago
Go the other way. You could have 500 arrows made with toothpicks or 5 traditionals.
- samatman 13y ago
  Our modern "arrow" is essentially a field point expelled via explosion at incredible velocity. It's a bad metaphor.

voidlogic 13y ago

>Gmail was the only major success to come from the program. Adsense, Go? I'm sure there are others too...

deelowe 13y ago
I don't think adsense has done very well. Does Go generate revenue?
- mattw1810 13y ago
  While Go doesn't directly generate any revenue, it's probably not without reason that Google is rewriting some important pieces (dl.google.com for example) in Go. I can imagine their engineers being much more expressive in Go than in C++, causing them to spend less time on writing the code as well as resulting in simpler code (easier to comprehend and maintain, so less time/money spent on maintenance). This doesn't generate revenue but it does optimize development processes, which could indirectly save them some money.

Shooti 13y ago

Google Now: http://memeburn.com/2013/03/from-a-20-project-to-googles-future-qa-with-google-nows-co-creator/ http://memeburn.com/2013/03/from-a-20-project-to-googles-fut... If IO 13 is to be believed its become an essential pillar of their current vision/roadmap for search (Answer, Converse, Anticipate).

deelowe 13y ago
Did not know about now. Thanks.