4 ms·

Google doesn't need a designated "lab space" because Google is a laboratory. It might be different if Google were a chemical engineering company, but it's not.

by awalton 13y ago

Google doesn't need a designated "lab space" because Google is a laboratory. It might be different if Google were a chemical engineering company, but it's not. It's a software engineering company. Anywhere they've got computer scientists, whiteboards and computers is a lab. And that's basically every building at Google.

pavanky 13y ago
You can not say that is always true. Microsoft is a software engineering company as well, but they do have a dedicated R&D team and offices.
- yeukhon 13y ago
  Just because MS has a separated division doesn't mean Google has to follow. A lot of the google come out as both product and paper. That's already a research lab. Why do we bother to discuss this in the first place? I really don't see any difference in having a dedicated research lab and a place where research and products are mixed together, true a lot of employees at google don't publish papers and they do boring works like fixing bugs.
  - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
    MS didn't start that trend. Many companies used to have research divisions, large ones even...HP, Xerox, DEC, intel, Sun, IBM, even Apple had something. That is almost gone or rapidly shrinking...
    - yeukhon 13y ago
      I don't mean to disrespect these companies, but they are much older than Google. It seems like from the sart Google didn't care about the division. They knew they always have some "research" going on. Maybe founders' background was the founding culture.
- ForHackernews 13y ago
  Microsoft also does a lot of hardware research and innovation: XBox Kinect, Surface, etc. To some extent, hardware research requires more dedicated facilities than software research.
- awalton 13y ago
  Who said it was always true? I certainly didn't. I made an assertion about Google, not Microsoft.
  - pavanky 13y ago
    > It's a software engineering company. This sort of implied a generalization.
gtirloni 13y ago
Additionally, it seems most Google employees are already trained in the arts of secrecy about their day jobs. No need for extra shielding for those working in R&D.

by awalton 13y ago

pavanky 13y ago

You can not say that is always true. Microsoft is a software engineering company as well, but they do have a dedicated R&D team and offices.

yeukhon 13y ago
Just because MS has a separated division doesn't mean Google has to follow. A lot of the google come out as both product and paper. That's already a research lab. Why do we bother to discuss this in the first place? I really don't see any difference in having a dedicated research lab and a place where research and products are mixed together, true a lot of employees at google don't publish papers and they do boring works like fixing bugs.
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago
  MS didn't start that trend. Many companies used to have research divisions, large ones even...HP, Xerox, DEC, intel, Sun, IBM, even Apple had something. That is almost gone or rapidly shrinking...
  - yeukhon 13y ago
    I don't mean to disrespect these companies, but they are much older than Google. It seems like from the sart Google didn't care about the division. They knew they always have some "research" going on. Maybe founders' background was the founding culture.
ForHackernews 13y ago
Microsoft also does a lot of hardware research and innovation: XBox Kinect, Surface, etc. To some extent, hardware research requires more dedicated facilities than software research.
awalton 13y ago
Who said it was always true? I certainly didn't. I made an assertion about Google, not Microsoft.
- pavanky 13y ago
  > It's a software engineering company. This sort of implied a generalization.

gtirloni 13y ago

Additionally, it seems most Google employees are already trained in the arts of secrecy about their day jobs. No need for extra shielding for those working in R&D.