Get over it, it's a multi billion dollar multi national business. Not your local charity, nor grandma's coffee shop.

Those who cling to the "don't be evil" meme say more about themselves and their naiveté, than it does about Google.

The wiki page on "devops" sums up part of the idea to involve "deep cross-departmental integration"

While there is a lot of agile practises around Google, including "stand-ups", iterations, scrum, planning poker, and whatever, there is hardly any "cross-departmental integration". Communication is as poor as at any other huge behemoth. Just like we've read about multiple internal teams fighting each other at Microsoft and Nokia, so do many teams at Google create similar products, both externally and internally.

In fact, there are multiple projects and initiatives to cut down on duplicated projects. Think about that one for a second.

> If Google is all about openness

Not sure where you got that idea from. But no, Google is not about "openness". They are about money, through placement of advertisement.

> Android for mobile phones is still completedly free and open sourced.

You might want to read a bit more about what RMS has written about those terms. Then you will more fully understand that "free" and "open" is not the same. And furthermore, that RMS does not care about "open", or "getting the source". He cares about your and mine freedom.

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html

<sarcasm>
Yeah, it definitely takes a 25000 person strong company to get a mail server going. Without leveraging the synergies, and outsourcing, you don't stand a chance on your own. From here on and till eternity, GMail is the only solution you will ever need.

Those free software alternatives you mention? Those are just for "commies". Real men put their data in the cloud (and prey it wont rain).
</sarcasm>

> At least google has proven their worth with standing up to the US gov't in stead of just bending over and giving them all plus some extra as some others have.

Yeah, you just keep on telling yourself that. I guess you believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy as well?

Yet another one. Why are you being moded insightful?

Let's just repeat the blurp from above:

A lot of current and old Google employees would be very happy if the "Google is not evil" meme went away. Google's mission is like any other company; maximizing their profits. Morals has yet to find its way into capitalism, and Google is no different. Having the "do no evil" phrase constantly repeated just sets expectations which cannot be met.

> So much for Google not being evil. A lot of current and old Google employees would be very happy if the "Google is not evil" meme went away. Google's mission is like any other company; maximizing their profits. Morals has yet to find its way into capitalism, and Google is no different. Having the "do no evil" phrase constantly repeated just sets expectations which cannot be met.

Spend 5 minutes arguing with almost any Google engineer, and you'll find that your question goes both ways. The sense of entitlement "because we're Google" can get appalling very quickly.

As for Google, as you probably know, all food is free. People gain serious weight because of it. And the team lunches? At least in the SFO head quarter, you see a lot of lonely guys sitting around in the cafeterias and food courts. The team work? It's sometimes like shoving a camel through the eye of a needle. Then again, Google is not unique in that regard.