Then again, Jimmy Johns was always pretty bad for the workers and attempted to have kids working there signing non-competes.
Maybe we should be happy it took google so long.
edit: 2 more paragraphs
If you read the thread you'll note that this policy has been around for a long time (at least the ~7 years I've been with Google). The author also notes that, in terms of open source, things have become dramatically _more_ permissive over time.
In case anyone else is unfamiliar with this term.
Employment often imposes lots of restrictions on the actions we can take. I'm fortunate enough to have some choice in the set of restrictions I have to live with, so for me this particular restriction is just part of the deal.
No you don't. You could roll the dice on a legal battle, relying on your employment contract's exact terms in combination with federal & state laws. Like you have to do most everywhere else.
The reason to go through things like IARC is so that you can avoid all of that. It's Google up-front waiving a legal pursuit on the topic, saying "yes all parties agree this is fine."
https://steveblank.com/2009/12/21/the-elves-leave-middle-ear...
What's remarkable is that the transition to "just another US corporation" (implying that they value profit over their employees or customers) took so long, that they were able to maintain that startup "communal" culture and innovative mentality.
It's also what makes their current predicament more tragic, the collective disillusionment of their core ideals which is what made them exceptional and respected in the first place.
They’ve always been that to me. We should all try to look past hype and focus on the reality, not just the perception of the moment.
Does Google handle scale better than the vast majority of other companies? Yes.
Did Google build an industry leading search engine? Yes.
Did Google steal the patented idea[0] that ended up giving them essentially f!?k you money that has enabled a lot of both good and bad behavior since? Yes.
Has Google acquired[1] most of the successful products they’ve had since? Yes.
—
[0] here’s one quick source: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-aug-10-fi-googl... but definitely dig into the Overture vs Google lawsuit for a very eye opening story if interested. There’s a ton of shocking details in that case which had long lasting impacts for all companies involved.
[1] Android, YouTube, DoubleClick, Google Docs (Upstartle), Google Maps (Where2/Keyhole/Waze/others), Google Voice (GrandCentral), Groups (Dejavue), Photos (Picasa), WebP/WebM encoder formats (On2), the list goes on and on
As to why? Google had a good story. People like good stories.
Let's be honest, good marketing works. For example, there's plenty of cargo culting on HN which is all about hype and following the pack.
We're humans. Hype, marketing and propaganda works.
There are many other U.S. corporations who manage to do business without betraying their employees like this.