Google keeps bragging about all their internal capabilities because they want to hire people. But so what? If I had a real reason to, I could fire up a couple thousand machines on amazon and analyze data akimbo.

In a sense, google is worse than microsoft - they really don't share any of their hardcore cs innovations. At least MS is in the business of selling technology. Google is in the business of hoarding it in order to derive competitive advantage in advertising.

I just wrote up an entry about this at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2972368