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I took it to mean "sandbox"

I took it to mean that infamous mythical Google 20% project.

It's not mythical. Gmail and Google Calendar were both 20% projects. They were built to solve for bad internal web mail (mirapoint, I think... ?) and Oracle Calendar (which was absolute trash on Linux).

It's not as common as some would have you believe but it is real. A teammate spent his 20% on underwater topography on Google Earth and another spent his on the glider thing.

I'm not surprised 20% is not more common, but I am surprised among 20%-enabled companies that the norm isn't to have the company host side projects for all employees. Insurance, snacks, gym memberships, mobile plans and laptops, but not the one thing all hackers need?

Having an employee turn up a popular side projects while being vendor-locked onto your platform sounds like it should be more popular among rich people.

Yes I was being deliberately hyperbolic.

The way it is should actually be sold to the average entry-level fresh-out-of-college Google hire is probably closer to the way I framed it, though, than the examples of Gmail and Google Calendar which are pretty much two unicorns.

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