So Google has purchased Writely and looks to be gearing up to take on Microsoft head on.
I think that this brings up an interesting question, what are all of the Google engineers doing with their vaunted “20% time”? Waiting for for their options to vest? Shouldn’t they be building services like this in-house?
On Google’s jobs page it says:
Google engineers all have “20 percent time” in which they’re free to pursue projects they’re passionate about. This freedom has already produced Google News, Google Suggest, AdSense for Content, and Orkut – products which might otherwise have taken an entire start-up to launch.
I don’t think that it would be a stretch to say that if any of those were actual start-ups, they probably would be on their last legs by now.
Inside of my head I have an image of a hundred Google engineers working somewhere, spending one day a week working diligently on something that’s going to blow us all away. I hope that’s what’s happening, although I’m fairly certain that it’s not.
Ah well, at least they’re rich.