Google To Discontinue Google Labs 165
kai_hiwatari writes "Today, Google has announced that they are closing down Google Labs. They say this will help them prioritize their product effort. Google says closing Google Labs means ending many of their experiments. However, not every experiment will be gone. Google will be incorporating the Labs experiments they have decided to continue in other product areas. Android apps such as Google Goggles, Google Listen etc. will continue to be available in the Android Market."
Google Sets (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:20% Time? (Score:5, Interesting)
I also was able to meet with some (middle management) people at Google and their attitude reminded me very strongly of MS's behavior 15 years ago: They don't listen to what others say and what they say often implies: "We're the smartest people on the planet, the world revolves around us, if you don't want to work with us and use our stuff, you're just an idiot." So it think I can conclude that Google sees themselves as "winning" the way that MS saw themselves winning in the late 90's.
You can see the same change with all the "privacy is not important" and the recent Google+ product. I think we are really seeing a turning point here. Google has finally passed the point where it has, after a long time, accepted it's not the small geeky company it once was and is now just driving for profits. The scary thing is, they have got in a great position to exploit that now.
Re:20% Time? (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, they are a pubically traded company that needs to grow every quarter in compressed 8 to 12 week time frames to boast its share price. Like most companies the need to cut costs and increase productivity.
The employees need to work 20% harder the same price and you can do this by having them focus on products which generate income. It is a business and not a fun place to experiment with cool toys.
The worst situation would be for the Wall Street investors to march in and hire efficiency experts who will then demand to force layoffs, hiring freezes, and benefit cuts, etc. This will foce the top talent to leave and kill morale and productivity. Look at what happened with HP and IBM? Need I say more? No one who is bright would ever consider working there now. Google is in trouble. Apple is suing them to death and its ad revenue is not generating that constant income increase every 8 to 12 weeks to boast their share price.
They need R&D of course, but they need to keep expanding and the best thing to do is increase productivity to keep its stock price highest.
Re:Lots of good work now going to waste. (Score:4, Interesting)
I was wondering if this means the employees "20% time" to work on any project of their choosing will also soon be scrapped.
That would be the beginning of the end for Google if it were to happen...