zlacker

>>tech-h+(OP)
Google works like crazy to hire all of the smartest and the best people, but do they really need them? Billions and billions in shareholder value could be extracted by hiring a bunch of mid-tier Java programmers and having them farm Ad Words for the next decade, until the first competition shows up.

>>whatsh+Ac
> until the first competition shows up

Their worry is that competition will be started by the people they've not hired and kept on the bench. I'd imagine a large amount of their top-level hiring is driven by taking minds off of the market, more than optimising their output.

>>wasted+4d
This couldn't ever work. Folks that smart want to do things that are real.

>>KirinD+Fh
Real != profitable. Google can offer academic style oppurtunities at industry style salaries.

Eg. Fuchsia OS might have been started because Google saw a bussines oppurtunity in writing an open source capabilities OS. Or, it might have been started to keep smart OS engineers from leaving the company.