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
And what happens when the competition shows up? IBM, Oracle, VMWare, Cisco, RIM, ebay etc. were all where Google is now, and by the time they realized they couldn't compete any more it was too late. Google can only counter these threats by keeping the smartest people in the industry employed and happy.