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Google to close engineering office in Russia

reuters.com

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Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#161

Post by nhayden »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #155
curiously wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think Putin can keep this up with the falling currency and economy crashing? Or does he have a stronghold on everyone with guns that nobody could take him down? I wonder if Russia could change to a more democratic and liberal tone after Putin. I mean, it seems like Putin wants to go back straight to Soviet era.

My Russian friends on Facebook love Putin. Why would they overthrow him? He's given them everything they wanted: revenge on West for the cold war, bullying neighbors, a toughguy image, punishing homosexuals, and up until recently a higher oil price (coincidental of course). Sorry I just don't believe that the Russian people are interested in peace or human rights. Putin reflects the will of majority. I think Russia's…

What revenge have they given for the Cold War? I have not noticed anything.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#162

Post by unprepare »

osipov wrote: post #132
existencebox wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I think it's very appropriate to question media portrayals, I think you crossed a line in suggesting that russian treatment of gays is "a meme." (If I'm interpreting you too strongly, I apologize, but please just skim http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Russia a bit, especially the section on "national law"; for me at least this leaves very little of the governments stance to question) Similarly, when g…

Ok, I skimmed LGBT article. Would you be willing to skim the following white paper on the subject? http://gallery.mailchimp.com/d0e55f3197099944345708652/files...

interesting, an article written by an author who has never written anything else and comes up with not a single social media profile, or really anything other than this article and articles referencing it.

perfect shill bait.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#163

Post by notjackma »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #153
jkaljundi wrote: post #125

Acronis, one of best known Russian tech companies, is slowly moving to Estonia: http://www.investinestonia.com/en/about-estonia/news/article... There are also quite a few who are moving from Russia to Ukraine. Also remembered this: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-28/luxoft-to-move-500-...

I can't imagine doing business with a Russian owned company at this point. An autocratic regime has never been good for internet or software freedoms. I'm very glad I chose Sophos over Kaspersky for our shop.

Why discriminate against a Russian company over something that may or may not happen?

Russia has elections and they have laws which affect businesses based there - pretty much like every other country out there.

As the article states, Google is moving its engineers but the sales team is staying, so this reorganization is less to do with politics and more to do with Google centralizing its engineers in Zurich - just like MountainView.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#164

Post by pandaman »

okatsu wrote: post #135
pandaman wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know that propaganda of sex to children had been forbidden last year (which makes one wonder, has it really been legal before 2013?), did not know this one. Any links would be appreciated. I can read and write Russian so the law's name would be good enough for me.

It's the same law; their logic is that promoting LGBT rights means promoting deviant sexual behaviour, and doing so publicly will inevitably reach children.

"Their" is referring whom exactly? I don't think Russia is a Common Law country, judges there cannot derive something from a law so whomever you think is interpreting the law. Were not media saying that gay athletes in Sochi are going to be incarcerated using the same logic?

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#165

Post by vadman »

bad_user wrote: post #133
osipov wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a very myopic view and here's why -- virtually all governments in the world are becoming increasingly authoritarian because of the global economic crisis and the civilian unrest that it provokes. For example, replace Putin in your sentence and you'll get "United States is increasingly cracking down on any possibility of dissent and threat to it power". You can support that statement with facts about police in…

I'm a Romanian, a country that's pretty close to Russia and I am one that suffers for what the Ukrainians are going through with Russia, because I can see how the same thing could happen in Basarabia (Moldova) and there are already signs of that. Russia historically has been occupying territories, getting rid of any political dissent by effectively killing or deporting people, while crushing their national identity.…

Your country was of enormous help to Hitler while attacking the USSR, and the retribution you had to "endure", given everything you did, was astonishingly mild. So spare me your complaints.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#167

Post by Kurtz79 »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #153
jkaljundi wrote: post #125

Acronis, one of best known Russian tech companies, is slowly moving to Estonia: http://www.investinestonia.com/en/about-estonia/news/article... There are also quite a few who are moving from Russia to Ukraine. Also remembered this: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-28/luxoft-to-move-500-...

I can't imagine doing business with a Russian owned company at this point. An autocratic regime has never been good for internet or software freedoms. I'm very glad I chose Sophos over Kaspersky for our shop.

Then you might also want to check where the device you are typing from (or your monitor, router, smartphone...) has been manufactured.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#168

Post by danmaz74 »

osipov wrote: post #62
danmaz74 wrote: post #28

Putin is increasingly cracking down on any possibility of dissent and threat to his power, whatever the consequences to the Russian economy, and this of course scares foreign companies who work there - even if, with the recent fall of the ruble, Russian talent is even more affordable now. I'm afraid (I have friends in Russia) that we're going to see more of this.

That's a very myopic view and here's why -- virtually all governments in the world are becoming increasingly authoritarian because of the global economic crisis and the civilian unrest that it provokes. For example, replace Putin in your sentence and you'll get "United States is increasingly cracking down on any possibility of dissent and threat to it power". You can support that statement with facts about police in…

Look, I've been to Russia, I know people there, and there is NO WAY you can compare the level of democracy and rule of law we have in western Europe or the US to what there is in Russia now. Lots of Russians were ready to exchange some of their freedom, and to accept a very high level of corruption, as long as their global living standards improved. But now Putin is violating that pact. We'll see what happens.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#169

Post by danmaz74 »

curiously wrote: post #112
danmaz74 wrote: post #28

Putin is increasingly cracking down on any possibility of dissent and threat to his power, whatever the consequences to the Russian economy, and this of course scares foreign companies who work there - even if, with the recent fall of the ruble, Russian talent is even more affordable now. I'm afraid (I have friends in Russia) that we're going to see more of this.

Do you think Putin can keep this up with the falling currency and economy crashing? Or does he have a stronghold on everyone with guns that nobody could take him down? I wonder if Russia could change to a more democratic and liberal tone after Putin. I mean, it seems like Putin wants to go back straight to Soviet era.

I don't have a crystal ball, but a lot of people in Russia are worried that if Putin falls, the next one will be even worse than him. I don't even know what to hope now.

Re: Google to close engineering office in Russia

#170

Post by dreamweapon »

osipov wrote: post #100
aragot wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The real question is WHY is Putin cracking down on threat to his power? Sounds like a rhetorical question but I don't guess the answer. Do you mean Putin is doing it because of the civilian unrest? > Demonizing Putin is what your government wants you to do to avoid seeing the bigger picture. No-one is demonizing Putin, they're telling facts. The bigger picture is, censorship is bad, and if US defends the freedom of…

>>No-one is demonizing Putin, they're telling facts. Really? Much in the same way that the media of 10 years ago convinced the populace that Hussein was involved with 9/11, the media today is propagating the following memes: - Putin hates gays - Putin kills journalists - Putin was responsible for downing of MH17 How many of these memes are supported by facts? When accusing a leader of a nuclear power of these things,…

Putin hates gays

That's not what people generally say about him. A fairer summation of his attitudes towards LGBTs is that he considers them to be morally defective, and their lives and freedoms to be more or less expendable.

Putin was responsible for downing of MH17

To the extent that he invaded a neighboring country via a poorly trained proxy force, and gave them big, expensive toys without sufficient training (or tactical intel) to use them properly, along with high pressure to achieve results; and to which he hasn't showing anything resembling genuine remorse over the incident -- I think you know very well where the responsibility lies.

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