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Does anything remotely like Bell Labs exist today? Is it simply not possible with everyone tightening their belts? If you're unfamiliar with what came out of Bell Labs, check out this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_labs#Discoveries_and_devel... Or is it the fate of software innovation that it is to be decentralized and happen in our spare time now?
One advantage of having Labs back in the day was that projects could have the backing of Google's infrastructure. Now, with cloud services like AWS, the bar is set low enough that anyone has access to this kind of stuff. How hard is it to start a YouTube in this day and age?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple did have "labs." One of the first thing Steve Jobs did when he returned was shut it down. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Technology_Group
That explanation misses a lot of context. It comes across as a criticism, as if Jobs just didn't see the benefit of research. That's not the case. He wanted to shrink the things they focused on, so they could put their 'A' team on every project (which required less projects). The end result was having a bunch of really talented guys focusing on things that drove business value.
I get the feeling that the bean counters are taking over Google and slashing off everything that doesn't have obvious monetization potential. I mean, I know great people who work there, but overall it seems like they're turning into Microsoft circa 2000 - they own the industry, they buy startups and kill the products made by about half of them. Some of their products are great, but a lot of it is just an obvious mono…
You would never seen something like "Labs" from Apple, and everyone applauds them for "focus".
RIP Google Sets :(
I honestly never used it, and am completely unaffected by this. What was the most successful product that emerged out of google labs?
Not sure if this includes other services like Gmail Labs, but I relied on "attachment reminder" throughout college. It has saved me multiple times, including now in my professional career.
I honestly never used it, and am completely unaffected by this. What was the most successful product that emerged out of google labs?
Not sure if this includes other services like Gmail Labs, but I relied on "attachment reminder" throughout college. It has saved me multiple times, including now in my professional career.
Does anything remotely like Bell Labs exist today? Is it simply not possible with everyone tightening their belts? If you're unfamiliar with what came out of Bell Labs, check out this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_labs#Discoveries_and_devel... Or is it the fate of software innovation that it is to be decentralized and happen in our spare time now?
Xerox PARC, IBM Research, MS Research, Google Research (don't confuse Google Labs with research). There are plenty more.