Comments on: Why Google loves open source

Google derives great benefits from open source, but also increasingly appreciates that it must contribute back to attain these benefits.

[gstein67]

Google's Open Source efforts started four years with the launch of code.google.com and the first Google Summer of Code. Google was also the first platinum sponsor of the Apache Software Foundation ($100k donation per year!), and is a major sponsor of the Open Source Labs at OSU. Then stop and look at the other various grants and conference sponsorships around Open Source.

I don't work there any more, but I'm still amazed at how many people failed to see the numerous ways Google contributed to the community. Maybe they should have had more press releases and self-congratulator blog posts? ;-)

[odubtaig]

As my sister likes to remind me, you have to draw attention to the things you've done. After all, the people who get the most recognition in the workplace are those most vocal about what they have done regardless of whether they've done the most.

[Matt Asay]

I agree with the comment below, but I would also suggest that the comment above also slightly misses the point. Yes, Google did all those things, but what most of us wanted was commensurate *code* contributions, given all that Google pulled from open source. It's now doing that, and then some.