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This ethos doesn't gel with the old ethos and that's where the disconnect comes from. At one point Google was there to build cool shit and enable people to do

This ethos doesn't gel with the old ethos and that's where the disconnect comes from. At one point Google was there to build cool shit and enable people to do it; not extract maximal amount of value and "being Evil" by the values of its time.

vachina 3mo ago
Ya we all can build cool shit all day if the world isn’t a litigious bitch. “Actions have consequences”
financltravsty 3mo ago
Just a very sad departure from more humanistic values towards "well technically their legal rights take precedence over common good." Especially that he's an "engineer" not a "Googler" or "a person." God what a fall from grace.
- debo_ 3mo ago
  I was there in 2005 and we were basically told point-blank that we couldn't open source _anything_ without running it by a manager first. This was at a time where all engineers were basically housed in the main 4 buildings on the north campus, so not yet all that big. Not sure what grace they fell from, but I found it to be a nauseating sanctimonious place even then.
  - DangitBobby 3mo ago
    According to the Twitter thread his manager is the one who announced it.
- mh2266 3mo ago
  I'd much rather be an "engineer" than a "Googler" (I don't work at Google) or any other corporate cutesy name. No thanks...
Arainach 3mo ago
Build cool shit and follow the proper release procedures for it. There is a huge difference between something unrelated to your employer on a personal repo, youremployerrepo/api-samples, and calling something "Employer Majorproduct CLI" on an official employer repo which is bound to be confused for an official release. I would have been fired from every employer I've ever worked for of any size for doing something like that - including Google circa 2018.
- DANmode 3mo ago
  > follow the proper release procedures for it What happens when your thing or nothing close to your thing will ever see the light of day?
  - no-name-here 3mo ago
    1. If google said ok but don't release under google’s name/in google’s repo, do that. 2. If google said no this goes against our goals for the product, don't release it if you want to keep working for google?
    - whstl 3mo ago
      It was clearly greenlighted by management. The person who made the announcement was Addy Osmani, who was manager of the fired developer at the time. This is in a Google-owned organization, with several other similar repositories, a lot of them using the same API.
      - burakemir 3mo ago
        Looks like Addy Osmani is leaving, too.
  - sib 3mo ago
    Is that relevant here, given that Google was creating an official thing quite close to his thing at the same time? (And why are we writing like this?)
davidgay 3mo ago
The open source policy described above was in place 16 years ago (I went through it to continue working on some existing projects), and I doubt it was very new then.
- Grombobulous 3mo ago
  And it's not just about open source, it's about the author of this tool using trademarks and effectively impersonating Google. Judging by the screenshot of the repo, I think most people who download this would think that it's official Google software.
  - michaellee8 3mo ago
    tbh i assumed that is an official product too
    - Grombobulous 3mo ago
      You know this GitHub account might be more official than I thought? Maybe the problem is more to do with their approval process, which I guess negates a lot of my comments.
  - whstl 3mo ago
    This is clearly something done in official capacity, during working hours, with the knowledge and support of his manager, who announced the CLI. It says "This is not an officially supported Google product" because it's a DevRel sample/experiment, just like dozens of other Google repositories made by Google employees as part of their job. Even some other tools in github.com/google have as much: https://github.com/google/python-fire https://github.com/google/python-fire / https://github.com/google/pytype/blob/main/docs/index.md https://github.com/google/pytype/blob/main/docs/index.md / https://github.com/google/dopamine https://github.com/google/dopamine / https://github.com/google/go-tika https://github.com/google/go-tika
  - modo_mario 3mo ago
    That's because from what i gather so far it is a google repo with other tools using the same api they kept it in there since and even had it announced by the guy's manager at the time.

vachina 3mo ago

Ya we all can build cool shit all day if the world isn’t a litigious bitch. “Actions have consequences”

financltravsty 3mo ago

Just a very sad departure from more humanistic values towards "well technically their legal rights take precedence over common good." Especially that he's an "engineer" not a "Googler" or "a person." God what a fall from grace.

debo_ 3mo ago
I was there in 2005 and we were basically told point-blank that we couldn't open source _anything_ without running it by a manager first. This was at a time where all engineers were basically housed in the main 4 buildings on the north campus, so not yet all that big. Not sure what grace they fell from, but I found it to be a nauseating sanctimonious place even then.
- DangitBobby 3mo ago
  According to the Twitter thread his manager is the one who announced it.
mh2266 3mo ago
I'd much rather be an "engineer" than a "Googler" (I don't work at Google) or any other corporate cutesy name. No thanks...

Arainach 3mo ago

Build cool shit and follow the proper release procedures for it. There is a huge difference between something unrelated to your employer on a personal repo, youremployerrepo/api-samples, and calling something "Employer Majorproduct CLI" on an official employer repo which is bound to be confused for an official release. I would have been fired from every employer I've ever worked for of any size for doing something like that - including Google circa 2018.

DANmode 3mo ago
> follow the proper release procedures for it What happens when your thing or nothing close to your thing will ever see the light of day?
- no-name-here 3mo ago
  1. If google said ok but don't release under google’s name/in google’s repo, do that. 2. If google said no this goes against our goals for the product, don't release it if you want to keep working for google?
  - whstl 3mo ago
    It was clearly greenlighted by management. The person who made the announcement was Addy Osmani, who was manager of the fired developer at the time. This is in a Google-owned organization, with several other similar repositories, a lot of them using the same API.
    - burakemir 3mo ago
      Looks like Addy Osmani is leaving, too.
- sib 3mo ago
  Is that relevant here, given that Google was creating an official thing quite close to his thing at the same time? (And why are we writing like this?)

davidgay 3mo ago

The open source policy described above was in place 16 years ago (I went through it to continue working on some existing projects), and I doubt it was very new then.

Grombobulous 3mo ago
And it's not just about open source, it's about the author of this tool using trademarks and effectively impersonating Google. Judging by the screenshot of the repo, I think most people who download this would think that it's official Google software.
- michaellee8 3mo ago
  tbh i assumed that is an official product too
  - Grombobulous 3mo ago
    You know this GitHub account might be more official than I thought? Maybe the problem is more to do with their approval process, which I guess negates a lot of my comments.
- whstl 3mo ago
  This is clearly something done in official capacity, during working hours, with the knowledge and support of his manager, who announced the CLI. It says "This is not an officially supported Google product" because it's a DevRel sample/experiment, just like dozens of other Google repositories made by Google employees as part of their job. Even some other tools in github.com/google have as much: https://github.com/google/python-fire https://github.com/google/python-fire / https://github.com/google/pytype/blob/main/docs/index.md https://github.com/google/pytype/blob/main/docs/index.md / https://github.com/google/dopamine https://github.com/google/dopamine / https://github.com/google/go-tika https://github.com/google/go-tika
- modo_mario 3mo ago
  That's because from what i gather so far it is a google repo with other tools using the same api they kept it in there since and even had it announced by the guy's manager at the time.