Google Earth for Linux [LWN.net]

Google Earth for Linux

Posted Jun 17, 2006 19:52 UTC (Sat) by dirtyepic (guest, #30178)
In reply to: Google Earth for Linux by man_ls
Parent article: Google Earth for Linux

> Every developer can work on whatever they want 20% of the time, so they might write libre software or they might perfect their match-bridge-building skills if they want.

Erm, you do realize that's 20% of their *paid* time we're talking about here?

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Google Earth for Linux

Posted Jun 17, 2006 22:15 UTC (Sat) by man_ls (guest, #15091) [Link] (1 responses)

Yes, I do realize it:

Google engineers all have 20 percent time in which they're free to pursue projects they're passionate about. This freedom has already produced Google News, Google Suggest, AdSense for Content, and Orkut products which might otherwise have taken an entire start-up to launch.

I don't know how those projects are chosen or whether they must be approved; I guess building bridges made of matches would be frowned upon, but that is why I chose it. Anyway, the point is that the 20% is not for free software, just for projects you like. I don't doubt that a lot of engineers choose "open source" as their pet projects, but note that none of the products mentioned (News, Suggest, Orkut...) are free software right now.

Google Earth for Linux

Posted Jun 17, 2006 22:33 UTC (Sat) by dirtyepic (guest, #30178) [Link]

Oops, i read it as "Every developer [anywhere] can work on whatever they want 20% of the time", when you meant to say "Every [Google] developer can work on whatever they want 20% of the time".