Wouldn't they be able to copy any web based product within hours? Yesterday I read that even Guido van Rossum is on their payroll - basically anybody who has the slightest amount of fame is on their payroll (have they hired Linus yet?).
So either everybody else can just go packing, or all those brilliant people will somehow get lost in the Googleplex and never be heard from again. Perhaps it is actually good for "the rest of us" that Google buys so many talented hackers. Perhaps they will never create anything useful again in their lives (a bit like the stellar scientists retiring at Princeton), and we have so much less competition left.
No matter how hard Google tries to create an environment where people are creative and get things done there's no way to truly duplicate a few really smart people getting together, coming up with an idea and making it.
As I think PG mentioned in another thread, when companies buy a startup they are not only buying the code but the founders too. This means that in essence, they are still hiring the best people out there.
A static snapshot of a web-based product may be open to easy copying. What is hard to copy and compete with is the dynamic trajectory of listening to users and rapidly adding features.
So either everybody else can just go packing, or all those brilliant people will somehow get lost in the Googleplex and never be heard from again. Perhaps it is actually good for "the rest of us" that Google buys so many talented hackers. Perhaps they will never create anything useful again in their lives (a bit like the stellar scientists retiring at Princeton), and we have so much less competition left.