[lolinder]

I honestly think that a lot of these side projects should be released under a different brand name. Kind of like how GM has different brands for their luxury cars, or Disney had Touchstone Pictures for their less-child-friendly movies. If a project is one employee's 20% time or one manager's promotion project, it should be released under a different brand name. It can always be rebranded if it becomes an actual business priority.

[ajsnigrutin]

They could just use some google name that clearly implies it's not a "main" (long-term) product, eg. "Google Labs", "Google Beta", etc. too, so you clearly know that it's a "toy" that might not exist anymore very soon. If they use eg. "Aviato" brand for some new product, people will expect more... and then get burned.. again.