[financltravsty]

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.

[davidgay]

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]

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.

[whstl]

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/pytype/blob/main/docs/index.md / https://github.com/google/dopamine / https://github.com/google/go-tika

[modo_mario]

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.

[michaellee8]

tbh i assumed that is an official product too

[Grombobulous]

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.

[Arainach]

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]

> 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]

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]

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]

Looks like Addy Osmani is leaving, too.

[sib]

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?)

[seanhunter]

Fair to point out,

the official google thing,

was quite a lot worse

than his thing.

(I’m quite into the whole “Posting in free verse” idea)

[gedy]

Would you like them

in a house?

Would you like them

with a mouse?

[kazinator]

AI am Sam ...

Sam AI am ...

My program made green eggs and ham ...

[DANmode]

Is there a smell of toast burning where you are?

[DANmode]

> Google was creating an official thing quite close to his thing

Just link to it.

[Arainach]

It's mentioned in the original link for this post.

[Arainach]

None of that is relevant. You're working on things for their employer, they control when and if anything is released. Most of us have worked on projects that were cancelled - even when that happens you don't just release it anyway.

[DANmode]

> they control when and if anything is released

I don’t think that’s how APIs work at all.

Upon reflection, the only thing this guy did wrong was put his name on the thing…

[Suppafly]

>Build cool shit and follow the proper release procedures for it.

By all reasonable measures, they did.

[financltravsty]

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.

[mh2266]

I'd much rather be an "engineer" than a "Googler" (I don't work at Google) or any other corporate cutesy name. No thanks...

[debo_]

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]

According to the Twitter thread his manager is the one who announced it.

[vachina]

Ya we all can build cool shit all day if the world isn’t a litigious bitch.

“Actions have consequences”