[nl]

For all those that are arguing that Google isn't Bell Labs because Bell Labs invented more stuff and gave it away: there is a reason for that: Xerox PARC.

Xerox PARC is the Bell Labs of the computing industry, and its spectacular failure to do anything to help Xerox hangs heavy over commercial research labs in computing.

Google is determined not to let its lab projects be another Xerox PARC. For better or worse that means there does tend to be a profit goal at the end of most of their research.

[panic]

Xerox PARC may never have produced the modern computer if there had been an explicit profit goal. The "spectacular failure" here was not in the goal of the lab -- the problem was how Xerox management dealt with its results.

[nl]

Xerox PARC may never have produced the modern computer if there had been an explicit profit goal.

Perhaps, perhaps not.

The "spectacular failure" here was not in the goal of the lab -- the problem was how Xerox management dealt with its results.

Yes, I agree 100%.