Is this based on any real information, or is it just a rehash of the WSJ article?
The "money quote" says nothing about 20% time. It says that the company won't instantly allocate 20 engineers to somebody's 20% project. Which is really just sound business sense - what other startup gets 20 engineers to fool around with before they even have a product?
The impression I got when I visited the Google campus two weeks ago was nothing like this article suggests, and the Googlers in the comments seems to indicate it's basically made-up too.
He says the company is "not going to give" an engineer 20 people to work with on certain experimental projects anymore. "When the cycle comes back," he says, "we will be able to fund his brilliant vision."
Hardly forward thinking. Previous articles have claimed that some of Google's best developments have come out of that 20% time. By cutting it, they're basically cutting their R&D significantly.
Google's doing what panicked investors are doing.. pulling out resources in a low market, instead of investing while low to reap when the market picks up! I smell an opportunity.. If you're a startup with a year's money in the bank or an independent developer who can work hard for the next year on some exciting new stuff, you could get a real jump on Google in some areas if they keep this up.
In general I can't tell if Google is in trouble or not. One day they are the gatekeepers of the internet and the next day they are trying to make ends meet. They still make billions a year don't they? Yahoo has gone downhill...MS isn't a threat search-wise.
The "money quote" says nothing about 20% time. It says that the company won't instantly allocate 20 engineers to somebody's 20% project. Which is really just sound business sense - what other startup gets 20 engineers to fool around with before they even have a product?
The impression I got when I visited the Google campus two weeks ago was nothing like this article suggests, and the Googlers in the comments seems to indicate it's basically made-up too.