If you aren't breaking the law, the government won't be looking for your
data, and won't ask Google/Yahoo/Bing/AltaVista or other search companies
for your data.
This seems overly optimistic. Remember the whole telecom fiasco?
Even if you are breaking the law in some mild way, do you really want
the government to be using toll records or traffic-cams to enforce
speeding laws, etc?
... JG
Another one from the "Evil Doer"
http://www.google.com/advertising/holiday2009/
Wish the guys from Redmond and others copy this action too ...
Cheers
Jorge
Why would they do that and advertise the fact?
Advertising the fact generates the possible interpretation that they
were pursuing other goals other than pure altrusim.
Marketing comes in many shapes and forms. CSR is a big deal these days
any Im sure there are many pros at it at google now too.
/kc
Another one from the "Evil Doer"
http://www.google.com/advertising/holiday2009/
Wish the guys from Redmond and others copy this action too ...
Cheers
Jorge
So what they are saying is because we as individuals are too cheep
to give to charity they are giving in our stead to shame us. Yup, that is
evil.
Shamed
I know it's off-topic, but I'm impressed with the idea that a public corporation can spend 8 figures on something that has essentially $0 ROI and multiple people here can find bad things about it.
I'm shocked someone didn't say "but that's only 0.0000$WHATEVER percent of their profit!".
Google does many things which can be argued as evil, or not, but I would say this is very much not one of them.
I know it's off-topic, but I'm impressed with the idea that a public corporation can spend 8 figures on something that has essentially $0 ROI and multiple people here can find bad things about it.
I'm shocked someone didn't say "but that's only 0.0000$WHATEVER percent of their profit!".
Google does many things which can be argued as evil, or not, but I would say this is very much not one of them.
Indeed !!
BTW, my reference to "Evil" was a sarcasm in relation to those who
constantly need to label a company like Google as such, I don't even
find Microsoft to be "Evil". Well they have been trying that for many
years 
...
Also for clarification, I didn't find that piece of information from
Google on their home page or any reference from a visible site, I
don't believe they are doing it just to generate some noise or PR. I
just received a message from them for being their user saying:
"Hello,
As we near the end of the year, we wanted to take a moment to thank
you for the time, energy, commitment, and trust you've shared with us
in 2009.
With sharing in mind, this year we've decided to do something a little
different. We hope you'll find it fits the spirit of the holiday
season.
We're looking forward to working with you to build lasting success in 2010.
Happy Holidays,
Your Google Team"
The link to that page was embedded in the "something a little different" text.
To be frank, for all the years I've been suffering with MS-DOS, and
the many versions of Windoze, I never/ever received a message from
Microsoft thanking me for being their user/customer ...
Cheers
Jorge
CSR isnt $0 ROI. Unless they're doing it wrong.
Which they aren't. You're not paid by them and you're arguing FOR them.
Well played, Google.
/kc
CSR isnt $0 ROI. Unless they're doing it wrong.
I said essentially. If you think they're making even 1% of $20M, one of us confused. I'll admit I do not do marketing, so maybe it's me.
Which they aren't. You're not paid by them and you're arguing FOR them.
Well played, Google.
No, I'm arguing against people who think this is evil are being silly. Including you.
Sometimes donating money to charity is just donating money to charity. I really don't see Google getting more business because I posted to NANOG. Are you honestly arguing otherwise?
I guess we should get upset at them if they take a tax write off too?
Other companies also do provide millions to charity each year:
http://ycorpblog.com/?fr=yscpb&mobvs=1&s=YEF&x=0&y=0&mobid=U0ROzK69GDJdQAADgp6BU
Some companies are better at marketing that fact than others.
I happen to work for a company that seems particularly dysfunctional
when it comes to trying to let people know that it's done something
useful or good. ^_^;
Matt
The tax write-off alone is going to be significantly more than 1%...
Scott
Scott Howard wrote:
Another one from the "Evil Doer"
http://www.google.com/advertising/holiday2009/
Wish the guys from Redmond and others copy this action too ...
Cheers
Jorge
Google makes about $1.5B profit per quarter. $20M of charity? I don't like MS any more than most, but Gates Foundation has received $20B from Bill and Warren over the past 3 years. My hat goes off to those guys!
From a corporate standpoint, comparing to 2006 donations as reviewed by
Businessweek:
http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/philanthropy_corporate/
Google's $20M on $6B profit for 2009 is miniscule and basically just PR hype. Wanna compare Bill to Larry & Sergey? Your comment on "wish Redmond would copy this action" is libelous and I certainly hope that major philanthropists do not "copy" Google's joke of a donation.
-Hank
Further references:
http://www.corporatephilanthropy.org/resources/benchmarking-reports/giving-in-numbers.html
http://philanthropy.com/philanthropy50/index.php?view=topdonors&year=2008
Just to put this in the right context you might want to read
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/21/google-2009-holiday-gift/
ie, this is not a charity donation from "Google", but from one part of
Google on behalf of their customers/suppliers.
Either way, I think we're a little off topic by this stage...
Scott.
Jorge Amodio wrote:
Another one from the "Evil Doer"
http://www.google.com/advertising/holiday2009/
Wish the guys from Redmond and others copy this action too ...
Jay Ess wrote:
Jorge Amodio wrote:
Another one from the "Evil Doer"
http://www.google.com/advertising/holiday2009/
Wish the guys from Redmond and others copy this action too ...
Whilst it may have been established by one of the Microsoft founders, what does that have to do with Microsoft's corporate charitable giving?
B
William Hamilton wrote:
Jay Ess wrote:
Whilst it may have been established by one of the Microsoft founders, what does that have to do with Microsoft's corporate charitable giving?
I would guess that the money originally comes from the profits of MS so i think its related. But you are right that it does not come directly from MS.
Hank Nussbacher wrote:
Google makes about $1.5B profit per quarter. $20M of charity? I don't like MS any more than most, but Gates Foundation has received $20B from Bill and Warren over the past 3 years. My hat goes off to those guys!
Yes, the Gates Foundation gives a lot of money to worthy causes, which is truly admirable.
However, to put things into perspective let's take a look at the history of these two companies.
Microsoft was founded 34 years ago (in 1975) and IPOd 23 years ago (in 1986). Bill Gates didn't start his foundation until 12 years after the IPO.
Google was founded (incorporated) 11 years ago in 1998, IPOd 5 years ago in 2005. Google Foundation was created as part of the IPO: "a commitment to contribute significant resources, including 1% of Google's equity and profits in some form, as well as employee time, to address some of the world's most urgent problems. That commitment became a range of giving initiatives including Google.org."
How much did Microsoft give to charity in 1991, 5 years after their IPO? Would you bet against a proposition that by 2028 the Google Foundation does just as much (or more) than the Gates foundation is doing today?
jc
Bill Gates has made a commitment to basically give away all of his money and
quit MS to devote full time to doing it. It will be a hard act to follow.
this is all great stuff, but unrelated to network operations. Off to
another list pls?
Merry Xmas! 
-chris
Bill Gates has made a commitment to basically give away all of his money and
quit MS to devote full time to doing it. It will be a hard act to follow.this is all great stuff, but unrelated to network operations. Off to
another list pls?
Unless the Gates Foundation and Google wish to substantially fund
NANOG, *NOG & IETF, in that case I'd not mind talking about them until
we ran out of space for IPv6 allocations
Merry Xmas!
Same
-Jorge