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Google’s “20% time,” which brought you Gmail and AdSense, is now as good as dead

(qz.com)
581 points antr | 2 comments | 16 Aug 13 12:09 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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mattstocum ◴[16 Aug 13 12:45 UTC] No.6223613[source]▶
And how many failed projects came out of 20% time?
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anjc ◴[16 Aug 13 12:48 UTC] No.6223629[source]▶
They probably didn't lose as much money as they're gaining from the successful ones
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1. nfoz ◴[16 Aug 13 13:00 UTC] No.6223681[source]▶
It's not as if Google never would have thought to make a web-based mail if someone didn't do it in their 20% time...
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2. toyg ◴[16 Aug 13 13:36 UTC] No.6223883[source]▶
At the time, Google was a search engine, period.

Expecting Google to build a webmail system would have been like expecting Twitter to release an accounting package.