Interestingly, a senior Googler I once talked to derisively mentioned how competitors like Facebook were open sourcing projects that used to be proprietary Google technology, mostly based on work done by people FB poached from Google. I realize it's just another anecdote, but the word "we" was used enough during the dialog to indicate that it was a common view within Google.

I guess it's a viable strategy, but nobody likes it when it's done to them.

Oh, sure, in 2007 when Thrift came out first, I was on board with that sentiment, too. "Oh, wow, they hired someone who was an intern here last year, and now they have their own Protocol Buffers, surprise surprise." It was easier to disparage it than it was to get concerned about our own well-being.

Now, however, every time they release something like this, I just crack up laughing. The servers, the software-defined switched network, all of it. It just keeps going. The real magicians have moved on and are now sharing their creations with the rest of the world.

If only I had a copy of that internal post which basically said "either we open-source our own stuff, or other people are going to do it for us, and we're going to be behind the eight ball". I want to say it was a Yegge Buzz post but I can't remember for sure. It's been three or four years.

Leakers, you know how to find me. Contact info in profile.

While on the topic of Google, what do you think of Larry? Sergey? Eric?

People outside of Google have heard of Protocol Buffers?

Take a look at the credits for Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2. Blizzard is a big fan of protobufs.

It's also interesting to look at the mailing list for Cap'n Proto - there are a bunch of folks from FourSquare, Twitter, etc. helping out. Many of them are ex-Googlers, and many cited being big fans of proto2 as their reason for helping out with Cap'n Proto.