closed doors and an open heart?

At ZDNet, Richard MacManeaus negotiates a free (normally $750 a pop) & exclusive peep at Jupiter Research's six-page monograph on what makes Google tick and what its (would-be) partners need to know to keep in the running. The whole post is here, but basically is sums up to 'google is way too insular and should loosen up, for its own (marketing) good.'

Well, that was short. But when you have an insider advantage, you've got to make the most out of it right--whether it be stretching out an article or gleaming free publicity off a journalist---right? Anyway, at least there was a totally unrelated cute picture (displayed right). If anything, tell me, how can a company that wears its heart on its shirt be insular?

to be slightly more serious: I think their policy of not patenting the most inventive technology, in order to truly protect its originality and competitive edge, is really a smart kind of insularity. Instead of creating four years of hype amid the blogosphere before delaying the release of a new product, google's way seems to be release it beta and let it speak for itself. If you count releasing strings of experimental babies out to the public as sharing with the public (as I would, apparently), then Google's not that insular at all is it?

Jupiter (via MacManeaus) suggests that insularity has its pluses and minuses, and that I agree with. I don't really have a good sense of Jupiter is wrong or right beyond the cursory comments I've made here, but let me just say (as others have hinted) openness does too.