Why did Google release their mapReduce algorithm/cluster setup?
SwellJoe: To engender the feeling that Google is a factory for big new ideas, making it the place every top-flight developer wants to work, and the tech company that everyone talks about when innovation is the subject.  I'd say it's paid for itself, and I'd also suggest that it hasn't hurt them.  Google has as much of the search market as ever, as far as I know, and the only dents have been due to non-technical factors (Microsoft, and others, modifying the search bar in browsers, ISPs making deals to push other engine, etc.).