"If Google was, in truth, motivated by the highest ideals of service to the public, then it should have declared the project a non-profit from the beginning, thereby extinguishing any fears that the company wanted to somehow make a profit from other people’s work."<p>I think Google might win over some critics if they resumed the project; set it up as a non-profit, but not some slick non-profit that really doesn't help anyone other than Google?
The bylaws would be lawyer proof, and BOD proof. The out of print(out of copyright) books would be available to anyone for free.<p>I was very excited about this project, and it did seem to just die?<p>I used to like and defend Google. As of the last few years, with the tracking, plethora of Ads, and the way they ruined YouTube, at least for me.(Yea, I didn't like the way they took it over. I don't like all the advertisements. Plus, I still have embarrassing videos up there that I literally can't get off. Some kind of password screwup that is beyond the helpful customers at the "Help Boards". See Google employees can't be bothered with trivial stuff like my videos. (I asked, and was told to figure it out.)<p>So Google, if you are listening, go back to your roots. Some people, including myself, hold no loyality to your company anymore. My sister uses Bing. I used to tell her, you might like Google better. Those days are long gone. I'd tell her about Duckduckgo, but it's just not quite their yet.