Dolemite - 6:18 pm on Dec 13, 2003 (gmt 0)

I wouldn't call it "outsourcing R&D to India"--when we opened a new engineering office in New York because there's good talent on the East Coast, would you call that "outsourcing to New York"? There's pools of smart people in India just like in New York and Santa Monica, where we also have engineering offices.

Is Google going to pay equal salaries to their Bangalore employees compared to their NYC employees?

Doubtful. But it sure looks good before the IPO to be able to exploit some cheap labor. Just wait until your board of directors sees what kind of productivity/ROI you can get out of India. Then try hard to justify your position.