Google told mystery barge ‘needs to move’ from San Francisco Bay

http://business.financialpost.com/2014/02/04/google-inc-mystery-barge/?__lsa=334f-a16d

30 20 12 years ago

business.financialpost.com

joelrunyon2• 12 years ago

It's not really a "mystery barge" anymore is it? That makes for a good headline, but it's been a couple months since Google revealed it's actual plans for it [1].

[1] http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/tech/innovation/google-barge-s...

Einstalbert• 12 years ago

Thank you for posting this, I honestly wasn't aware of this yet.

nhayden• 12 years ago

The story I heard about this barge not mentioned in this article or in the one in joel's comment: they're going to use it as an office space for employees who can't legally work in the US, either because of visa issues or something else. It makes sense Google wouldn't want this to be public information.

skj• 12 years ago

Also, that suggestion is pretty silly.

jrockway4• 12 years ago

Indeed, there are Google offices in countries with much more ... liberal ... immigration policies. The only convenience a barge would offer is timezone issues, but who wants to live on a barge just to be in the same time zone as Mountain View? I'm guessing nobody.

joelrunyon2• 12 years ago

I think you're thinking of Blue Seed (https://blueseed.co/) which is a non-Google venture and off the Pacific Ocean outside US territory waters.

If the Barge is in the bay - it's still in US territory & they still need visas.

Zigurd• 12 years ago

I predict these barges will end up being scrapped as a misbegotten folly. There are these venues called "exhibition halls." They work well enough.

samstave• 12 years ago

There are these venues called "exhibition halls." They work well enough.

Without the ability to prove that you can float the load, supply the power, deal with the legal entanglements, garner interest, weather the... weather, etc...

Screw your static non-visionary approach to testing.

If I want to test the idea of a barge based floating environ, the last thing I want to see it demo'd in is a warehouse.

garthdog• 12 years ago

Why the fuck are they even referencing the shuttle protests in that article? What does that have to do with anything?

yetanotherphd• 12 years ago

The Google barge is displacing thousands of cubic meters of water, some of which has been in the bay for decades.

ericHosick• 12 years ago

"Ocean tides flow through the Golden Gate four times a day -- twice coming in and twice going out. The quantity of salt water in motion between high and low tides averages 390 billion gallons." or about 1.5 billion cubic meters per day.

spacehome• 12 years ago

This is deeply hilarious.

dohertyjf• 12 years ago

You win. That was hilarious.

calciphus• 12 years ago

Why is a minor zoning and permitting issue getting this much attention? It doesn't even have anything to do with Google per se, this is an issue between a few regulatory bodies.

I get that this pushes the narrative that SV/SF is 'fed up' with Google, but can we stop with the linkbait?

Google told mystery barge ‘needs to move’ from San Francisco Bay

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