Before my big Yahoo post, some more insider gossip:

Not earth shattering, but interesting anyway. To quote an email I recently received:

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Ann Mather is one of the grown-ups associated with Google. They put her on the board to help babysit George Reyes.

That's Google's way of doing things. They use their bizarre, navel-gazing, algorithm-driven and inhumane staffing decisions, then when that inevitably fails (because maybe the person used the wrong word or flow chart in front of the founders when they were in a bad mood) they bring in some super-accomplished, way over-qualified subject matter expert who is supposed to clean up the other person's mess, or to keep that project or area in line. But that never happens fast enough for anyone (like, within two weeks). Then all you have is a massive mound of festering, demoralized Googlers waiting to vest.

You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone at Google, mainly below the VP level, who's been there for more than two years and isn't just waiting to vest and figure out their next move.