This is amazingly bold. Not because they are shutting down operations or even stopping the censoring - they could have done that in a hundred ways that would save face and leave the door open for them to come back in at any time - but because they have come right out and said it, cut the BS, they consider the human rights actions of the Chinese government unacceptable.
I do wonder how wise this is as a business decision - I would fully expect they will never make a cent in China again, possibly even other countries increasingly dependent on China might get pressure to be more 'hostile' to Google.
It would be surprising to me if someone didn't build this concept with valves and vacuum tubes before 'software' even existed. People always quote it as some major milestone like the invention of the wheel or something but it honestly seems to me like a natural and obvious design that just about anybody comes up with when faced with the right set of problems to solve.
I do wonder how wise this is as a business decision - I would fully expect they will never make a cent in China again, possibly even other countries increasingly dependent on China might get pressure to be more 'hostile' to Google.
Congrats to them on such a brave stand!