They are really special cases though, aren't they? I don't think it affects the larger discussion that Google employs a couple of extremely well-known and proven guys in their older age.
You're right; Pike and Thompson are huge outliers. If there is going to be a case made that age discrimination doesn't exist at companies where there have been class-action lawsuits, it's not particularly compelling to point to a pair of outliers as proof.
For what is worth, I've seen a decent number of >40 years old new hires while I was there. Not a huge number, but it's hard to tell what the right number would be; they didn't appear exceptional cases to me.
While the interviewing system at Google is far from perfect (to put it euphemistically), I've seen a very strong practical commitment against any kind of discrimination.
Yeah, everyone wants to trot them out whenever Google + age discrimination comes up, but they're not exactly what you'd call your typical 60+ year old developers. Get back to me when Google hires 70 year old Joe Smith.
