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Google Spaces will be shut down on April 17th

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Re: Google Spaces will be shut down on April 17th

#11

Post by jpttsn »

danmaz74 wrote: post #5

I appreciate lots of Google services, open source contributions etc. - but this is really getting out of hand. I wonder, how much can a service like this cost Google? Are the savings worth the negative publicity that comes out of so lightly launch and then shut down services? I feel like they're starting to really damage their brand among those in the know, which are the ones who give advice to everybody else...

It wouldn't surprise me if the savings are well worth the bad press. If not, how could a business be so fragile and reach the size of Google?

Re: Google Spaces will be shut down on April 17th

#12

Post by moonshinefe »

moxious wrote: post #8
danmaz74 wrote: post #5

I appreciate lots of Google services, open source contributions etc. - but this is really getting out of hand. I wonder, how much can a service like this cost Google? Are the savings worth the negative publicity that comes out of so lightly launch and then shut down services? I feel like they're starting to really damage their brand among those in the know, which are the ones who give advice to everybody else...

Why would this damage their brand? They tried an experiment, if didn't work out, they're moving on. What's wrong with that?

I think the original comment was getting at the fact Google often starts, massively trumpets services, and then abandons them in the night. I never recall them saying a single time in the several if not dozens of services they've started / ditched in the last several years where they've explicitly said "yeah, this might go away at a moments' notice."

It tends to chip away at your confidence if you're looking at investing in their services.

Re: Google Spaces will be shut down on April 17th

#14

Post by moonshinefe »

andreareina wrote: post #7

Google has acquired a reputation for shutting down services, which means that people are reluctant to start using new Google services, which means that they have low traction, which means that Google shuts them down… EDIT: They (say they) aren't shutting this down to low traction, but it will only reinforce the existing perception.

Agreed. It seems they'll hype up and push a service then shut it down at the drop of a pin at this point. It's not great for their brand if you're a company that wants a reliable, long term solution.

Re: Google Spaces will be shut down on April 17th

#15

Post by moonshinefe »

jpttsn wrote: post #11
danmaz74 wrote: post #5

I appreciate lots of Google services, open source contributions etc. - but this is really getting out of hand. I wonder, how much can a service like this cost Google? Are the savings worth the negative publicity that comes out of so lightly launch and then shut down services? I feel like they're starting to really damage their brand among those in the know, which are the ones who give advice to everybody else...

It wouldn't surprise me if the savings are well worth the bad press. If not, how could a business be so fragile and reach the size of Google?

I think their absolute dominance in email, browsing and internet search insulates them from a lot of this stuff.

I can't say I'd be confident in their newest project-of-the-week going forward though (if not in those realms), if I needed it to go beyond the next 5 years.

Re: Google Spaces will be shut down on April 17th

#16

Post by jasonvorhe »

jaxondu wrote: post #13

I just started using Keep. This is giving me pause.

Keep has been going at full steam for 3 years now. It's one of their prime apps to show off drawing capabilities of the new generation of convertible Chromebooks. Don't worry, Keep is there to stay.

Re: Google Spaces will be shut down on April 17th

#17

Post by tyingq »

moxious wrote: post #8
danmaz74 wrote: post #5

I appreciate lots of Google services, open source contributions etc. - but this is really getting out of hand. I wonder, how much can a service like this cost Google? Are the savings worth the negative publicity that comes out of so lightly launch and then shut down services? I feel like they're starting to really damage their brand among those in the know, which are the ones who give advice to everybody else...

Why would this damage their brand? They tried an experiment, if didn't work out, they're moving on. What's wrong with that?

Perhaps if the announcement had some couched language that explained it was a trial balloon, and could go away at any time that would be fine. It did not: https://blog.google/products/spaces/introducing-spaces-tool-...

The issue is that it's an established pattern, so it may limit adoption on other new services they launch.

Re: Google Spaces will be shut down on April 17th

#18

Post by agumonkey »

andreareina wrote: post #7

Google has acquired a reputation for shutting down services, which means that people are reluctant to start using new Google services, which means that they have low traction, which means that Google shuts them down… EDIT: They (say they) aren't shutting this down to low traction, but it will only reinforce the existing perception.

Google should start a lifetime project so help people have a better apriori understanding of where and when its going.

Re: Google Spaces will be shut down on April 17th

#19

Post by [deleted] »

cschmittiey wrote: post #4

It's sad that they're abandoning this, but I can't say I blame them. I don't know a single person who used this, or even knew of its existence unless I told them about it. The idea was cool, I think small group collaboration and being able to share stuff in a "stream" for just us was a really interesting way to approach the problem, however the UI and user flow just didn't "click" in a way that's hard to describe.

[deleted]
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