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Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

9to5google.com

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Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#131

Post by doodliego »

ams6110 wrote: post #66
8ytecoder wrote: post #45

Google feels like a company that's run by a bunch of engineers/product managers instead of a product leader with a cohesive vision. Anyone with an iPhone would understand what iMessages is and what FaceTime is. What is what and what you can do with each. Now explain it to me Google - what's your vision? (Or is it "target end state" in engineering speak?) As customers we want (at most) one chat application and one vid…

I'd put Google Drive/Docs/Sheets in there as home runs. They just keep getting better and better. I hardly ever think about using a desktop office suite any more. Remember when collaborating on a document meant emailing copies and revisions back and forth to each other? Unthinkable now. But Allo? My thought was "oh, another Google product I never heard of is shutting down."

No way do I put all my personal documents in the cloud of a company that doesn't do customer service, gets rid of whole product lines without warning whenever it feels like, and has no recourse to actual human help if you're locked out of your accounts and can't get authenticated.

You would want to back up your google documents offline or on another server constantly, which defeats the whole purpose.

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#132

Post by doodhwala »

coolspot wrote: post #101
scaleout1 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wait till they break Google voice into Google talking and Google Listening

Then shut down Listening part.

They have shut down the listening part a long time ago by providing absolutely no way for people to get in touch with humans about problems faced by customers.

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#133

Post by drdeadringer »

beginningguava wrote: post #106
8ytecoder wrote: post #45

Google feels like a company that's run by a bunch of engineers/product managers instead of a product leader with a cohesive vision. Anyone with an iPhone would understand what iMessages is and what FaceTime is. What is what and what you can do with each. Now explain it to me Google - what's your vision? (Or is it "target end state" in engineering speak?) As customers we want (at most) one chat application and one vid…

>Now explain it to me Google - what's your vision It's a bunch of very talented, bored engineers who realize that launching a product, even if it fails, is better for their career and resume than doing grunge work that might be better for google's bottom line Basically resume driven development and Google hasn't done anything to prevent it. They probably don't care, they'd rather have them wasting money at Google tha…

> It's a bunch of very talented, bored engineers who realize that launching a product, even if it fails, is better for their career and resume than doing grunge work that might be better for google's bottom line

I wonder if, and how much, this plays into the vast number of contractors Google pays to do that very "grunge work".

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#134

Post by zmmmmm »

TwoNineA wrote: post #6
rubatuga wrote: post #3

Seriously what the fuck is google doing?

Throwing shit at wall until something sticks? Example: Google Talk, Messages, Hangouts, Allo

I think it's worse than that. It does stick. They actually hate it when it sticks, because that is when it becomes a career sink. That is, too important to the business for people to leave it behind but not important enough that maintaining it is promotion worthy. I strongly suspect that the reason so many products get shut down is not to do with financials or the product's actual usage and adoption, but because the there's a valley of death in which association with these products during this phase of their lifecycle is a negative career move within Google. So most likely really good engineers flee these products because they might become successful more than because they are failures / failing.

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#136

Post by AlexandrB »

pesmhey wrote: post #61
8ytecoder wrote: post #45

Google feels like a company that's run by a bunch of engineers/product managers instead of a product leader with a cohesive vision. Anyone with an iPhone would understand what iMessages is and what FaceTime is. What is what and what you can do with each. Now explain it to me Google - what's your vision? (Or is it "target end state" in engineering speak?) As customers we want (at most) one chat application and one vid…

Straight from the source: On Google's philosophy versus Apple's: "I used to have this debate with Steve Jobs, and he would always say, 'You guys are doing too much stuff.' He did a good job of doing one or two things really well. We'd like to have a bigger impact on the world by doing more things."

That would make sense if all the things Google did has a lifespan of more than a few years.

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#137

Post by EpicEng »

gundmc wrote: post #22

Hacker News: LOL! Google has so many messaging apps, their product strategy sucks! Google: They're right, we need to focus our messaging strategy. Let's consolidate our platforms. Hacker News: OMG! Google deprecates everything! Classic Google

It's the same problem. Google dips their toes into too many ponds, doesn't commit, and then EOL's a product people care about (not sure that's the case here.) It's that cycle people don't like, so of course there are complaints on both ends.

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#138

Post by DenisM »

zorpner wrote: post #129
beginningguava wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Now explain it to me Google - what's your vision It's a bunch of very talented, bored engineers who realize that launching a product, even if it fails, is better for their career and resume than doing grunge work that might be better for google's bottom line Basically resume driven development and Google hasn't done anything to prevent it. They probably don't care, they'd rather have them wasting money at Google tha…

This is exactly correct (former Googler; still in touch with many). This is one of the reasons for the endless usability-destroying redesigns on their successful products -- people need listable accomplishments in order to advance, either internally or externally. Google has destroyed, or at least nullified, a generation of engineering talent with their unambitious, checkbox-resume based advancement scheme. We should…

Large companies rise, and then fall to clear up the space for the next aspiring large company. It's Google's natural destiny to fall, too.

Interestingly, the lifetime of a company is directly tied to the attention span of its customers. As long people come to the store asking for Coca Cola the company will endure, so this is probably generational. Enterprise software sticks around, so does Oracle. Internet consumer technology promotes attention span that's measured in seconds, Google can come crashing down quite suddenly.

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#139

Post by orangecat »

taytus wrote: post #25
TwoNineA wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Throwing shit at wall until something sticks? Example: Google Talk, Messages, Hangouts, Allo

Who else remembers Google Wave?

Wave was at least trying to be innovative, even if the execution was fatally flawed. Allo just never had any reason to exist.

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#140

Post by SwellJoe »

gomox wrote: post #118
SwellJoe wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody told me. Or Google, apparently. https://photos.app.goo.gl/E9qk9KJC73VoEj5y6

When you go to the actual conference in the calendar event, do you still see a Hangouts URL and UI? Maybe we are on different sides of an A/B test.

Literally everything I see has Hangouts branding. And, not just for me or my events...I was invited to a meeting with someone from another company yesterday, and everything about it was branded with "Hangouts" and not "Meet", too.

Also, the Google Meet website is laughably useless. It has literally no content, not even a description of what it is.

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