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Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

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Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#231

Post by rs23296008n1 »

Causality1 wrote: post #131

If you're even slightly surprised by this you weren't paying attention when Google bought the Revolv smart home ecosystem then took it out back and shot it. All the customers got when their expensive smart home devices shut down was a "Thanks for playing, here's a coupon for saving when you buy a Nest because we just turned off all your shit". Google is a company with severe ADHD. Consumers expect home appliances to…

I doubt most new IoT will be functional in 5 years. They have an app mentality with everything locked up in that app. No API.

I look at a lot of products now and if I find I can't access it via python then I treat it as pre-landfill and don't even consider it worth purchasing.

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#232

Post by kalleboo »

gonyea wrote: post #217
freen wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are assuming they will retain imap functionality. Ask the xmpp/jabber folks about hangouts.

Uh, you realize that imap support has been in GMail for its entire history?

Google Talk had XMPP support for its entire history... until they killed it

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#233

Post by Aeolun »

mc32 wrote: post #66

I used to be a fan of Google. They were the good ones, the open ones. Ha! I’ve feel like they played the long sucker game. How times have changed. Even Android feels like a ruse. And Chrome. And maps. The last thing will be search. At some point it’ll be curated for my own good. To be fair, Everyone has to make a living, but be honest don’t take people for suckers of make them into suckers.

They were good for a long while too. Like, long enough that you started to feel it might last forever.

I’m really not sure why they felt the need to change a winning strategy...

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#234

Post by Aeolun »

tetrisgm wrote: post #7

What's the point of creating an ecosystem if you won't support it? Typical Google. I understand shutting down or refocusing services that don't work. But decisions like this or to shut down Inbox make no sense to me. It feels like complete disregard of the user base.

> It feels like complete disregard of the user base.

Probably because it IS complete regard for the user base :/

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#235

Post by lettergram »

DivisionSol wrote: post #57
electrograv wrote: post #38

I see Google API/ecosystem fans often defending or dismissing Google’s pattern of behavior here, using arguments like this: “Well, sure, they shut down that API I don’t use — big deal; all things come to an end eventually! But, they’d NEVER do that to this API I rely on — that would be so horrible, Google just would not do it!” I hope we all can acknowledge that this argument is on perpetually eroding ground, at the…

I've been considering pasting this: https://killedbygoogle.com/ every time the argument comes up. Maybe Google proponents will make one for other companies notorious for killing services, but at least for now, the Google Graveyard grows.

Huh didn’t realize YouTube annotations was killed off.

Gotta say, most annoying thing to me was discontinuing support for the Nexus 6p after only 2 years. Made me switch to iPhone for ever.

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#236

Post by kalleboo »

tzakrajs wrote: post #18
tetrisgm wrote: post #7

What's the point of creating an ecosystem if you won't support it? Typical Google. I understand shutting down or refocusing services that don't work. But decisions like this or to shut down Inbox make no sense to me. It feels like complete disregard of the user base.

I think it's because that AdSense revenue is so sweet and so easy that nothing else is as interesting to the organization. Pretty difficult benchmark for competing products to show their value. It's like an oil rich nation investing in unrelated industries for which they have no history or pedigree in order to build a sustainable future.

There's also a well-documented culture within Google that it's an attractive resume-builder to launch new products, but nobody wants to maintain a product.

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#237

Post by axaxs »

mc32 wrote: post #66

I used to be a fan of Google. They were the good ones, the open ones. Ha! I’ve feel like they played the long sucker game. How times have changed. Even Android feels like a ruse. And Chrome. And maps. The last thing will be search. At some point it’ll be curated for my own good. To be fair, Everyone has to make a living, but be honest don’t take people for suckers of make them into suckers.

Search was curated a long time ago, friend. Now is the time for a true search contender, imo.

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#238

Post by orcthwy012 »

It's interesting to see the responses to this article and contrast with the responses to the article regarding Facebook's possible 5B fine. I don't know the motivation behind this decision but I can't help but see the two sides of the same coin.

If we decide as a society that third-party apps misusing the platform in a way that hurts the users or otherwise looks bad to the outside world is the platform's fault, even if this was done with the user's consent (which the app that harvested data for Cambridge Analytica had) and furthermore decide that such conduct deserves a disproportionate fine (which 5B is, given that much larger breaches without any consent have generally gone unpunished) because the platform as a whole is owned by a large successful company, we cannot also expect large tech companies to keep supporting open platforms that allow third-parties to thrive. The economic benefits of giving control to the user are fairly marginal and theoretical, while the risks are extremely large and potentially existential.

I'm not intimately familiar with this particular API, but it's almost certain that it can be abused by third party apps in a way that makes look Google bad. Platform openness has its advocates and detractors at every company. In light of what's going on, it would be hard for the advocates to win any argument.

Re: Google Is Turning Off the Works-with-Nest API

#240

Post by Aeolun »

PascLeRasc wrote: post #180
specialp wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has done this again and again with their APIs and services other than their main search and advertising business. For me as a developer Google has a bad name now and I'd never invest my time developing something in their ecosystem or worse have my business depend on it. They do not care about their user base as is shown even when they shut down paid services. Which is why even with all their promises about Goo…

I've been a Google apologist for most of my HN career, but shutting down Inbox really changed my view. Regular old GMail sucks compared to Inbox, especially the mobile app. I miss the Inbox app and its layout and recognition of important emails so much that I don't feel like I can get attached to anything else they make.

I’d long been thinking about it, but this shutdown is what triggered me completely moving away from Google.
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