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Google Kills Cloud Print

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Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#251

Post by somehnguy »

NilsIRL wrote: post #201
gtirloni wrote: post #91

That thing almost nobody used? Seems fair. EDIT: At this point, is there any value in comments about how Google kills things? I feel like it's a waste of time for a knowledgeable crowd like HN.

I use it and it is very useful. It allows to print documents even when you're not on your network.

Can you elaborate on why I would ever want to do that?

My printer works on wifi across iOS, Android, Linux, Mac, Windows, etc without any additional drivers. So that problem is solved. I've never thought 'gee I wish I could print this document' while somewhere else because I still have to be at the printer to get the document. I'll just save it and print it when I can actually get the document anyway. To me Google Cloud Print just seemed like an over-complication and confusing as to exactly what was going on.

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#252

Post by reaperducer »

dbdjfjrjvebd wrote: post #243
reaperducer wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The incentive structures seem to favor the sexy over the boring, making it much more likely that someone will get promoted for launching products versus growing one. Bottom line: Google is not ready for the enterprise. I know a mid-sized travel company ($500m+ revenue) that will have its workflow seriously disrupted by this.

Why would someone plan important workflows around a BETA product????

Ten years is not beta.

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#253

Post by dazc »

markstos wrote: post #204

I'm glad to see this one go. When you want to print from one device in a room to another, sharing a copy of the data with Google's servers halfway across the country seems like an odd and privacy-concerning way to accomplish that. I support relatives using Chromebooks and the old fashioned model is printing is much easier to explain and deal with! The wifi printers in my life never seem to maintain reliable connectio…

I bought a cloud enabled printer for my Dad, who uses a Chromebook. The only way I could get it to print reliably was to connect it to my Windows machine via a cable and have my dad email me whatever he wants to print.

In other words, I now have two printers in my office to do what I was doing already with one.

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#254

Post by m-p-3 »

dcchambers wrote: post #169

I am quick to complain when Google kills a useful project - but I am not mad about this. It was originally created because Chromebooks couldn't print. Chromebooks have been able to print natively for a while now so that is no longer needed. They are also giving over a year of warning. That's plenty of time for people to migrate to a new service or figure out how to implement an alternative. Again I know the Google Gr…

The main reason I used Cloud Print was the ability to print remotely and securely to my home printer without having to worry much about the security implication. I don't really need it that much I guess..

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#255

Post by gowld »

rgbrenner wrote: post #228
areoform wrote: post #62

Google has the corporate equivalent of ADHD. Having talked with ex-googlers and current googlers, the problem seems to be deeply baked into their culture. The incentive structures seem to favor the sexy over the boring, making it much more likely that someone will get promoted for launching products versus growing one. The fix seems to be obvious, create a separate path, a maintenance and growth hacker path, where pe…

Their leadership has no vision. They don't know what to build, where they're going, or what problems they need to solve.. So they encourage these random projects hoping one of their employees will have a vision for them. So the organization just flails around hoping to win the lottery. Each new project is a new lottery ticket.. saving the leadership from making any hard decisions.

What's wrong with tapping the wisdom of the rank and file? Why bottleneck 10K+ smart creative people by a few power-hoarding learders?

That's usually regarded as the great "bazaar" / "free market" style of getting the best ideas out of the community.

The failure is in not well supporting the good ideas that come up.

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#256

Post by radlad »

reportgunner wrote: post #239

I would understand the need for a "Cloud" print if you'd need to print in another country that you never visit, but what does someone need a cloud print for otherwise ?

- Printing from Chromebooks

- Printing easily from Linux

- Printing from your phone

- etc.

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#257

Post by gowld »

Retric wrote: post #97
areoform wrote: post #62

Google has the corporate equivalent of ADHD. Having talked with ex-googlers and current googlers, the problem seems to be deeply baked into their culture. The incentive structures seem to favor the sexy over the boring, making it much more likely that someone will get promoted for launching products versus growing one. The fix seems to be obvious, create a separate path, a maintenance and growth hacker path, where pe…

My guess is these things are generally unprofitable because their internal costs are so used to operating as a near monopoly they simply can’t do anything on the cheap. Which ends up killing off seemingly viable products. It’s much like how bell labs invented so much great technology, but could never make the transition to new producers themselves.

What makes you think it's being killed because it's expensive?

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#258

Post by vchak1 »

bhouston wrote: post #156
areoform wrote: post #62

Google has the corporate equivalent of ADHD. Having talked with ex-googlers and current googlers, the problem seems to be deeply baked into their culture. The incentive structures seem to favor the sexy over the boring, making it much more likely that someone will get promoted for launching products versus growing one. The fix seems to be obvious, create a separate path, a maintenance and growth hacker path, where pe…

This is the right move though because moving towards "Driverless printing" will solve the overall problem in a simpler way: https://openprinting.github.io/driverless/ Google is pro-adapting to change. And it is painful but it is usually the right thing.

I guess Waymo will take it over in that case.

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#259

Post by gowld »

bhouston wrote: post #156
areoform wrote: post #62

Google has the corporate equivalent of ADHD. Having talked with ex-googlers and current googlers, the problem seems to be deeply baked into their culture. The incentive structures seem to favor the sexy over the boring, making it much more likely that someone will get promoted for launching products versus growing one. The fix seems to be obvious, create a separate path, a maintenance and growth hacker path, where pe…

This is the right move though because moving towards "Driverless printing" will solve the overall problem in a simpler way: https://openprinting.github.io/driverless/ Google is pro-adapting to change. And it is painful but it is usually the right thing.

Ahem.

> There exist a variety of methods for a client to submit a job to a printing system and print driverlessly-:

Use a cloud service such as Google Cloud Print (GCP).

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#260

Post by mushufasa »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #159
Retric wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is these things are generally unprofitable because their internal costs are so used to operating as a near monopoly they simply can’t do anything on the cheap. Which ends up killing off seemingly viable products. It’s much like how bell labs invented so much great technology, but could never make the transition to new producers themselves.

They might not be wrong. Engineers who could be maintaining mildly profitable products could be invented new products that have some percentage chance of being much more profitable. If someone did the math and said the expected value of "engineer working on new projects" was bigger than the expected value of of the the profits of an existing project divided by the number of engineers needed to maintain it, then it'd…

What if they just sold their low-margin-yet-profitable businesses instead of killing them?

There are several tech PE firms that specialize in that niche. KKR bought Corel (of WordPerfect fame) recently.

I'm also confident someone at Google already had this obvious idea. Any ex-googlers know why they chose not to / cannot do this?

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