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Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

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Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#131

Post by asveikau »

Awelton wrote: post #38

Maybe someday everyone will realize that google isn't a company that provides services to users, it's a data theft company. They don't really care about bugs or frustrations because they aren't in the business of providing things to you. You are not their customer. The vast majority of people have forgotten that they aren't an email, webapp, cloud storage, or online translation provider. They are an advertising compa…

I think all of this is moot, because several big companies that have a business model arising from direct transactions with end users ... are also routinely losing sight of their obligation to end users. Did anybody want Windows 8 tablet UI on their desktop? Did anybody say, you know, this Macbook is great, but it'd be even better if it no longer launched my 32-bit software, and please make it phone home for everything I do?

I think this story is better told more simply, that when a company gets big it becomes arrogant, bad at social awareness and serving anybody. I'm sure you can find advertisers or would-be beneficiaries of what you call "data theft" that are fed up with Google breaking their stuff too.

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#132

Post by huffmsa »

tdeck wrote: post #3

> Google (Robot): We'll take your extension down Me: Hey, this must be a mistake > Google (Robot): No mistake, review these policies, your extension violates one of them Me: It does not violate any of them, this is a mistake! > Google (Finally human): Oh, sorry, a mistake. Obviously someone just needs to create a robot that automatically replies to the takedown notices and disputes them, thus closing the loop!

Donotpay probably would if you passed the idea

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#133

Post by bsder »

adventured wrote: post #65
lykr0n wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stop worshiping the ground Google walks on, which seems common on HackerNews.

> Stop worshiping the ground Google walks on, which seems common on HackerNews. I've had the exact opposite observation here. There are few places on the Internet I see Google get more consistently browbeaten and held to account for its mistakes and abuses than on HN. This has been the case for at least the past six or eight years or more. Threads on Google here are very rarely laudatory; they typically make the fron…

> You'd think Intel killed HN's favorite puppy or merged with Oracle.

To be fair, Intel engaged in some really evil practices to prevent AMD from gaining market share for a very long time. And, unlike Microsoft's slap on the wrist, Intel never really got punished at all for it.

Yeah, Intel isn't as bad as Oracle simply because they don't have Larry Ellison. However, Darth Vader isn't magically good simply because he's not The Emperor.

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#134

Post by dev_tty01 »

michaelterryio wrote: post #99
Awelton wrote: post #38

Maybe someday everyone will realize that google isn't a company that provides services to users, it's a data theft company. They don't really care about bugs or frustrations because they aren't in the business of providing things to you. You are not their customer. The vast majority of people have forgotten that they aren't an email, webapp, cloud storage, or online translation provider. They are an advertising compa…

This reminds me of when sports fans say things like, those odds are meaningless, they’re just set by bookies to get action. True from a naively pedantic POV, but also ignores that betting odds happen to end up efficient also. Like saying shopkeeps set prices to drum up business and aren’t subject to the principles of supply and demand. Google is an advertising company, but as part of its strategic goals it develops a…

This may be true, but follow the money. The facts of their business plan are a simple matter of public record. Users are the product and their customers are advertisers. As a company, they exist to service advertisers. Everything else is just noise. Sure, they have some incredibly talented engineers trying to create good stuff. None of that matters. The focus of the company remains the same. As potential users, we must choose to support that business model or not.

As long as someone understands the Faustian bargain and enters into it willingly, no problem. The difficulty is that it is unlikely most users really understand the details of the deal they are entering. "Hey, cool, free email." That's about the end of the thought process for most users. Google's approach is brilliant in its simplicity. "Free" stuff.

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#135

Post by reidacdc »

I see these stories from time to time, and I can't help but wonder if there's an opportunity for some kind of third-party support for Google.

Like, if you were a former Googler or someone who'd been through their customer-support wringer, and you had some contacts, you could set yourself up as a consultant for small-scale Google account holders who run into this. Charge a fee for access to your higher-tier contacts, maybe even sell "Google insurance", a group of small devs could pool some money to pay for access to Google support when the hammer randomly falls on one of them.

This idea brought to you by my experience with various government bureaucracies, which are nominally publicly accessible, but, due to under-staffing and high demand for services, are more productively approached through the right kind of lawyer.

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#136

Post by arkh »

StavrosK wrote: post #95
vezycash wrote: post #26

Developers evangelized Android and Chrome in their early days - created the monsters. People making Chrome only sites are feeding the monster. Instead of Kozmos shutting down, the best revenge would making a firefox extension and getting their users to switch.

Agreed, why are they shutting down instead of doing that?

Not sure there's a lot of Firefox users paying for extensions. especially one which seem to just be a sexier bookmark search.

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#137

Post by hartator »

Awelton wrote: post #38

Maybe someday everyone will realize that google isn't a company that provides services to users, it's a data theft company. They don't really care about bugs or frustrations because they aren't in the business of providing things to you. You are not their customer. The vast majority of people have forgotten that they aren't an email, webapp, cloud storage, or online translation provider. They are an advertising compa…

If only the experience was good on the ads buying side with Google, it is not.

They lost their way but keep riding their initial wave.

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#138

Post by brandonmenc »

Kaze404 wrote: post #8

I don't understand how we've normalized Googles behavior to the point where this doesn't even shock me anymore. When I used Google Play Music a couple years ago there was a feature that was broken for YEARS according to the bug reports I could find, and in a classic Google move they shut the service down before ever fixing it. That might sound like a non sequitur but it's ridiculous to me how little Google cares abou…

> What can we do about this?

Purchase software from other providers. With like, cash.

Re: Unable to deal with Chrome Extension Team, Kozmos is shutting down

#140

Post by wayoutthere »

Awelton wrote: post #38

Maybe someday everyone will realize that google isn't a company that provides services to users, it's a data theft company. They don't really care about bugs or frustrations because they aren't in the business of providing things to you. You are not their customer. The vast majority of people have forgotten that they aren't an email, webapp, cloud storage, or online translation provider. They are an advertising compa…

Yup, take a look at their financial statements. I haven't done it in the last few years, but for most of their existence advertising revenue has been >95% of their total revenue.

Everything else is a loss-leader or a rounding error.

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