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The Register slams OpenSocial, OpenID and Google Gears - "destined for the dustbin"

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Re: The Register slams OpenSocial, OpenID and Google Gears - "destined for the dustbin"

#11

Post by alaskamiller »

jwilliams wrote: post #10
alaskamiller wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gears will win out of the sheer will of force -- a.k.a Google's war chest. Considering that it's only been in development for about a year makes calling a pipe dream premature. OpenSocial and Android both plays the heel to the the bigger and better counterparts. But like all things in life, it's much better to have decent alternative than none at all. They may not ever achieve dominant positioning but they don't have…

My first reaction was "no - gears has been out for ages "... but no, you're totally right. Gears + Android might be an interesting play for Google as well. http://google-code-updates.blogspot.com/2008/03/power-up-you...

I believe that is the grand plan.

GOOG is in an enviable position in that they experienced extreme rapid growth, amassed legions of brilliant people, and had a high margins to have billions in cash. I'm not in a rush to bet against this juggernaut and their singularity plans.

Re: The Register slams OpenSocial, OpenID and Google Gears - "destined for the dustbin"

#12

Post by nose »

maxklein wrote: post #7
ricree wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In all seriousness, though, what's the part that's such a stumbling block here (at least for anyone who is already computer literate enough to go through a normal user account creation)? I really fail to see why "now create an account you can use at any OpenID site" is so much of a problem compared to "create an account for this site". In my experience, the account creation is nearly the same, and the login procedure…

I don't know because I never created an open id account. The reason I never created one is because when I want to sign up, I just want to select a user name and password, not try to locate an open id. Are you aware that most people using computers don't know how to copy and paste? OpenID requires copy and paste, and that kills it on arrival.

Don't underestimate the average computer user. Go around random internet cafes, public libraries, etc. Talk to the "average computer user" and you'll be surprised.

Re: The Register slams OpenSocial, OpenID and Google Gears - "destined for the dustbin"

#15

Post by axod »

"Like every other product Google has released since search and ads, OpenSocial has been a dud."

This is just plain wrong. Although maybe some of the issue comes when you compare things to search+ads. When compared against those, perhaps things look 'dud'. But taken alone they are successes.

Re: The Register slams OpenSocial, OpenID and Google Gears - "destined for the dustbin"

#16

Post by froo »

> "Like every other product Google has released since search and ads, OpenSocial has been a dud."

Talk about one's perspective being waaaaay off.

Gmail, Reader, Maps, Chrome, Groups, News, Orkut - all of these products have clearly been duds when you consider how profitable Google's search + ads business has been.

Then again by that same yardstick you could say that 99.99% of online businesses are complete duds, even though there are a lot of them out there that are quite profitable.

Look at Orkut, when compared to a Myspace or a Facebook it is an absolute dud, however with some perspective it is among the largest social networks in some of the world's fastest growing economies (Brazil, India) - not a bad position to be in whatsoever.

> No, a revolution means that somebody gets beheaded.

Well, then if that's the case, Google's search was definitely not a revolution. Sure it was an innovative product, but I still see Yahoo running around with a search team and with a still sizeable chunk of the search business (~25% isn't anything to scoff at whatsoever)

Re: The Register slams OpenSocial, OpenID and Google Gears - "destined for the dustbin"

#17

Post by maxklein »

nose wrote: post #12
maxklein wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know because I never created an open id account. The reason I never created one is because when I want to sign up, I just want to select a user name and password, not try to locate an open id. Are you aware that most people using computers don't know how to copy and paste? OpenID requires copy and paste, and that kills it on arrival.

Don't underestimate the average computer user. Go around random internet cafes, public libraries, etc. Talk to the "average computer user" and you'll be surprised.

You don't overestimate the average computer user. A computer user does not think in the same way you do. A user may know what copy and paste does in Microsoft WORD, but they do not see this as anything but a feature of Word. They don't think it is something that is generally applicable to all text fields. That concept is naturally unintuitive, it's something that has to be learned or discovered.

I'm technically very saavy, but open id is something I really don't want to use. It sounds complicated, it's difficult to use, it seems risky, and most importantly, it does not offer me any advantages.

It's a silly idea pushed by technologists who are out of touch with what the average person is doing with his computer.

Re: The Register slams OpenSocial, OpenID and Google Gears - "destined for the dustbin"

#18

Post by netcan »

axod wrote: post #14

Gears seems a very strange choice to put in here, especially now Chrome is out.

Because it has failed (thus far) to make a substantial impact on the way people use web apps.

How many people have it installed? How many sites have it enabled? What apps/sites exist & are popular that wouldn't be useful/popular without gears? What apps/sites exist that are replacing installed apps thanks to gears? For an example to count it needs to include more people outside the top 5% of internet users.

Personally I wouldn't call it a dud yet. It's mostly for readers, online office apps & calendar. These are used mostly by the top 5% anyway, so it'd be hard to take a stab outside that segment with Gears. Mail is the online app that has penetrated, but those that need off-line mail generally have a client installed already. It'll take time to move them since 'you don't need to install a client' isn't an incentive if you already have one. But this is a pretty big change they're trying to pull off. A lot of people are going to have trouble even finding gmail without a Google search.

Like I said, I wouldn't call it a dud. I wouldn't call it a success either. Like the post says, Chrome might bring it all together.

Re: The Register slams OpenSocial, OpenID and Google Gears - "destined for the dustbin"

#19

Post by simonw »

maxklein wrote: post #7
ricree wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In all seriousness, though, what's the part that's such a stumbling block here (at least for anyone who is already computer literate enough to go through a normal user account creation)? I really fail to see why "now create an account you can use at any OpenID site" is so much of a problem compared to "create an account for this site". In my experience, the account creation is nearly the same, and the login procedure…

I don't know because I never created an open id account. The reason I never created one is because when I want to sign up, I just want to select a user name and password, not try to locate an open id. Are you aware that most people using computers don't know how to copy and paste? OpenID requires copy and paste, and that kills it on arrival.

OpenID requires copy and paste?

1. For classic OpenID with subdomains, you end up typing simonw.myopenid.com instead of just simonw

2. For OpenID 2, you click the "Sign in with Yahoo!" button (assuming the site you are signing in to is targeting the mainstream and has decided to show a big shiny button instead of / in addition to the scary OpenID input field)

Option 2 is the one you should get excited about if you're interested in "most people using computers". You don't even have to call it OpenID.

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