Damm, I've been paying for feedbin for a while then. Worth it if I'm honest.
Google Reader shut down announced ten years ago today
141–150 of 354 posts
Re: Google Reader shut down announced ten years ago today
#142I feel like killing Reader was the point at which I switched from viewing Google mostly positively to more skeptically. Which doesn't seem terribly rational, really; it wasn't the first product to be axed, it was perfectly possible to replace... Maybe it was just the first product axing that really affected me? The moment Google went from "provider of great free stuff" to "sometimes provider of free stuff, sometimes…
It was the reason they killed it for me.
Google Reader was successful and growing. It wasn’t killed on its own merits.
It was killed because Google decided Facebook was an existential threat to them so they had to do everything they could to make Google+ work, including killing otherwise successful and popular products like Reader because, killing it may lead to a slight increase in G+ adoption.
Re: Google Reader shut down announced ten years ago today
#143I feel like killing Reader was the point at which I switched from viewing Google mostly positively to more skeptically. Which doesn't seem terribly rational, really; it wasn't the first product to be axed, it was perfectly possible to replace... Maybe it was just the first product axing that really affected me? The moment Google went from "provider of great free stuff" to "sometimes provider of free stuff, sometimes…
I understand you completely. For me also it was a turning point, but the real nail in the coffin was when they shut down Inbox. That was when it went from a new Google product being interesting and getting in there early to every Google product being eyed with distrust and reluctance.
the whole org was using inbox, snoozed emails with a really streamlined interface was sublime. Everyone was mad.
Re: Google Reader shut down announced ten years ago today
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm usually one for blaming the big company and arcane processes, but this squarely your fault. You missed emails asking for verification, and had your account suspended because of it. This will happen to you again on AWS or any other provider. Stadia was disappointing, but they refunded everyone everything they had ever spent. Short of keeping the service running for free forever I'm not sure what more they could ha…
"You missed emails asking for verification" Did you saw the title of the email? "Important Information for your Account". It reads more like an informational email. How many important emails you've received this week? Could've been worded "[Action Required]", "Account Suspension Notice" etc. And they didn't even drop a notification when my servers were shutdown. "This will happen to you again on AWS or any other prov…
Your whole story boils down to you not properly reading an email that even says "Important Information". I don't understand how that part isn't your fault. They even tell you that your account will be suspended in the email. How do you not have a special filter to route emails from critical service providers? And I don't agree that GCP is "the only one that will suspend you for things like this". AWS can and has suspended accounts for arcane reasons though support was reasonably helpful enough
I sympathise with the abysmal support though obviously. GCP has horrid support and deserve to be called out. I wouldn't recommend GCP to anyone
Re: Google Reader shut down announced ten years ago today
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
I haven't heard the phrase "more wood behind fewer arrows" before, but I am pretty sure that never in the history of the evolution of projectiles was that tradeoff ever taken in that direction.
I'm not sure if it's unreasonable. In videos I've seen of tests of arrows against armour the shafts usually break, so that the weight of the shaft does not fully go into the penetration. Stiffer shorter arrows have, therefore, a better chance. Thus the men fighting heavily armoured troops may choose crossbows, which with their long reloading time would literally trade number of shots for heavier shots.
Stiffer shorter arrows will also make you miss unless you have a bow adapted to them!
This is the metaphor that keeps giving
Re: Google Reader shut down announced ten years ago today
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Google Reader was a product that was crazy cheap to maintain (no way it had more than a dozen engineers working on it), It’s hard to show “scope” and “impact” by maintaining a product with declining usage. No one who cared about their career would want to work on something that was in maintenance mode.
I never understood why Google doesn't hire B teams to do the maintenance work, or outsource it. It's normal that if you hire only top players that no one wants to be stuck doing tickets.
Why would Google (or any company) _pay_ for outsourced teams to maintain a declining unprofitable product?
Would __your__ company ever do that?
Re: Google Reader shut down announced ten years ago today
#147I feel like killing Reader was the point at which I switched from viewing Google mostly positively to more skeptically. Which doesn't seem terribly rational, really; it wasn't the first product to be axed, it was perfectly possible to replace... Maybe it was just the first product axing that really affected me? The moment Google went from "provider of great free stuff" to "sometimes provider of free stuff, sometimes…
It was the reason they killed it for me. Google Reader was successful and growing. It wasn’t killed on its own merits. It was killed because Google decided Facebook was an existential threat to them so they had to do everything they could to make Google+ work, including killing otherwise successful and popular products like Reader because, killing it may lead to a slight increase in G+ adoption.
Even now, 10 yrs on, that makes no sense (their justification, not yours). How do you convince a bunch of blog authors to switch from 'free-to-air' and searchable everywhere RSS feeds, to move into closed social media platform?
It seems like idiotic management making idiotic decisions completely out of touch with the userbase has been with us since the dawn of the web. Just this week, Spotify are turning the mobile app into a stinking pile of TikTok.
Don't be evil. Just be stupid I guess.
Re: Google Reader shut down announced ten years ago today
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
I always thought it was something like a comparison between ballistae with fewer shots and larger arrows (javelin size, really) doing more damage, and a storm of smaller regular arrows. Maybe I was being too generous with my interpretation.
I just remembered remembered that I had read something about the history of this phrase, and I found it: an answer on Quora from five years ago. https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-of-the-phrase-putti... > The background seems an oft-used phrase in Sun Microsystems by the former CEO, "all the wood behind a single arrow" which means focus on a single product and be the best in it. > When deer hunting .. "Real men…
Nice find!
Re: Google Reader shut down announced ten years ago today
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
I haven't heard the phrase "more wood behind fewer arrows" before, but I am pretty sure that never in the history of the evolution of projectiles was that tradeoff ever taken in that direction.
How many times have 2 birds been killed with 1 stone? Is there a proven evolutionary advantage to birds rising earlier in order to catch the worm? The meaning is clear as you got it, despite you never hearing it before, so it undeniably works. It's a saying. I've heard it so it could be a britishism?
> How many times have 2 birds been killed with 1 stone?
It is not that it has happened, more that it would be desirable
> Is there a proven evolutionary advantage to birds rising earlier in order to catch the worm?
I think anyone collecting worms as fishing bait will tell you that worms favour dawn to daytime, so yes.
I'm British, and I think the arrow thing sounds like US corporate BS rather than a traditional saying
Re: Google Reader shut down announced ten years ago today
#150I feel like killing Reader was the point at which I switched from viewing Google mostly positively to more skeptically. Which doesn't seem terribly rational, really; it wasn't the first product to be axed, it was perfectly possible to replace... Maybe it was just the first product axing that really affected me? The moment Google went from "provider of great free stuff" to "sometimes provider of free stuff, sometimes…
If Google cared about RSS, they would have had RSS support in Chrome. They don't have it to this date. When Chrome launched other browsers had RSS support of some sort.
> They don't have it to this date.
Are you sure? I distinctively remember them announcing it and being promptly mocked by people asking when was the date they were going to kill it. Did they abandon the desktop version before a stable release?
https://techdows.com/2022/08/chrome-desktop-rss-follow-sites...