321–330 of 393 posts
Google recently acquired QuickOffice too. So now Google owns native clients for GMail and Docs. In addition, they're continuing to build native apps for GDrive, Google Plus, and probably others. This is similar to GitHub and Twitter. Both grew out of the web, but have increasingly acquired or built desktop clients, not to mention mobile ones. And Facebook has made an about-turn on HTML5 everywhere and focusing heavil…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You think that another person should turn down (what was likely) enough money to support their families for the rest of their lives because you invested $10 in their email application? This is what you believe?
Sparrow isn't Instagram. Most acqui-hires lately have been, essentially, large signing bonuses. Six figures per founder. Not "FU" money.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Now imagine if you'd bought it last weekend in their half-off sale. https://twitter.com/lifehacker/statuses/223750237490126849 "Let's make as much money from our abandonware as possible before we have to tell everyone it's abandonware."
That's when I finally bought-in. The thing has a critical bug with iOS6 ... no clue if it'll ever get resolved.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here is a clue for you. When a startup offers you its products for $9.99 or $2.99, they are open to be bought by big companies. There. Now you don't have to ask them to disclose things anymore.
That is ridiculous. Plenty of apps have existed for decades on those prices. Small, dedicated devs are the lifeblood of OS X and iOS contrary to what those who don't use the platforms believe. I have had no reason to expect this to be the norm in the past and I have no reason to expect it now. You don't just get to abandon your users without repercussions, as easy as that would make things for you. You can comfort yo…
"Free market BS". Because I think a $9.99 mail client sale doesn't make a developer your indentured servant.
I think they'll be fine.
Wow that sucks. What a classic example of an acquisition killing a great product. I use Sparrow for mail on mac and iphone and like many other sparrow users have mentioned, this really pissed me off. What pissed me off even more was the way sparrow announced it like it was some kind of great accomplishment, maybe for their own wallets but not at all for users. "Full speed ahead!" - What the hell does that mean? They…
Its really ashamed to see such a promising product get sucked inside the bowels of Google.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is ridiculous. Plenty of apps have existed for decades on those prices. Small, dedicated devs are the lifeblood of OS X and iOS contrary to what those who don't use the platforms believe. I have had no reason to expect this to be the norm in the past and I have no reason to expect it now. You don't just get to abandon your users without repercussions, as easy as that would make things for you. You can comfort yo…
You don't? You don't get to abandon your users? Not without repercussions? What repercussions would those be, angry anonymous message board guy? Are you never ever nerver nenver neva-neva-nen going to hire them or buy their products again? "Free market BS". Because I think a $9.99 mail client sale doesn't make a developer your indentured servant. I think they'll be fine.
No, you don't. Was there any purpose to asking that three times besides to emphasize that it should be read in the most condescending way possible?
> What repercussions would those be, angry anonymous message board guy?
My name is Ross Woodruff, I live in Toronto, Ontario. I use my shinratdr name everywhere. I don't try to be anonymous, I'm not, and I don't see what that has to do with anything.
> Are you never ever nerver nenver neva-neva-nen going to hire them or buy their products again?
Basically. You can characterize me as a stubborn child all you want (really solid argument tactic there BTW), I think abandoning users is a crappy thing to do. I also don't think I'm the only one who supported them with this opinion.
> Because I think a $9.99 mail client sale doesn't make a developer your indentured servant.
No because it has no bearing in reality. Your users don't care and aren't going to be understanding that you abandoned them. The theories you espouse are just things devs can tell themselves to make themselves feel better about doing what is, in essence, a really crappy thing to their users.
They don't change the reality. Likewise, users being mad at you doesn't equal indentured servitude. The only thing that defines indentured servitude is your ability to leave. They left. Is anyone demanding they return and continue the app? No. We're just making it known we support devs that support us.
> I think they'll be fine.
So long as they stay in the corporate world from now on. Should they switch back to a startup, plenty of users will hear "from the Sparrow team" in the future and avoid the product because they can't trust it will be available & useful for them in them when they need it.
They sold out their reputation in the iOS & OS X software world for jobs at Google. I hope that you're right and it was worth it. From what we've seen in the past, that won't be the case. Most startup types abandon those jobs within a couple years and are back to independent development right away. They might not find the user community so welcoming the second time around.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is ridiculous. Plenty of apps have existed for decades on those prices. Small, dedicated devs are the lifeblood of OS X and iOS contrary to what those who don't use the platforms believe. I have had no reason to expect this to be the norm in the past and I have no reason to expect it now. You don't just get to abandon your users without repercussions, as easy as that would make things for you. You can comfort yo…
> Plenty of apps have existed for decades on those prices. Most of these weren't funded by VCs expecting some sort of liquidity event to get return on their investment.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't? You don't get to abandon your users? Not without repercussions? What repercussions would those be, angry anonymous message board guy? Are you never ever nerver nenver neva-neva-nen going to hire them or buy their products again? "Free market BS". Because I think a $9.99 mail client sale doesn't make a developer your indentured servant. I think they'll be fine.
> You don't? You don't get to abandon your users? Not without repercussions? No, you don't. Was there any purpose to asking that three times besides to emphasize that it should be read in the most condescending way possible? > What repercussions would those be, angry anonymous message board guy? My name is Ross Woodruff, I live in Toronto, Ontario. I use my shinratdr name everywhere. I don't try to be anonymous, I'm…
Oh no!