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Sparrow acquired by Google

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Re: Sparrow acquired by Google

#331

Post by jonknee »

shinratdr wrote: post #328
tptacek wrote: post #325

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…

> 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.

Oh please. If they quit their Google jobs and come out with more software that is better than anything currently doing the same task it will sell like hot cakes. No one will care that a couple years ago the same people sold awesome software for really cheap and lots of people used it.

Re: Sparrow acquired by Google

#332

Post by imd23 »

pwenzel wrote: post #132
kyleslattery wrote: post #35

The email Sparrow is sending out, looks like there won't be any future feature additions: Hello, We're excited to let you know that Sparrow has been acquired by Google! You can view our public announcement here, but I wanted to reach out directly to make sure you were aware of the news. We will continue to make available our existing products, and we will provide support and critical updates to our users. However, as…

This is extremely sad. I use Sparrow all day, every single day.

Same here. I use it even for chat! It's an awesome app, so well designed and programmed.

Makes me sad.

Re: Sparrow acquired by Google

#333

Post by slantyyz »

ricardobeat wrote: post #319
slantyyz wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yeah we got screwed. If the current version basically does the job that it's supposed to, then how did you get screwed? It's not like you spent hundreds of dollars on the app. The Mac version is only $10 for crying out loud.

No more updates, it could stop working anytime (like next week) when there is a new OS release.

>> No more updates, it could stop working anytime (like next week) when there is a new OS release.

That does not jive with the Sparrow Team's messaging on the iTunes and Mac app stores that "there will be no new features released for the Sparrow apps, other than minor maintenance and bug fixes".

Re: Sparrow acquired by Google

#334

Post by koide »

encoderer wrote: post #314
dionidium wrote: post #309

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.

Any high six figures (say, over .5 million) figure is actually FU money, as long as you can invest reasonably safely and well and have modest living standards.

I'm amazed at how often I read here that even a million is pocket change that changes nothing on the receivers life.

Re: Sparrow acquired by Google

#335

Post by agwa »

ralfd wrote: post #281
mindcrime wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And now you've gotten lesson #1 on why F/OSS solutions have one huge advantage over their proprietary counterparts: If the original developers of a F/OSS app decide to drop it, you have choices. In the best case, another group of devs may simply fork the project and keep it going, or you ('you' in the general sense here) may choose to bring development in-house, or contract with a 3rd party to maintain and upgrade th…

With open source it is often the same. I am looking at you Mozilla Thunderbird.

But Thunderbird proves mindcrime's point - even though Mozilla-the-company has decided that developing Thunderbird is no longer aligned with their interests, community-driven development will continue, because it's open source. Yes, development will be diminished, but it won't die outright like Sparrow or other closed-source software would.

Re: Sparrow acquired by Google

#336

Post by tomflack »

One thing I loved about sparrow is they charged for their product. I thought that by paying money I was supporting a business. There are loads of similar calibre apps out there they could have tackled with the same gusto they approached email.

So, what are the alternatives?

Re: Sparrow acquired by Google

#337

Post by sjs »

ralfd wrote: post #281
mindcrime wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And now you've gotten lesson #1 on why F/OSS solutions have one huge advantage over their proprietary counterparts: If the original developers of a F/OSS app decide to drop it, you have choices. In the best case, another group of devs may simply fork the project and keep it going, or you ('you' in the general sense here) may choose to bring development in-house, or contract with a 3rd party to maintain and upgrade th…

With open source it is often the same. I am looking at you Mozilla Thunderbird.

For most consumers it's the same. I'd rather pay someone a few dollars than maintain Thunderbird myself (for example) and most people realistically do not have the option of maintaining it themselves.

On the other hand I use a lot of OSS on servers and in the past on my workstations, and have modified them and fixed bugs and such. There are definite advantages but this particular one is not that useful on a large scale.

Re: Sparrow acquired by Google

#338

Post by untog »

potatolicious wrote: post #294
toddmorey wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you really don't get all the benefits of a native app with a web app. It's getting better, the gap is closing, but it will be a while before web apps are an enjoyable an experience as a native app. I think Sparrow was actually a good proof point of that.

More than that - apps like Sparrow move the goalposts actually. It was such a superior to experience to even the best native clients of the day that it widened the gap between web and native once again.

What was so much better about it? I tried it and was unimpressed. Search was slower and worse than web, for one. That surprised me.

Re: Sparrow acquired by Google

#339

Post by jarek »

shinratdr wrote: post #329
jarek wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Fair enough but it's not like it was some once-in-a-lifetime buyout, it was $25 million and it was for talent not the app. Did the VCs really make that much off this sale?

$5 million in the hand is better than $10 Mac App Store sales in the cloud, apparently

Re: Sparrow acquired by Google

#340

Post by tptacek »

tptacek wrote: post #325
shinratdr wrote: post #299

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.

I really shouldn't drink and comment. Sorry.
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