Google: Do what you want with Reader, but don't kill CalDAV • Hacker News Board

Re: Google: Do what you want with Reader, but don't kill CalDAV

#21

Post by robertskmiles » Thu, Mar 14, 2013, 7:24 PM UTC

I think Aaron Swartz hit the nail on the head with his "What Does Google Mean by “Evil”?" blog post[1]:

> "They specifically name three: showing irrelevant ads, using pop-ups or other annoying gimmicks, and selling off actual search results. Hardly the stuff of comic books. But what do these three have in common? They’re all instances of refusing to make things worse for your users in order to make more money"

This is just about the first time I've seen Google unambiguously break their own definition of 'evil'.

[1] http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/googevil

Edit: On reflection... not the first time.

Re: Google: Do what you want with Reader, but don't kill CalDAV

#22

Post by duaneb » Thu, Mar 14, 2013, 7:25 PM UTC

Well this is disappointing, to say the least. At least replace it with a better open standard, or I won't use google calendar, which is probably my favorite google product after gmail.

Re: Google: Do what you want with Reader, but don't kill CalDAV

#23

Post by cobbal » Thu, Mar 14, 2013, 7:26 PM UTC

rythie wrote: post #14

Surely this breaks calendar syncing with iOS http://support.google.com/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&a... please tell me I'm very wrong about this?

Pure speculation, but I would assume Apple will be a "whitelisted developer".

Re: Google: Do what you want with Reader, but don't kill CalDAV

#24

Post by philwebster » Thu, Mar 14, 2013, 7:31 PM UTC

cobbal wrote: post #23

rythie wrote: post #14

Surely this breaks calendar syncing with iOS http://support.google.com/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&a... please tell me I'm very wrong about this?

Pure speculation, but I would assume Apple will be a "whitelisted developer".

Based on Google's previous app releases (YouTube, Gmail, Maps, ...) I wouldn't be surprised to see a native Google Calendar app instead.

Re: Google: Do what you want with Reader, but don't kill CalDAV

#25

Post by ladzoppelin » Thu, Mar 14, 2013, 7:32 PM UTC

The real problem for Google is that Microsoft has better products than Gmail and Google Calender. I am completely fine switching to Outlook web mail services and actually want to move after the way they are handling the active sync situation, the redesign and the closing of services. Once I switch, I would still log in for Google Reader but that ends in July. Google is king of search but the game its playing with these other products are dangerous considering the competition.

Re: Google: Do what you want with Reader, but don't kill CalDAV

#26

Post by simcop2387 » Thu, Mar 14, 2013, 7:36 PM UTC

anonymfus wrote: post #17

spiralpolitik wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google only supports open standards when it is convenient for them to do so. Now its no longer convenient for them to support CalDav out goes the open standard. I'm sure IMAP support in Gmail will be next on the chopping block.

POP3 is used for migration from Gmail by major competitors, I am sure that Google will drop it before IMAP.

That would bum me out because I don't like their IMAP for grabbing emails. I've had a number of messages have weird issues where the rest of another email is appended to it at the end.

Re: Google: Do what you want with Reader, but don't kill CalDAV

#27

Post by niggler » Thu, Mar 14, 2013, 7:40 PM UTC

robertskmiles wrote: post #21

I think Aaron Swartz hit the nail on the head with his "What Does Google Mean by “Evil”?" blog post[1]: > "They specifically name three: showing irrelevant ads, using pop-ups or other annoying gimmicks, and selling off actual search results. Hardly the stuff of comic books. But what do these three have in common? They’re all instances of refusing to make things worse for your users in order to make more money " This…

You mean Google broke aaronsw's guess at google's understanding of evil.

Evil is a relative term, and if Microsoft is seen as the Evil empire then cutting off amicable relations (manifested by open interfaces) can be construed as "not evil"

Read the update to the article, where he points out that the entire concept of ads could be construed as evil by some.

Re: Google: Do what you want with Reader, but don't kill CalDAV

#28

Post by niggler » Thu, Mar 14, 2013, 7:41 PM UTC

guelo wrote: post #15

cooldeal wrote: post #10

Is there any stated reason for deprecating CalDAV support? I hope the new Calendar API is open enough for platforms like Blackberry, Ubuntu Mobile, Jolla and Firefox OS etc to tap into. It's increasingly looking like Google is making it hard for other platforms except it's own Android and iOS(can't ignore iOS because of the number of users) to interoperate with its services like Youtube, Gmail, Calendar etc.

They're going down the Facebook route, they want to lock you into their AOL-style walled garden. I was surprised the other day when I went to share a video from Google+ to Facebook, turns out I couldn't, it wasn't a youtube video as I had expected.

Was that Google+'s fault for not giving an easily-embeddable link or Facebook's fault for refusing to show the goods?

Re: Google: Do what you want with Reader, but don't kill CalDAV

#29

Post by psbp » Thu, Mar 14, 2013, 7:43 PM UTC

robertskmiles wrote: post #21

I think Aaron Swartz hit the nail on the head with his "What Does Google Mean by “Evil”?" blog post[1]: > "They specifically name three: showing irrelevant ads, using pop-ups or other annoying gimmicks, and selling off actual search results. Hardly the stuff of comic books. But what do these three have in common? They’re all instances of refusing to make things worse for your users in order to make more money " This…

So is Google forbidden from ever closing down a service without being accused of being evil?

Re: Google: Do what you want with Reader, but don't kill CalDAV

#30

Post by orangethirty » Thu, Mar 14, 2013, 7:44 PM UTC

guelo wrote: post #15

cooldeal wrote: post #10

Is there any stated reason for deprecating CalDAV support? I hope the new Calendar API is open enough for platforms like Blackberry, Ubuntu Mobile, Jolla and Firefox OS etc to tap into. It's increasingly looking like Google is making it hard for other platforms except it's own Android and iOS(can't ignore iOS because of the number of users) to interoperate with its services like Youtube, Gmail, Calendar etc.

They're going down the Facebook route, they want to lock you into their AOL-style walled garden. I was surprised the other day when I went to share a video from Google+ to Facebook, turns out I couldn't, it wasn't a youtube video as I had expected.

Just like PG said in one of his essays, Google is now the new Microsoft. It used to be about giving hackers tools to build on top of their services. Now, its all about turning the search engine into a social network.

And before the Google army comes in, let me say one thing. I used to love Google. Used all of their services. Built stuff with their services. Each computer I touched got Chrome installed. I was a fan boy. But then they started changing. Ever since G+, they just seem hell bent on becoming a social network. That shit really pissed me off. How do you simply go from awesome company to this? I'll tell you how. Because its now being run by people who put profits first, and not the users/programmers. They seem to have forgotten that it was us who gives them the profits they get. Such is the reason I'm building Nuuton. Because fuck you Google.