You know, Google, the web already had this feature • Hacker News Board

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#231

Post by pseut » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 5:09 AM UTC

sixish wrote: post #98

InclinedPlane wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest problem with Google has been that they've been a "benevolent monarch", more or less. Meaning, much of the reason why google has been good for the web has been due to specific choices that google leadership has made and the ways that google has chosen to wield its power. This contrasts to strict limits on power and strong external forces from competition, etc. As long as the monarch is benevolent this is g…

Google's character was obvious to me when they insisted their slogan was "don't be evil" and not "do no evil". A "do no evil" pledge is something that can be judged. Did they do evil by sabotaging the local 'yellow pages' in Africa? Was using their position on the board of competitors for their own advantage evil? This phrase refers to events and actions and facts, things that accountability is based on. Something ca…

> Google's character was obvious to me when they insisted their slogan was "don't be evil" and not "do no evil".

I thought the consensus was that "don't be evil" meant "don't be Microsoft" (of the 90s) which makes it a pretty easy slogan to be judged by.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#232

Post by crucifiction » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 5:11 AM UTC

sshumaker wrote: post #170

coldtea wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think you're fixating on Google+ as a social network, when that's not really the point. Google+ is meant to serve as an identity layer for Google, so you don't have a bunch of different logins / passwords to silo-ed properties, which makes a frustrating user experience. No, it's not meant like that at all. Google didn't create Google+ to have a single sign on. It created it specifically to compete with Facebook.…

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57413309-93/larry-page-goog... "[Larry Page] ... called [G+] the "social spine," reminding listeners that the service isn't just a destination, but a unifying social framework for all Google's products." First off, Google allows you to have multiple identities with SSO. And I find it hard to argue that it's not a good thing for 99% of the user base. Managing multiple accounts sucks, a…

how else are you going to use the youtube comments as they are meant to be? I can't make half-witted, nonsensical, semi-racist comments if they are linked to my own name!

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#233

Post by miahi » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 5:11 AM UTC

dombili wrote: post #192

gcb0 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then stop using their products. Switch to bing, they are still smart enough not to screw their search. The very second you have to be logged in to search, they are dead. but for everything else... want to leave a review in googleAppstore? enable g+. Want to thumbs up a video on youtube? enable g+. Want to do something in picasa? enable g+ (i don't even know which feature i was using, because i never was able to use…

I'm sorry but do you really need to enable G+ to do all those things? I've enabled G+ long time ago without Google asking me to, so I'm genuinely asking. I'm too lazy to create an account just to check it out.

Yes, you are prompted to enable G+ in many "normal" activities. You are also prompted to "unify your accounts" and "use your real name" in youtube. You cannot even skip that "use your real name" prompt, I usually reload the link I wanted and hope the window disappears.

Not sure a new account helps, G+ could be enabled from the start.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#234

Post by Joeri » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 5:11 AM UTC

indubitably wrote: post #213

thisisrobv wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has done an amazing job of mixing really shitty practices like this with really amazing things like the self driving car and glass. As long as they continue to diversify and innovate they will have supporters... even if they often break their "don't be evil" motto.

Is glass really that amazing? Personally I think it's going to fail, like a long line of recent Google products.

I consider it like the 1980's cell phone. Way too expensive, not nearly capable enough, and you look really silly using it. But then let it evolve for a decade or two, and you might get something inevitable. Eventually i'm expecting something like the augmented reality in the TV show continuum, and that is something people would really be into.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#235

Post by debaserab2 » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 5:14 AM UTC

blhack wrote: post #121

kunai wrote: post #2

Google has overstayed the web's welcome. What started out as a quirky, innovative company that bucked all of the suit-and-tie trends (see Microsoft, HP, even Apple in some regards) of Silicon Valley, has now turned into a monstrous calamity with no regard for its users. Up until 2009, it was breezy and beautiful, but right now, at this moment, it's a different story altogether. Don't be evil? Pfeh. The only thing lef…

>Google has overstayed the web's welcome. Then stop using their products. Switch to bing, switch to Internet Explorer, get an iPhone and shut up about it. No, google has not "overstayed the web's welcome", google has overstayed the welcome of a few entitled silicon valley golddiggers who will continue feeling wronged for the next 10 minutes until they realize what wonderful things google has created in the world for…

No one's doubting that Google has a great of achievement or hasn't earned the success they have.

That doesn't mean that people don't have a right to criticize the google that exists today.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#236

Post by city41 » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 5:15 AM UTC

OGinparadise wrote: post #210

kunai wrote: post #2

Google has overstayed the web's welcome. What started out as a quirky, innovative company that bucked all of the suit-and-tie trends (see Microsoft, HP, even Apple in some regards) of Silicon Valley, has now turned into a monstrous calamity with no regard for its users. Up until 2009, it was breezy and beautiful, but right now, at this moment, it's a different story altogether. Don't be evil? Pfeh. The only thing lef…

Don't be evil? Pfeh. The only thing left of Google that they haven't managed to screw up or cause outrage over is search. The only thing they can't afford to change, for fear people will stop using it. Search is gone too, virtually all ads: http://cdn.ghacks.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/google-sear... http://www.click-conversion.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/g...

Your two examples are "get credit card" and "Nike shoes on sale"? Try "geomorphology" or "big o notation" or anything not consumer related. Quite frankly if I searched for "Nike shoes on sale" then those ads are exactly what I'd want to see.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#237

Post by pseut » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 5:18 AM UTC

BenoitEssiambre wrote: post #84

I have always been somewhat of a Google fanboy except for a few misgivings about their worrisome breadth of infiltration into people's live and things like the iGoogle shutdown but the Reader situation has been a huge slap in the face that made me lose a lot of faith in them. There is a huge war between Facebook and Google for global control of the most popular social graph and as much as I like Zuckerberg as a perso…

What's especially frustrating is that for a while, it seemed like this was the direction Google might go; mash together google reader + gmail/contacts + (optionally) blogger and you have a pretty good open-web social network.

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#238

Post by clobber » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 5:19 AM UTC

NewAccnt wrote: post #129

kunai wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing Google Glass does that my smartphone already can't. And how is Apple waging war against openness? WebKit is open-source. They're pushing HTML5 against Flash (open vs proprietary). Darwin (OS X without Quartz and DPS) is open source. A few of the apps included with OS X are open-source. Google cars? Driverless car research has been going on for years, both before and alongside Google. Look, I'm not ba…

HTML5 is not standard, certainly not open. Everyone abandoned WebKit for some unknown reason having to do with Apple. Please list these OSS Apps, I would love to know since Google and Wikpedia say nothing like that.

http://www.opensource.apple.com/

Crazy, huh?

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#239

Post by pseut » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 5:20 AM UTC

zevyoura wrote: post #50

DanBC wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do they need to do to fix YouTube? (I'm really asking. I think some of it is broken, and maybe people can pass information onto YouTube people.) 1) Default to 240: I want to be able to always watch videos in the worst resolution possible. I want the lightest bandwidth possible. I'd sometimes be happy with just the audio. It seems that I can't default to 240, no matter what I click. 2) Small elements in UI: There…

> Default to 240: I want to be able to always watch videos in the worst resolution possible. I want the lightest bandwidth possible. I'd sometimes be happy with just the audio. It seems that I can't default to 240, no matter what I click. Strange you mention this, because just minutes ago I changed a video to 240, and it prompted me to save my preference (the text was headlined with "Slow Connection?"). Maybe a new f…

Go back later and see if it sticks :)

Re: You know, Google, the web already had this feature

#240

Post by tracker1 » Fri, Apr 12, 2013, 5:20 AM UTC

wilfra wrote: post #112

GFischer wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you missed it, but searching here in Hacker News, you'll find it creeping along. PLENTY of complaints In my personal case: Android - bugs that stay open for years (my own post from a year ago is unresolved, and it affects all Spanish-speaking Android users https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4532596 ) Chrome: other than it displaying advertising, I haven't heard much bad about Chrome https://news.ycombinator.c…

tl;dr 'i'm mad and can name at least one thing i don't like about every Google product' one could make a similar list about every popular product - online or offline. nothing pleases everybody all the time at scale.

For me, they killed (are killing) the two products I use most... iGoogle, and Reader. That's it.. I've bought into the android ecosystem and what I use most there is reader.

Without those two products, I have far less reason to use google for anything.