Live data from Hacker News

Google SMS search has been shut down

productforums.google.com

1–10 of 59 posts

Re: Google SMS search has been shut down

#5
Wow, from that thread the service looks very useful(even if you have a smartphone with data). Wish I knew about it before the shutdown.

I guess such is life in the Googleverse now: if you're unprofitable then you're "distracting us from our core mission". Who wants to make bets on the next service(s) to bite the dust? :)

Re: Google SMS search has been shut down

#6
post #2

Are Google having cashflow problems? How come they're shutting down so many of their services?

Google "Babel" is coming. Maybe that's why.

I also think Google's top executives have a certain vision about what apps they will need in the future, and where they are heading, and that doesn't include many of the more "random" projects that were built before.

Re: Google SMS search has been shut down

#7
post #2

Are Google having cashflow problems? How come they're shutting down so many of their services?

>Are Google having cashflow problems?

Nope, they are more profitable than ever.

My friend who works at Google explained to me that a big issue is maintenance. It's a tougher problem than it sounds because if an issue comes up someone needs to understand the codebase well. When a product is no longer worth the budget of full-time employees the best course of action is to kill the product.

Re: Google SMS search has been shut down

#8

Wow, from that thread the service looks very useful(even if you have a smartphone with data). Wish I knew about it before the shutdown. I guess such is life in the Googleverse now: if you're unprofitable then you're "distracting us from our core mission". Who wants to make bets on the next service(s) to bite the dust? :)

Never knew about it, either.

Re: Google SMS search has been shut down

#9

Wow, from that thread the service looks very useful(even if you have a smartphone with data). Wish I knew about it before the shutdown. I guess such is life in the Googleverse now: if you're unprofitable then you're "distracting us from our core mission". Who wants to make bets on the next service(s) to bite the dust? :)

Let's extend that idea to it's logical extent: http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns

Re: Google SMS search has been shut down

#10
post #7
post #2

Are Google having cashflow problems? How come they're shutting down so many of their services?

>Are Google having cashflow problems? Nope, they are more profitable than ever. My friend who works at Google explained to me that a big issue is maintenance. It's a tougher problem than it sounds because if an issue comes up someone needs to understand the codebase well. When a product is no longer worth the budget of full-time employees the best course of action is to kill the product.

This: Nope, they are more profitable than ever.

Goes hand in hand with "shutting down a lot of services" since rounded to the nearest billion dollars the only business Google has is search & display advertising, generally deleting anything else accretes positively to the bottom line :-)

Post reply on HN