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Google's Decline Really Bugs Me

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Re: Google's Decline Really Bugs Me

#91

Post by na85 »

mhurron wrote: post #85
na85 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What's with the sudden outpouring of Google-hate of late? It's because Google is now an established corporation and has run out of "startup cred." Now that they've become a stable, profitable, publicly-traded member of the corporate scene, they're the antithesis of the HipsterNews crowd who want to keep making webapps with no marketabilitiy over and over again. The Bay Area startup crowd are the definition of hipste…

> It's because Google is now an established corporation and has run out of "startup cred." Now that they've become a stable, profitable, publicly-traded member of the corporate scene, they're the antithesis of the HipsterNews crowd who want to keep making webapps with no marketabilitiy over and over again. Yes it has absolutely nothing to do with their recent and current actions. Everyone is just a startup hipster he…

>Everyone is just a startup hipster here.

I recognize that my comment contained hyperbole but you know what? That "4chan does HN" thread was spot-on in many places.

Re: Google's Decline Really Bugs Me

#92

Post by Kequc »

wpietri wrote: post #70
Kequc wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People don't like change. People like what they had. People hate that Google is deciding to move forward. Now forcing the changes on their user base so that Google doesn't have an unlimited number of different things to maintain.

I think it's more than a dislike of change. It's not clear to me that Google is moving forward. I might characterize it more as "upward" in the sense that they're solidifying their dominant position. Moving forward is precisely what I fear them losing. Of course, it's easy to move forward when you're new and have nothing to lose. Moving forward is much harder when you're the dominant player, because moving forward pu…

I feel that I've been waiting for them to do something with youtube for a long time. Making it and Google plus the same thing is probably the right move. Youtube in general needs a lot of renovation.

The structure of Google plus suits content aggregation really well, it was designed for it. So I think it's a really good fit and I can't really wait for the transition to be finished.

My hesitation used to be something along the lines of I don't want Youtube users on Google plus. But I've come to remember, since it has started. I still have complete control over who shows up in my streams.

Re: Google's Decline Really Bugs Me

#93

Post by alaskamiller »

mbennett wrote: post #87
birken wrote: post #6

Here are 3 pertinent facts related to your post: 1) When I worked there, long before Larry Page was CEO, 20% time barely existed and Google cared a heck of a lot about making money. 2) The share price going up makes employees, former employees, and all sorts of non-"wall street investors" very happy. 3) Your hacker news about section links to your Google+ page

>The share price going up makes employees, former employees, and all sorts of non-"wall street investors" very happy. Sure it does, but when some of the profit increases are made by deliberately decreasing contrast of the background of the ads and avoiding borders to increase ad clicks, especially from old people who are unable to see contrast [0][1], that's when it crosses the line into "decline" of the user experie…

Micro$oft leveraged their market dominance to stifle competition. Google leverages their market dominance to... get more people to create more data with real names.

Re: Google's Decline Really Bugs Me

#94

Post by reikonomusha »

na85 wrote: post #83
mathattack wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does 20% realistically come between 80 and 100%, 100 and 120, or 120 and 140%?

What does that even mean? edit: Yes, let's downmod the guy who doesn't understand an obtusely-worded question. Well done.

He's asking if the 20% time is exclusively:

1. genuinely 20% of one's full-time schedule;

2. 20% beyond one's full-time schedule; or

3. 20% beyond one's over-time schedule.

Re: Google's Decline Really Bugs Me

#95

Post by mhurron »

IBM wrote: post #24
antonius wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Companies like Yahoo and Microsoft; i.e viewed as stodgy old companies that aren't great places to work." For what reasons is Microsoft not a great place to work? I may be biased because my brother works there full-time and a friend is interning there but both of them very much enjoy it.

My comment about them is how they're perceived in the industry, in reality they may be great places to work.

> perceived in the industry

This would be more how their perceived by hobbiests and people who work at startups. For people who want to work at large companies or are willing to work at established companies it doesn't seem true.

Personally, I've only heard negatives about working at MS from people who have been there for a while, new employees are happy and excited to be there.

Re: Google's Decline Really Bugs Me

#96

Post by chii »

alaskamiller wrote: post #88
timr wrote: post #65

If you ask me, one of Google's biggest strategic successes was their ability to convince an entire generation of engineers that they were something other than a company. The way many (otherwise intelligent) people talk about it, you'd think it was a religion. What you're seeing here is not the shattering of a dream, but of an illusion -- Google hasn't been a scrappy, idealistic startup for many years. It's a fine com…

While eating my second dinner plate of something delicious on the campus I looked around and saw how many children and families were around. The company provides, so much, for you, for your family. You wouldn't to ever lose what you have now gotten used to, for yourself, for your family. So now you become a company man. What's good for the company must be good for you. What's good about knowing more people, how they…

tldr; the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Re: Google's Decline Really Bugs Me

#97

Post by afhof »

mathattack wrote: post #53
nostrademons wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) 20% time still exists. I used it to write an HTML parser [1] that's had some modest success, and I have coworkers that have 20%ed on robotics, quantum computation, elementary school education, Project Loon, Flu Trends, and a variety of other interesting things. Google Now came out of a 20% project. It is something that you have to take a lot of initiative on to pull off successfully, but the opportunity is still a…

Does 20% realistically come between 80 and 100%, 100 and 120, or 120 and 140%?

100 and 120, at least in my brief experience. Coworkers start expecting 100% output from you, which means you are going to get a lesser review for putting out 80%. That they don't let you do 20% in the first 6 months there is what makes it so hard to start it back up.

Re: Google's Decline Really Bugs Me

#98

Post by mhurron »

na85 wrote: post #91
mhurron wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's because Google is now an established corporation and has run out of "startup cred." Now that they've become a stable, profitable, publicly-traded member of the corporate scene, they're the antithesis of the HipsterNews crowd who want to keep making webapps with no marketabilitiy over and over again. Yes it has absolutely nothing to do with their recent and current actions. Everyone is just a startup hipster he…

>Everyone is just a startup hipster here. I recognize that my comment contained hyperbole but you know what? That "4chan does HN" thread was spot-on in many places.

Oh it sure was, but that doesn't change the fact that Google has earned this backlash.

Apple was an established company way before Google was, HN doesn't hate it.

Re: Google's Decline Really Bugs Me

#99

Post by jobu »

mathattack wrote: post #53
nostrademons wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) 20% time still exists. I used it to write an HTML parser [1] that's had some modest success, and I have coworkers that have 20%ed on robotics, quantum computation, elementary school education, Project Loon, Flu Trends, and a variety of other interesting things. Google Now came out of a 20% project. It is something that you have to take a lot of initiative on to pull off successfully, but the opportunity is still a…

Does 20% realistically come between 80 and 100%, 100 and 120, or 120 and 140%?

The joke that Google's 20% time is more like 120% time has been around for a long time.

There was even a Dilbert strip about it a couple years ago: http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-12-19/

Re: Google's Decline Really Bugs Me

#100

Post by na85 »

mhurron wrote: post #98
na85 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Everyone is just a startup hipster here. I recognize that my comment contained hyperbole but you know what? That "4chan does HN" thread was spot-on in many places.

Oh it sure was, but that doesn't change the fact that Google has earned this backlash. Apple was an established company way before Google was, HN doesn't hate it.

That's because hipsters love Apple, because Apple is seen as "not-PCs" or "not-Microsoft"
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