Google Keep • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Keep

#111

Post by threepipeproblm » Thu, Mar 21, 2013, 4:48 PM UTC

foxylad wrote: post #91

threepipeproblm wrote: post #57

Ha like I will ever enter into dependence on another Google app.

I'd love to know how you posted that comment, then. Because if you've stopped using anything from Google because they ditched Reader, presumably you've also sworn off all Microsoft products (they killed Clippy!), anything from Apple (R.I.P. QuickDraw 3D), Ubuntu (oh Gnome2, how I loved thee)... And you won't be using any internet provider since they ditched gopher, or dial-up over the phone service because the bastar…

I suppose that would make follow if you interpreted my comment in the most uncharitable way.

Microsoft used to be known for bending over backwards to maintain "backwards' compatibility. Or used to be... I am in the process of moving away from MS. They still don't kill products with millions of active users for political reasons (http://macsparky.com/blog/2013/3/the-rss-apocalypse) as far as I know.

But I was really referencing that I have no longer have any more desire to depend on a free product (i.e. where I "am the product"), and put myself at the mercy Google's increasing fickleness over what constitutes a viable following.

Re: Google Keep

#112

Post by pseut » Thu, Mar 21, 2013, 5:07 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #108

pseut wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reader is viewed as standalone now. IIRC it was introduced pretty soon after google accounts were and not long after gmail itself, and I remember thinking about it as part of a nebulous "google account package." Now obviously in hindsight I was wrong, but to act as though it is obvious now that "keep" is going to be around and updated for a long time is absurd. All of these products: reader, wave, buzz, notebooks, al…

> Edit (forgot one thing): the other point illustrated by reader is that google is more focused than it was 8 years ago. I can't imagine a product like reader lasting 8 years if it were introduced today. I can't see a product like Reader (in terms of its weak connection to any coherent long-term Google strategy, not its primary features) being released by Google today. Which is, incidentally, just another way of sayi…

I'm not sure if I agree, but that's a fair point. But, again, it wasn't obvious 8 years ago that reader wasn't part of google's long-term strategy. They had gmail, blogger, sites, picasa, etc; all of which could be part of an "open-web" strategy that they've since moved away from.

Re: Google Keep

#113

Post by jayfuerstenberg » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 1:20 AM UTC

michaelwww wrote: post #106

jayfuerstenberg wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google wants your data so it can better target you with ads (how Google makes money). When they realize they want more from you they change things around to make that easy. If/when they figure out it costs more money to run that pseudo-free service they unplug it. People then get upset. But that's not Google's fault. We need to consider ourselves lucky that it lasted as long as it did.

I tried it, didn't like it and moved on to a newsreader I liked better. The only explanation I can come up with for all the emotion is that these people have abandonment issues.

A lot of people fail to understand that free services still need to be paid for and Google's business model has ad merchants paying most of the bills.

As long as this is true Google will remain loyal to them before it's loyal to the end users.

RSS is an open format and because of that you can choose whatever news reader you like.

I hope you'll enjoy whatever app you've found.

Re: Google Keep

#114

Post by gpjt » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 3:07 AM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #98

gpjt wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may be right -- possibly I'm overcompensating for my earlier worries. Still, if the worst comes to the worst it'll still be an interesting project.

> Still, if the worst comes to the worst it'll still be an interesting project. And that can be a compelling reason to do it, anyway, sure.

Indeed. Though now that I've realised it's unlikely to make me my millions, I think I'll write it using Angular, Node, CoffeeScript, MongoDB, and possibly Haskell.

Re: Google Keep

#115

Post by michaelwww » Fri, Mar 22, 2013, 4:48 PM UTC

jayfuerstenberg wrote: post #113

michaelwww wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried it, didn't like it and moved on to a newsreader I liked better. The only explanation I can come up with for all the emotion is that these people have abandonment issues.

A lot of people fail to understand that free services still need to be paid for and Google's business model has ad merchants paying most of the bills. As long as this is true Google will remain loyal to them before it's loyal to the end users. RSS is an open format and because of that you can choose whatever news reader you like. I hope you'll enjoy whatever app you've found.

I've been pretty happy with Feedreader for the past year, except the built in web browser control on Windows is pretty lame -- not Feedreader's fault, but Windows - so I open up with a double click to Chrome when I want to view the original.

Re: Google Keep

#116

Post by Evbn » Sun, Mar 24, 2013, 3:14 AM UTC

taligent wrote: post #51

alec wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evernote has taken hundreds of millions in funding over the course of five years. How they going to justify that investment with some portion of their 11 million users paying $45/year? Are they going to sell? If they sell, will the service survive?

It is a pretty high proportion though (>1M) and the user base is incredibly loyal. Combine with the lock in effect, lack of decent competition and opportunities into enterprise market and you have recipes for a bright future. And there is no evidence of them selling. It is just FUD.

So Google Keep, a freenium product with Takeout, is evil, but Evernote, a paid product with lock in, is good?

Oooookaaaaay.