Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon • Hacker News Board

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#121

Post by wyldfire » Thu, Dec 06, 2018, 1:56 AM UTC

gomox wrote: post #88

SwellJoe wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what Meet is. When I add an event in Google Calender, there is an "Add Conferencing" dropdown...in it is "Hangouts". That adds a conference link to the event, which I can then share with whoever I want to meet with. When it comes time to meet, I open the email reminder, or look in my calendar, and click the link. Everybody shows up...we meet. That's Hangouts, as far as I know. It opens in the Hangouts gr…

That thing you are describing used to be Hangouts, but is now Meet.

Branding / re-branding is clearly not one of Google's strengths. Why change the name? Just change the feature set.

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#122

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Dec 06, 2018, 2:00 AM UTC

GuiA wrote: post #44

whitepoplar wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People can smell when a product isn't earnest. From the beginning, Allo smelled like a directive by a Google VP to "get messaging market share."

Not that I’m defending Allo, but I don’t know how useful your distinction is. What is an earnest product then? Any product released by a company that has bills to pay is released to “get market share”.

[deleted]

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#123

Post by pvg » Thu, Dec 06, 2018, 2:01 AM UTC

barry-cotter wrote: post #21

TwoNineA wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Throwing shit at wall until something sticks? Example: Google Talk, Messages, Hangouts, Allo

I still miss Google Chat. I spent at least a hundred hours using that, then they changed it to Google Talk and I used it maybe three more hours. Trash fire.

Wasn't chat just an extension of Google Talk into the gmail web client?

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#124

Post by paxys » Thu, Dec 06, 2018, 2:01 AM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #95

secabeen wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Setup a family slack. Works well, full media support. Options for bringing other people in and having family connection there, or you can just DM each other.

Slack is significantly more complex than most messaging apps.

Is it though, beyond the initial setup (team creation etc., which only needs to be done by a single person)?

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#125

Post by paxys » Thu, Dec 06, 2018, 2:02 AM UTC

burger_moon wrote: post #33

Does anyone have a good alternative for someone who is not tech savvy at all and on an Android phone? I set this up on my mom’s phone because she doesn’t get good enough cell reception at or around her place so an internet based messaging system works best. She is in very poor health and can barely hold the phone so something that doesn’t have a lot of small icons and in general just easy to setup and use would be gr…

The biggest requirement for a messaging app is that people you talk to need to be using it. How often does she use messaging, and who all does she communicate with the most? Start from there, and you'll soon find an obvious answer. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Kik, Signal, WeChat, Line, Skype, iMessage all work well.

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#126

Post by ydnaclementine » Thu, Dec 06, 2018, 2:03 AM UTC

I forgot which HN thread I read this, but an ex-googler said something like: "the most important thing to do for career growth at google is to launch your product, doesn't matter how shit/half assed/etc it is. You don't get credit for maintaining the old stuff."

Reading that put a lot of Google's actions into perspective (how many chat clients do they really need?, youtube music, etc)

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#127

Post by wwright » Thu, Dec 06, 2018, 2:04 AM UTC

coolspot wrote: post #101

scaleout1 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wait till they break Google voice into Google talking and Google Listening

Then shut down Listening part.

Sounds like a wildly successful competitor against Twitter to me

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#128

Post by erik_seaberg » Thu, Dec 06, 2018, 2:06 AM UTC

thwy12321 wrote: post #98

baroffoos wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not so sure. Googles core product is search and that has been fairly rock solid as long as it has existed. A lot of the fuckery has been around their other products and I think the company could probably afford to shut down most of them and continue to run fine.

I always wonder if the other projects are just retainer projects. They dont really care as much what happens, they just dont want those engineers on the open market.

I think they saw Microsoft miss the Next Big Thing™, and they're afraid it could happen to them, so they're investing in everything while the AdSense/AdWords cash cows last.

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#129

Post by zorpner » Thu, Dec 06, 2018, 2:07 AM UTC

beginningguava wrote: post #106

8ytecoder wrote: post #45

Google feels like a company that's run by a bunch of engineers/product managers instead of a product leader with a cohesive vision. Anyone with an iPhone would understand what iMessages is and what FaceTime is. What is what and what you can do with each. Now explain it to me Google - what's your vision? (Or is it "target end state" in engineering speak?) As customers we want (at most) one chat application and one vid…

>Now explain it to me Google - what's your vision It's a bunch of very talented, bored engineers who realize that launching a product, even if it fails, is better for their career and resume than doing grunge work that might be better for google's bottom line Basically resume driven development and Google hasn't done anything to prevent it. They probably don't care, they'd rather have them wasting money at Google tha…

This is exactly correct (former Googler; still in touch with many). This is one of the reasons for the endless usability-destroying redesigns on their successful products -- people need listable accomplishments in order to advance, either internally or externally.

Google has destroyed, or at least nullified, a generation of engineering talent with their unambitious, checkbox-resume based advancement scheme. We should all expect more from a supposedly engineering-driven organization.

Re: Source: Google Allo will be officially shut down soon

#130

Post by e98cuenc » Thu, Dec 06, 2018, 2:08 AM UTC

harryf wrote: post #77

londons_explore wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lead of Maps spends a large proportion of his time listening to user feedback (some of it even here on HN!). I suspect that's a big part of the reason for the higher quality product.

Is that still Bernie Seefeld ?

Bernie's a genius and super humble guy. I was lucky enough to work close to him during his last months in Switzerland before he left to NY. He's inspiring.