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Google Poly is shutting down

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Re: Google Poly is shutting down

#151

Post by amyjess »

SystemOut wrote: post #99
onion2k wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've not only heard of it, I use it frequently. It's by far the easiest way to access permissively licensed (Creative Commons attribution mostly) content for making things in WebGL. Given the fact that Poly is essentially a very basic CRUD app with simple files attached there's can't really be a good reason to shut it down - it's simple, mature, and can't take much more than a few hours of maintenance a month for a s…

They have a real problem finding developers that will want to work on it. You don't get promoted at Google for maintaining a product that isn't growing.

This is an HR problem. Two HR problems really, as exemplified by both your sentences.

> They have a real problem finding developers that will want to work on it.

At most companies, you don't get to choose projects you want to work on. You get assigned a project whether you like it or not. Almost every other company functions like this, Google's insistence on being different is shooting them in the foot.

> You don't get promoted at Google for maintaining a product that isn't growing.

Maybe Google should be selecting for people who aren't interested in chasing promotions. There are plenty of 'workman' developers in the world who are okay with spending the rest of their careers maintaining legacy systems. This probably ties into good ol' Silicon Valley age discrimination: they spend so much time chasing young hotshots with chips on their shoulders, while most of the workman developers are in their 50s.

Re: Google Poly is shutting down

#152

Post by aeternum »

SystemOut wrote: post #108
virtue3 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Complete second hand / third hand heresay but: The reason google kills everything is because they do everything via monorepo. So if they don't have enough devs to literally -keep a service up to date with the currently evolving stack- they have to kill the project. This is why things get killed so easily. Makes sense to me from a "why canyt you just leave it on" standpoint. But it still makes me very leeery of trusti…

This. Spent almost 3 years at Google and my view is that it is an intended side benefit of how they do development. If something that relies on say, one of their log services, and that log service is getting end-of-lifed then all the dependent services that aren't really critical will also get shutdown. It's a forcing mechanism to keep the amount of cruft down. If that service that relies on the old service is that i…

This makes sense for engineers but is detrimental from a user point of view. Google effectively taking what would be a few days of engineering time to update some API calls and instead amplifying it and passing it on to users.

When considering whether to learn/migrate to a Google service, everyone should consider this ratio at which Google values your time vs. that of their engineers.

Re: Google Poly is shutting down

#153

Post by samizdis »

cj wrote: post #55
rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counterpoint: since Google has firmly established a reputation for killing their own products, people who would otherwise find value in certain Google products (beyond search ads gmail and android) avoid them and never hear about them to begin with. I wonder if they are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy: google launches a product, people avoid it assuming it’ll get killed off, google says the user metrics don’t jus…

I think HN tends to overplay google's product discontinuations. If you ask someone who doesn't read HN if they've ever been frustrated with Google shutting down a product, my guess is 95%+ of people wouldn't be able to remember a single product that was shut down that they used. One solution for Google might be to brand the products without the "Google" name prefix, until Google is absolutely sure it will be around f…

You might well be right with your 95 per cent guess, but it has proved frustrating and even embarrassing for me over the years to have recruited friends, family, colleagues and associates to some Google products/services only for the rug to be pulled later from under those who jumped aboard on my recommendation.

This has happened with Picassa, with Google+ (which had great integrations with other G services, and features I liked - such as one that let you group people into, say separately addressable units such as friends, family, colleagues, associates etc) and also the original Google chat (still around, but functionally degraded and headed for the chop, I fear).

I've loved some of these because of their features/usability. To me Google+ having few users and not having content pushed in my face was a bonus. Text chatting happily while in a Gmail tab (usually open when I'm working) but with minimal distraction and not having to context-switch - suits me. And now a lovely library of free 3D assets is for the chop.

Once upon a time I earned a little kudos for having my finger on the pulse and spotting decent emerging tech/trends. I was laughed at by many when, in 1994, I switched from a senior role in print news to one in the nascent online space - but many people took an interest because of my recommendation or at my urging.

I am no seer, I am rarely an evangelist, but I hate it that many people I know have invested time/effort in Google stuff on my recommendation. I feel as though I have let them down.

Re: Google Poly is shutting down

#154

Post by perryizgr8 »

pqb wrote: post #148
perryizgr8 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Duo is pretty big. It's pre-installed on every single android phone, and on Samsung phones it is the default video calling app too. Also, you cannot remove it. You can uninstall the icon, but the underlying code is so deeply integrated into the OS that people can still call you and you will get a Duo video call even after uninstalling it. Quite a menace.

That's interesting. I have a Fairphone 3 with a stock Android 10 and it does not come with the Duo pre-installed. The icon for video chats in Contacts app is greyed-out. After installing the Google Duo, it becomes active. Is it possible to remove/deactivate it via adb or other tools?

> Is it possible to remove/deactivate it via adb or other tools?

I haven't tried, I don't mess with my phone too much because I don't want to trip the Knox fuse.

I'm surprised an Android 10 phone does not have Duo pre-installed. Does it have the standard Play store and associated google apps?

Duo has 1 billion+ installs in play store, which basically means they pre-installed it on every phone.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...

Re: Google Poly is shutting down

#155

Post by guyzero »

NoOneNew wrote: post #144
mikestew wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no posted evidence for the idea that Google only makes money on advertising, either. Can we have a discussion where we assume that everyone isn't an idiot who needs a link for every statement? Or do you seriously think advertising is the only way Google makes money? If so, sibling comment posted some nice links that one would do well to read.

They're publicly traded. Their revenue sources are open for the public to read. The other guy saying they're diversified linked to their quarterly to show 80% ad revenue. That's pretty much "they're an ad company".

A decade ago when the OP was an intern it was 100%! Non-ad revenue source have grown by infinity percent!

I made a very specific claim and I'm not sure what everyone's problem is. Google has found other sources of revenue and is actively trying to grow those sources. There are other hoses. I have never claimed it's not an ad company or that ads have somehow gone away. Because that would be dumb and factually wrong.

Re: Google Poly is shutting down

#156

Post by toastercat »

NoOneNew wrote: post #96
ma2rten wrote: post #28

Every time Google is shutting down a product there are the same kind of reactions like “I will not trust google running anything more than a year”, “killedbygoogle.com”. I’m wondering, have you ever heard about this product? I for one have no clue what this is. How many more products does google have that you never heard about and that are not shut down?

Yes, but what about the people who did? Here's the thing, Google is a big company. When a big company offers a service or product you expect a long shelf life so you can justify the time/money investment to use it. If you stumble across an open source or just some other random project by a single dev, you have an instinctive expectation that the project could die at any time. Thus, you invest your effort accordingly…

> If you stumble across an open source or just some other random project by a single dev, you have an instinctive expectation that the project could die at any time.

Ironically at this point, I'd place more trust on an open-source project because at the very least, if the maintainer abandons it, I could fork it and potentially self-host.

Re: Google Poly is shutting down

#157

Post by guyzero »

NoOneNew wrote: post #142
guyzero wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google's revenue is more diversified today than it's ever been. This is a facile take.

Being "well diversified" is subjective. But in freelance/contracting, the rule of thumb is to never have a customer account for more than 25% of your yearly income. You diversify your client base so when one walks away, it's never too big of a hit. Ads make up 80% of their revenue. That's not diversified. That's an ad company that dabbles in other things. If Shell or BP's revenue was 80% oil and 20% solar, wouldn't y…

To quote the OP, "There is no second hose."

My statement is that yes, there is a second hose.

I've never said they're not primarily an ad company.

Re: Google Poly is shutting down

#158

Post by tti »

ma2rten wrote: post #28

Every time Google is shutting down a product there are the same kind of reactions like “I will not trust google running anything more than a year”, “killedbygoogle.com”. I’m wondering, have you ever heard about this product? I for one have no clue what this is. How many more products does google have that you never heard about and that are not shut down?

I used the models for YouTube videos. It was convenient since most of them are free to use if you credit the author.

Re: Google Poly is shutting down

#159

Post by RussianCow »

guyzero wrote: post #157
NoOneNew wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being "well diversified" is subjective. But in freelance/contracting, the rule of thumb is to never have a customer account for more than 25% of your yearly income. You diversify your client base so when one walks away, it's never too big of a hit. Ads make up 80% of their revenue. That's not diversified. That's an ad company that dabbles in other things. If Shell or BP's revenue was 80% oil and 20% solar, wouldn't y…

To quote the OP, "There is no second hose." My statement is that yes, there is a second hose. I've never said they're not primarily an ad company.

If it constitutes significantly less than 20% of their revenue, it's not a "hose that pours money out". So no, Google has not yet found a second hose, even if they've found other revenue streams.

Re: Google Poly is shutting down

#160

Post by fakedang »

cj wrote: post #55
rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counterpoint: since Google has firmly established a reputation for killing their own products, people who would otherwise find value in certain Google products (beyond search ads gmail and android) avoid them and never hear about them to begin with. I wonder if they are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy: google launches a product, people avoid it assuming it’ll get killed off, google says the user metrics don’t jus…

I think HN tends to overplay google's product discontinuations. If you ask someone who doesn't read HN if they've ever been frustrated with Google shutting down a product, my guess is 95%+ of people wouldn't be able to remember a single product that was shut down that they used. One solution for Google might be to brand the products without the "Google" name prefix, until Google is absolutely sure it will be around f…

Allo, Duo, Music, Hangouts were all products people in my circles used regularly, even if I didn't.
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