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Google Kills Cloud Print

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Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#381

Post by chalst »

cpeterso wrote: post #345
chalst wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maps counts, I think. But that's going back awhile.

Google Maps was not an in-house project. Google assembled it by acquiring mapping companies Where 2 Technologies and Keyhole.

I should have checked Wikipedia at least, who link to a 2005 CNET story on the Where 2 acquisition. - https://www.cnet.com/news/google-mapper-take-browsers-to-the...

It looks like a talent acquisition: the Where 2 codebase was a C++ app, nothing to do with the Ajax implementation they rolled out.

I'd be interested in learning more about this story.

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#382

Post by shadowgovt »

slig wrote: post #199
zelly wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should just sell their dead products. I know they don't need money, but someone could probably maintain the Cloud Print codebase and add value to the world.

I've heard numerous times about how everything inside Google is so tightly coupled to their infrastructure that making it work outside is extremely difficult.

It's true. Trying to isolate a specific product and deploy it independently if it's grown up "organically" inside Google's core infrastructure is like trying to take an animal from the rainforest and air-drop it into Antarctica with a "good luck" and a smile.

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#383

Post by contextfree »

NicoJuicy wrote: post #268

I don't think Google understand how essential product support is.. It's one of the reasons why Microsoft is extremely popular for the cloud ( I think). Microsoft is very clear on products which aren't SLA supported. The only thing I remember is killing Silverlight. And seeing .net core thrive, it was the right decision. But don't forget, that changing the direction of the company was made public with a new CEO, altho…

How was it the right decision? Silverlight was cross-platform, then they made a Windows-specific fork which is WinRT XAML/WinUI (most people don't realize this but this stack originated as a repurposing of the Silverlight codebase directly, it wasn't a rewrite), now they are apparently hoping to make it cross platform again (see e.g., https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/20/winui_winrt_windows... )

It seems like they could have taken a less roundabout route to get there.

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#384

Post by scottlamb »

branon wrote: post #3

I'm confused on what the replacement is. Historically, ChromeOS hasn't been able to print at all unless using Google Cloud Print in some form. To my knowledge there are two existing forms: * a Google Cloud Print-ready printer, or * a computer that can run Chrome and bridge non-Google Cloud Print-ready printers to Google Cloud Print.[0] So the ancient WPS printer in my garage is entirely unsupported without deploying…

> So the ancient WPS printer in my garage is entirely unsupported without deploying a computer running Windows or macOS, installing Chrome, and registering a "classic printer"

I think the support text is wrong—you could do this on Linux as well. It'll be a moot point though when Cloud Print shuts down.

> Why is CUPS gimped so badly on ChromeOS?

Have you tried recently? I don't think it is anymore. Yesterday my Chromebook seemed to just see my printer on my local LAN (via Rendezvous, I assume).

I agree these product/support docs you linked are pretty alarming. But I think the actual situation is (or if not is, will be) much better for basic ChromeOS in simple situations:

* auto-discovered network-connected printer on the same LAN as the Chromebook

* network-connected printer where you know the hostname and it's reachable from the Chromebook

* USB printer connected directly to the Chromebook

Hopefully those docs will improve soon...

Note that while I work for Google, I don't have any inside knowledge of this.

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#385

Post by panopticon »

derefr wrote: post #331
scarface74 wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are they a really good startup builder? What have they built in house that has been a success since Gmail? After flailing around for a decade, almost all of their profit is still based on ads. They are less diversified than any of the big tech companies besides Facebook.

Google is a startup builder but also a bureaucracy that serves as a startup killer. I have a feeling that a lot of the projects Google creates would thrive if Google had budded them off, and only end up dying because they keep them living within the company. (For example, Google Reader, if budded off, would have just been Feedly a decade earlier, which is a fine standalone company.)

I think Google's scale is a problem here. They're always talking about the "next billion users". With that mindset, nothing short of hundreds of millions of users is a success.

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#386

Post by ukyrgf »

EricE wrote: post #175

BTW CUPS on a raspberry pi make a great little print server and can extend features like AirPrint to printers that otherwise don't have them. One of the better write-ups: http://ventures.tpedersen.net/errata/raspberrypi/homepiv3 But there's lots of this out there. You can set it up on any machine you have - if you leave a desktop on all the time or have a NAS that lets you run VMs too you can put this functionality t…

Unless you have a Brother printer. It's been a year so maybe this information is outdated, but last I looked they had absolutely no support/drivers for ARM.

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#387

Post by HEHENE »

ianhawes wrote: post #60

My business includes printing, signing, and mailing certain documents, so it was crucial for our efficiency to automate the process of printing. Our first "fancy" printer included support for Google Cloud Print - except it would periodically "deauthenticate" and require manual setup, which in turn would change certain printer IDs that we needed to send jobs to the printer. Our next "fancy" printer from Xerox also inc…

Will tack QZ Tray (https://qz.io) onto this list. I've actually used it at my last two jobs for everything from dot matrix printers, laser printers, shipping label printers, and scales (Mettler Toledo.)

Worked great and support was phenomenal.

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#388

Post by taco_emoji »

So is there any REAL alternative out there? Yeah yeah, ChromeOS supports CUPS now, which is great if your printer connects to the network, but what about those of us who have an older printer that's USB-only?

Moreover, how do you print from Android now? Go ahead and search for instructions how to do that which don't involve either A) Google Cloud Print or B) a vendor-specific app (which probably only works with network-connected printers).

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#389

Post by exhilaration »

ilamont wrote: post #79

Google Cloud Print was a disaster. I could get it to work properly maybe 20% of the time, even with Android devices using the app and Chromebooks. A favorite bug involved a simple print job from one of my kid's Chromebook causing a Brother printer to "print" a blank piece of paper for every sheet remaining in the main tray. By comparison, AirPrint just worked, quickly recognizing new printers from new devices and run…

Just an FYI, I was recently able to get my kids' Chromebook to print to my local Brother (network) printer using these instructions: https://www.reddit.com/r/chromeos/comments/7n3jc1/setting_up...

It uses IPP so no extra software or intermediary needed - the print jobs are sent directly to the printer.

Re: Google Kills Cloud Print

#390

Post by all_blue_chucks »

kllrnohj wrote: post #220
davidwparker wrote: post #102

The product has been around 10 years, and they're giving over a year notice before killing it. Sure, Google kills off another product... But the comments here are a bit silly.

Counter-argument: Just let it sit there and keep working? Outside of security patches, if there even are any, there's always the option of "just stop touching it." After all, the whole pitch of elastic compute is you only pay for what you use. It's not like resources are being freed up for other things here. The software industry is always on this treadmill of churn, leading to stable products continuing to have a co…

Having customer data is a liability. If someone hacks this service and gets the ability to read every customer's printout, it would be a disaster for Google's reputation. If it doesn't make enough money directly or indirectly to compensate for the liability it presents, it is actually a VERY expensive service to continue operating.
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