Google’s constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand • Hacker News Board

Re: Google’s constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand

#411

Post by makecheck » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 1:32 PM UTC

sytelus wrote: post #389

This is an issue that is dear to my heart. I think it is possible to almost always avoid killing a product. When a company doesn't want to invest further they can do combinations of the following: * Just open source it. * If code has external IP, isolate them behind interfaces. * If product is service and uses internal infrastructure, you can still isolate those interfaces (assume someone else would build necessary i…

My observation at companies has been that there is rarely the required foresight to be able to prune something off into a separate open-source project. Google uses a mono-repo I believe, which already makes it extremely unlikely that they’ll be able to even build a thing outside the company, much less let it thrive. And “cancellation time” is not when new resources will be diverted to fixing broken-only-outside-the-company behavior.

I’ve only seen this work a couple different ways. One: if the company spins off something very large (like an entire division) that was already self-sufficient so it is pretty clear how to keep it all functional from the outside. Or, two: if, from the very beginning, the person pitching a project insists on an open-source/flexible model and takes lots of steps to ensure that it is constantly working in that way.

Re: Google’s constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand

#412

Post by chrisfinazzo » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 3:03 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #320

chrisfinazzo wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last I checked, YouTube was/is kind of a big deal.

Rumors are that it is still barely above break even if that.

Perhaps, but finances aside, there's no questioning their outsize influence compared to just about every other video site, most of which have withered and died.

Meerkat, anyone?

Re: Google’s constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand

#413

Post by amyjess » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 4:22 PM UTC

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #282

s0rce wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tested a few that appeared from the ashes. Ended up not liking most of them but eventually found bazqux and pay them money.

I switched to Feedly the day they announced the shutdown because it could import from Reader, looked like Reader, and used a lot of the same shortcuts. Is bazqux better?

I found the way Feedly handles scrolling to be aggravating to the point where I couldn't use it.

The Old Reader is great, but it doesn't have a mobile app. For a while, I ended up having accounts with both The Old Reader and Feedly, so I could use The Old Reader on desktop and GReader (a Feedly client) on mobile.

Re: Google’s constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand

#414

Post by ubercow13 » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 4:31 PM UTC

malvosenior wrote: post #75

meddlepal wrote: post #35

Google's two (maybe three) core Google-branded products to non-tech people are Search, Gmail and maybe Chrome. I don't think non-techies could even tell you what some of the other products are or did. I would also wager most people outside of tech don't realize YouTube is owned by Google. Tech people pay a lot of attention to this stuff, but casual user's don't notice or don't care.

You forgot probably their only actually good product: maps

Maps the data is pretty useful, Maps the app is the worst app I regularly use

Re: Google’s constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand

#415

Post by munk-a » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 5:28 PM UTC

wvenable wrote: post #381

munk-a wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? I'm on windows 10 and I couldn't tell you what they've changed in notepad - did they fix legacy mac EOL support (i.e. `\r`)?

Yes, they did fix the line-endings for both Mac and Unix files. https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/12/17563704/microsoft-window...

Oh, well that's nice and helpful. Good for them!

It probably adds almost no value to the product they're selling (nobody is buying windows for notepad, and anyone with serious notepadding to do gets a real editor) but it's a nice thing to do.

Re: Google’s constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand

#416

Post by Animats » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 5:41 PM UTC

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #366

Animats wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hadean looks interesting. But there's no documentation available, just hype. Their demo was big, but very simple - it's a FPS in space. They demoed Hadean on Azure, but it's not clear that it's tied to Azure. The problem is basically distributed cache coherence. You have many small data objects shared between a large number of machines. Often, one needs access to an object on another machine. How do you do that effic…

I was having a hard time finding the statement that SpatialOS can't run apart from Google Cloud, but they do not allow self-hosting, meaning you are tied to wherever they put their servers which is Google according to the parent's source. I suspect Hadean is similar, they've listed Microsoft as a partner, and presumably it's a cloud service that they are offering, so wherever they host it is where you get it, you're…

I was having a hard time finding the statement that SpatialOS can't run apart from Google Cloud

Search with keywords "improbable google deal". First result [1]: "Improbable is also announcing a strategic partnership with Google, the first part of which will see Google providing its Google Cloud Platform as the backend powering the service."

https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/13/improbable-teams-with-goog...

Re: Google’s constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand

#417

Post by rifung » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 6:37 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #349

rifung wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can you honestly say that Google will support Chrome OS for the next 10 years? Personally I doubt it. I work for Chrome OS, opinions are my own. I think yes it will be supported because Google is trying very hard to diversify its revenue streams and Chrome OS actually makes money and is still growing quickly. Note that Chrome OS is an entirely separate PA (product area) from Hardware.

How does Chrome OS make money? Are there licensing fees involved?

I am not really qualified to answer that question but I believe it's the combination of licensing fees and support

Re: Google’s constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand

#418

Post by jamesgeck0 » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 9:37 PM UTC

amyjess wrote: post #413

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I switched to Feedly the day they announced the shutdown because it could import from Reader, looked like Reader, and used a lot of the same shortcuts. Is bazqux better?

I found the way Feedly handles scrolling to be aggravating to the point where I couldn't use it. The Old Reader is great, but it doesn't have a mobile app. For a while, I ended up having accounts with both The Old Reader and Feedly, so I could use The Old Reader on desktop and GReader (a Feedly client) on mobile.

The Old Reader is compatible with a number of 3rd party clients, including GReader.

Re: Google’s constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand

#419

Post by neop1x » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 9:41 PM UTC

criley2 wrote: post #10

Closing inbox has really made me re-evaluate if I want to continue using Google for email, as the clusterf--- of garbage that Gmail has turned into for people with long-standing accounts is untenable. The kitchen-sink approach of gmail has created a website/app that wants to meet every need and honestly meets none. In the next 24 hours or so I'll be forced from a clean and clear perfectly rolled up and ideal notifyin…

I host my email on my server for years. This is how email was designed. But unfortunately, most people tend to follow monopolistic, centralized services..

Re: Google’s constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand

#420

Post by rock_hard » Wed, Apr 03, 2019, 9:42 PM UTC

dillondoyle wrote: post #382

rock_hard wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s gonna be an interesting one to watch. Hosting the worlds photos costs many billions of dollars each year! That said it’s a key driver to sell android phones (“infinite storage”)...so for the time being you will be good.

Just googled around and I'm guessing the terms allow google to use the photos and associated metadata which sounds to me like it would be hugely valuable. For ML research, search, advertising, etc. If Google knows where my photos were taken, what products are in the photo, what car, etc.

Yeah, people keep saying that...IMO its huge and risky bet to hope for some future way to leverage the meta data for ML