4 ms·

It's easy to sit here and say "open source it!", but do you realize how much work that could entail? This was most likely written to take advantage of the goog

It's easy to sit here and say "open source it!", but do you realize how much work that could entail? This was most likely written to take advantage of the google ecosystem. Written to work on Google hardware, with a Google database, using Google's internal messaging, using Google's custom source control, by Google employees, it probably tightly integrates with several proprietary Google services, etc... I'd be willing to be good money that even if it was open sourced (or sold) it would be almost entirely useless. And that's ignoring the fact that open sourcing (or selling) it might not be possible because there is a good chance it can contain trade secrets. I do agree with you that it's a problem when users are losing confidence in some products, but personally I feel that it would be better solved with better communication. Get some kind of messaging together that will let users know when their products are "core google" and when they are more "auxiliary".

tyingq 11y ago
Also hard to "open source" free top/center ad placement of the widget :) Perhaps the most relevant feature vs other existing financial services comparison websites.
shrewduser 11y ago
if google has properly weighed up all the options (including open sourcing, selling, putting it on life-support, creating a team to manage EOL services or whatever other method you can think of) and decided that it makes the most sense to just kill it thereby hurting their users and in the process making their new services and ideas less likely to succeed then i'm totally fine with that decision. I guess my point is that i don't believe they've considered the fact that they're making their future endeavours harder for themselves.
- jfoster 11y ago
  If they had looked at all those options, I would expect them to mention it in the sunset announcement. Wouldn't that help to avoid the sunset of one product negatively impacting other current & future products?
rubyfan 11y ago
To the point on open sourcing, while valid for other ventures, Google Compare is largely not novel. They mostly partnered with existing vendors in the independent agent comparative rating space where this sort of technology is both common and mature. Since they relied so heavily on partnerships and from what I could tell of Compare, I'd strongly doubt they could open much more than the interview process (which has next to no value).
amelius 11y ago
They could have released it still, including the documentation that says how to connect it to an external database, etcetera.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

tyingq 11y ago

Also hard to "open source" free top/center ad placement of the widget :) Perhaps the most relevant feature vs other existing financial services comparison websites.

shrewduser 11y ago

if google has properly weighed up all the options (including open sourcing, selling, putting it on life-support, creating a team to manage EOL services or whatever other method you can think of) and decided that it makes the most sense to just kill it thereby hurting their users and in the process making their new services and ideas less likely to succeed then i'm totally fine with that decision. I guess my point is that i don't believe they've considered the fact that they're making their future endeavours harder for themselves.

jfoster 11y ago
If they had looked at all those options, I would expect them to mention it in the sunset announcement. Wouldn't that help to avoid the sunset of one product negatively impacting other current & future products?

rubyfan 11y ago

To the point on open sourcing, while valid for other ventures, Google Compare is largely not novel. They mostly partnered with existing vendors in the independent agent comparative rating space where this sort of technology is both common and mature. Since they relied so heavily on partnerships and from what I could tell of Compare, I'd strongly doubt they could open much more than the interview process (which has next to no value).

amelius 11y ago

They could have released it still, including the documentation that says how to connect it to an external database, etcetera.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]