5 ms·

Crazy. People on Hacker News are still upset at Google for shutting down Reader.

by dannyr 9y ago

avaer 9y ago
I don't think it's about being upset -- it's about pattern recognition and learning from one's mistakes as a consumer.
- Kurtz79 9y ago
  In this case we are not really talking about a free consumer product, though. I would be surprised if Toronto's municipality would grant this development without having some guarantees of it being carried out, save for paying severe penalties.
  - FLGMwt 9y ago
    Infrastructure projects can be a lot more expensive than even non monetized software projects.
  - ghostly_s 9y ago
    Sounds like a free consumer product to me. What exactly is the profit model you see in this?
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
oculusthrift 9y ago
you realize they shut down like 80 percent of what they start? or atleast abandon it?
- dannyr 9y ago
  Where did you pull that 80% from? Or you just feel like it's 80%? Most of Google's big projects are still alive today. Search, Gmail, Android, GSuite, Chrome, Drive, AdWords, YouTube, etc. There are a few big projects that they shut down but most are smaller projects. Do we want Google to just launch products that they will keep alive indefinitely whether it succeeds or not? Should Google not have started its self-driving car initiative, Calico, Fiber? Yeah, Glass failed. So what? Do you want a company to innovate? Have them try different things. You can't change the world by only doing things with 100% certainty.
  - onion2k 9y ago
    80% sounds quite high but I wouldn't be surprised if the number is around there. Google are big enough to take risks and try things that don't work out. There are 95 official Google products in the Wikipedia 'discontinued products' listing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products#Discontinued_products_and_services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products#Discon..., but that's not very accurate in that it doesn't mention things have failed but are limping along, and it includes things that were discontinued but live on in other products (eg Wave merged with Docs). It's not entirely unreasonable to suggest Google have 20 successful products for their ~95 discontinued ones though.. which would work out as 80% 'failed'.
  - lightbyte 9y ago
    Google bought YouTube after it was already hugely successful. I don't think it makes the best example here.
    - deelowe 9y ago
      I wouldn't characterize hemorrhaging money and facing lawsuits from all of major media players as being successful. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/15196982/ns/business-us_business/t/google-buys-youtube-billion/#.WRMnY1PyujI http://www.nbcnews.com/id/15196982/ns/business-us_business/t...
- bitmapbrother 9y ago
  80%? Post your analysis and let's find out the real percentage. Don't worry, I won't be expecting a response.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - dang 9y ago
    Please don't post uncivilly, even when someone else is wrong.
- havetocharge 9y ago
  Why is that significant? How many projects has GE or IBM discontinued? Google is at the peak of its profitability today, so whatever is being done to products seems to be working out.
Animats 9y ago
And their fiber-optic to the home ISP. That's quite relevant here.
- idank 9y ago
  Fiber is still alive. Here's an announcement from last month. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/04/google-fiber-building-in-louisville-despite-lawsuit-from-att-and-charter/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/04/googl...
  - dannyr 9y ago
    Also it pushed the broadband industry forward by providing competition. AT&T and Comcast stepped up their development of Gigabit Internet in the US.
    - mtgx 9y ago
      And they stopped doing that in the same week Google announced that it would stop pushing Fiber.
    - rayiner 9y ago
      Maybe. AT&T started deploying FTTN to major cities like Houston and Chicago in 2005-2006 (four years before Fiber). Their gigabit buildout was based on that original plan (which dates to SBC). Comcast has been on the DOCSIS upgrade treadmill for years. In the 7 years before Fiber they went from 8 to 100 upgrading to DOCSIS 2.0 then DOCSIS 3.0. Gigabit is another 10x jump over a similar time frame, based on DOCSIS 3.1.
      - Animats 9y ago
        There was also Verizon FIOS, which started in 2005, expanded to 5 million customers, then stopped expanding much after 2010. It apparently cost Verizon more than they'd expected.
- ReligiousFlames 9y ago
Pxtl 9y ago
Sms in Hangouts, personally.
dang 9y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14305945 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14305945 and marked it off-topic.
jsemrau 9y ago
Fool you once, fool you twice I guess

Crazy. People on Hacker News are still upset at Google for shutting down Reader.

by dannyr 9y ago

Crazy. People on Hacker News are still upset at Google for shutting down Reader.

avaer 9y ago

I don't think it's about being upset -- it's about pattern recognition and learning from one's mistakes as a consumer.

Kurtz79 9y ago
In this case we are not really talking about a free consumer product, though. I would be surprised if Toronto's municipality would grant this development without having some guarantees of it being carried out, save for paying severe penalties.
- FLGMwt 9y ago
  Infrastructure projects can be a lot more expensive than even non monetized software projects.
- ghostly_s 9y ago
  Sounds like a free consumer product to me. What exactly is the profit model you see in this?

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

oculusthrift 9y ago

you realize they shut down like 80 percent of what they start? or atleast abandon it?

dannyr 9y ago
Where did you pull that 80% from? Or you just feel like it's 80%? Most of Google's big projects are still alive today. Search, Gmail, Android, GSuite, Chrome, Drive, AdWords, YouTube, etc. There are a few big projects that they shut down but most are smaller projects. Do we want Google to just launch products that they will keep alive indefinitely whether it succeeds or not? Should Google not have started its self-driving car initiative, Calico, Fiber? Yeah, Glass failed. So what? Do you want a company to innovate? Have them try different things. You can't change the world by only doing things with 100% certainty.
- onion2k 9y ago
  80% sounds quite high but I wouldn't be surprised if the number is around there. Google are big enough to take risks and try things that don't work out. There are 95 official Google products in the Wikipedia 'discontinued products' listing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products#Discontinued_products_and_services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products#Discon..., but that's not very accurate in that it doesn't mention things have failed but are limping along, and it includes things that were discontinued but live on in other products (eg Wave merged with Docs). It's not entirely unreasonable to suggest Google have 20 successful products for their ~95 discontinued ones though.. which would work out as 80% 'failed'.
- lightbyte 9y ago
  Google bought YouTube after it was already hugely successful. I don't think it makes the best example here.
  - deelowe 9y ago
    I wouldn't characterize hemorrhaging money and facing lawsuits from all of major media players as being successful. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/15196982/ns/business-us_business/t/google-buys-youtube-billion/#.WRMnY1PyujI http://www.nbcnews.com/id/15196982/ns/business-us_business/t...
bitmapbrother 9y ago
80%? Post your analysis and let's find out the real percentage. Don't worry, I won't be expecting a response.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- dang 9y ago
  Please don't post uncivilly, even when someone else is wrong.
havetocharge 9y ago
Why is that significant? How many projects has GE or IBM discontinued? Google is at the peak of its profitability today, so whatever is being done to products seems to be working out.

Animats 9y ago

And their fiber-optic to the home ISP. That's quite relevant here.

idank 9y ago
Fiber is still alive. Here's an announcement from last month. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/04/google-fiber-building-in-louisville-despite-lawsuit-from-att-and-charter/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/04/googl...
- dannyr 9y ago
  Also it pushed the broadband industry forward by providing competition. AT&T and Comcast stepped up their development of Gigabit Internet in the US.
  - mtgx 9y ago
    And they stopped doing that in the same week Google announced that it would stop pushing Fiber.
  - rayiner 9y ago
    Maybe. AT&T started deploying FTTN to major cities like Houston and Chicago in 2005-2006 (four years before Fiber). Their gigabit buildout was based on that original plan (which dates to SBC). Comcast has been on the DOCSIS upgrade treadmill for years. In the 7 years before Fiber they went from 8 to 100 upgrading to DOCSIS 2.0 then DOCSIS 3.0. Gigabit is another 10x jump over a similar time frame, based on DOCSIS 3.1.
    - Animats 9y ago
      There was also Verizon FIOS, which started in 2005, expanded to 5 million customers, then stopped expanding much after 2010. It apparently cost Verizon more than they'd expected.
ReligiousFlames 9y ago

Pxtl 9y ago

Sms in Hangouts, personally.

dang 9y ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14305945 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14305945 and marked it off-topic.

jsemrau 9y ago

Fool you once, fool you twice I guess