5 ms·

Google Flops & Failures - The Failed Google Graveyard

13 points by billpg 16y ago

robertg 16y ago
That's what happens when you encourage your employees to build things on their own. You have more failures than successes as far as products go. Personally, I like that Google has these pet projects that they try out for a while and see if they work. Not everything you do is going to be successful. I'll take my gmail/maps/apps/reader and be happy. And who knows, maybe in the near future they will come out with something new that I can't live without.
- ben1040 16y ago
  Exactly -- without having swung and missed so many times, they wouldn't have hit so many out of the park, too. Gmail, Maps, Docs, and Reader all started out as these same sorts of embryonic projects that got critical mass and justified their development into the blockbuster services they are now. It seems ingrained in Google's corporate culture to push things out there and see what has staying power. Some things stick and some don't, that's life.
sjs382 16y ago
Google Buzz listed but not Google Wave?
- yardie 16y ago
  Someone scrolled to the bottom too fast.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
dansingerman 16y ago
Google Answers predated Yahoo Answers by quite some time (3 years).
- davidu 16y ago
  That's just not true. Maybe a Yahoo! Answers redesign and rebranding, but certainly not the launch of Yahoo! Answers which was formerly known as Ask Yahoo!
  - joshu 16y ago
    That's not actually correct. Answers came from the Taiwan version of Answers, which was itself a clone of Naver in Korea. Ask Yahoo was unrelated. And still appears to be there.
vark 16y ago
They forgot: 1. Lively 2. Google Print Also, Google Answers preceded Yahoo Answers -- they got that wrong.
ThomPete 16y ago
They also seemed to forget the photosharing service hello.com
- dchest 16y ago
  Wasn't it Picasa's project before Google acquired them?
Monkfish 16y ago
great graphics on this badboy.
superk 16y ago
Remember Google Knol? http://knol.google.com http://knol.google.com Their answer to Wikipedia....
- moultano 16y ago
  It was never intended to be an "answer" to wikipedia.
theycallmemorty 16y ago
You know what else is a failure? Presenting text in a JPG in 10 point font.
- chris_j 16y ago
  I was going to say the same thing. When I first visited the page, I quickly scrolled down to the bottom of the page, thinking "I hope I get past this huge ad and on to the text of the article." Luckily, I realised my mistake and moved closer to the screen in order to read the tiny text.

13 points by billpg 16y ago

That's what happens when you encourage your employees to build things on their own. You have more failures than successes as far as products go. Personally, I like that Google has these pet projects that they try out for a while and see if they work. Not everything you do is going to be successful. I'll take my gmail/maps/apps/reader and be happy. And who knows, maybe in the near future they will come out with something new that I can't live without.

ben1040 16y ago
Exactly -- without having swung and missed so many times, they wouldn't have hit so many out of the park, too. Gmail, Maps, Docs, and Reader all started out as these same sorts of embryonic projects that got critical mass and justified their development into the blockbuster services they are now. It seems ingrained in Google's corporate culture to push things out there and see what has staying power. Some things stick and some don't, that's life.

sjs382 16y ago

Google Buzz listed but not Google Wave?

yardie 16y ago
Someone scrolled to the bottom too fast.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

dansingerman 16y ago

Google Answers predated Yahoo Answers by quite some time (3 years).

davidu 16y ago
That's just not true. Maybe a Yahoo! Answers redesign and rebranding, but certainly not the launch of Yahoo! Answers which was formerly known as Ask Yahoo!
- joshu 16y ago
  That's not actually correct. Answers came from the Taiwan version of Answers, which was itself a clone of Naver in Korea. Ask Yahoo was unrelated. And still appears to be there.

vark 16y ago

They forgot: 1. Lively 2. Google Print Also, Google Answers preceded Yahoo Answers -- they got that wrong.

ThomPete 16y ago

They also seemed to forget the photosharing service hello.com

dchest 16y ago
Wasn't it Picasa's project before Google acquired them?

Monkfish 16y ago

great graphics on this badboy.

superk 16y ago

Remember Google Knol? http://knol.google.com http://knol.google.com Their answer to Wikipedia....

moultano 16y ago
It was never intended to be an "answer" to wikipedia.

theycallmemorty 16y ago

You know what else is a failure? Presenting text in a JPG in 10 point font.

chris_j 16y ago
I was going to say the same thing. When I first visited the page, I quickly scrolled down to the bottom of the page, thinking "I hope I get past this huge ad and on to the text of the article." Luckily, I realised my mistake and moved closer to the screen in order to read the tiny text.