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Hah. The actual title, "High altitude connectivity: the next chapter" and the admission that the project is actually shutting down remind me of Google's corp-sp

Hah. The actual title, "High altitude connectivity: the next chapter" and the admission that the project is actually shutting down remind me of Google's corp-speak drenched blog post about Google Fiber, "Advancing our amazing bet": https://fiber.googleblog.com/2016/10/advancing-our-amazing-bet.html?m=1 https://fiber.googleblog.com/2016/10/advancing-our-amazing-b...

microcolonel 8y ago
That's not the case though, they are shifting to external vendors rather than developing their own aircraft.
- shaklee3 8y ago
  That's the same as shutting down.
  - taneq 8y ago
    Well, not really. It's more like Apple going into partnership with VW for their self-driving car project. Building a production vehicle is a massive distraction from the core project (ie. the self-driving software).
    - mtgx 8y ago
      Nah, Google also did the same with its End-to-End encryption extension for Gmail. They "didn't abandon it", they just "allowed the community to take it from there". Yeah, so they abandoned it.
      - thinkcontext 8y ago
        The "it" they abandoned is the aircraft, they will continue to work on connectivity. They mention working with Airbus, they have a drone that has stayed aloft for 14 days. It seems like FB decided that they weren't making enough progress on building their own aircraft to justify not using someone else's technology for that piece of the overall project.
draw_down 8y ago
Sure. But don’t you guys ever get tired of pointing out the same thing over and over again?
andyidsinga 8y ago
haha - right out of the Veridian Dynamics playbook :) edit: see also - Jabberwocky http://www.veridian-dynamics.org/jabberwocky.php http://www.veridian-dynamics.org/jabberwocky.php
- NatW 8y ago
  Thanks for the link. I like their disclaimer: >Here at Veridian Dynamics, we care about you. That's why, by visiting this site, you agree to suspend all of your rights. Because we care.
- chrisbennet 8y ago
  That was such a great show! For those wondering, Veridian Dynamics is the fictional company where the show “Better off Ted” is set in. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235547/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235547/
kayoone 8y ago
It's not exactly shutting down, they are shifting priorities away from manufacturing their own planes as they realised that other have caught up and they can just buy the things. They seem to still be working on the main vision, connecting more people (and future customers) to the internet.

microcolonel 8y ago

That's not the case though, they are shifting to external vendors rather than developing their own aircraft.

shaklee3 8y ago
That's the same as shutting down.
- taneq 8y ago
  Well, not really. It's more like Apple going into partnership with VW for their self-driving car project. Building a production vehicle is a massive distraction from the core project (ie. the self-driving software).
  - mtgx 8y ago
    Nah, Google also did the same with its End-to-End encryption extension for Gmail. They "didn't abandon it", they just "allowed the community to take it from there". Yeah, so they abandoned it.
    - thinkcontext 8y ago
      The "it" they abandoned is the aircraft, they will continue to work on connectivity. They mention working with Airbus, they have a drone that has stayed aloft for 14 days. It seems like FB decided that they weren't making enough progress on building their own aircraft to justify not using someone else's technology for that piece of the overall project.

draw_down 8y ago

Sure. But don’t you guys ever get tired of pointing out the same thing over and over again?

andyidsinga 8y ago

haha - right out of the Veridian Dynamics playbook :) edit: see also - Jabberwocky http://www.veridian-dynamics.org/jabberwocky.php http://www.veridian-dynamics.org/jabberwocky.php

NatW 8y ago
Thanks for the link. I like their disclaimer: >Here at Veridian Dynamics, we care about you. That's why, by visiting this site, you agree to suspend all of your rights. Because we care.
chrisbennet 8y ago
That was such a great show! For those wondering, Veridian Dynamics is the fictional company where the show “Better off Ted” is set in. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235547/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235547/

kayoone 8y ago

It's not exactly shutting down, they are shifting priorities away from manufacturing their own planes as they realised that other have caught up and they can just buy the things. They seem to still be working on the main vision, connecting more people (and future customers) to the internet.