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Everything in life is a "stopgap". In an ideal world we wouldn't need to make reservations at all, our phones would just sense that we were heading toward a res

Everything in life is a "stopgap". In an ideal world we wouldn't need to make reservations at all, our phones would just sense that we were heading toward a restaurant and would work directly with people there to ensure we have a table and our food is ready and paid for by the time we get there. But we don't live in an ideal world, and making a "perfect" system that nobody uses is useless. This is a solution that real people can take advantage of right now for many places that don't have the budget or time to integrate with every service out there. It's an real solution to a real problem, and I don't think calling it "show and tell" is fair just because you can think of a "technically better" solution in 5 minutes that you'll never be able to roll out to 90%+ of stores and services out there. "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good"

scarface74 8y ago
No the good would be Google hosting a free booking software as a service system and an app or even Google Assistant to interact with the system. I'm sure companies would jump at the opportunity. Google gets more information about people's habits and it the success rate would be a lot higher. "Don't let overly complicated be the enemy of the simple"....
- Klathmon 8y ago
  Which they can still do! And are in a way (they also showed integrations with assistant and APIs at the same time as showing Duplex). But that assumes that businesses have the time to integrate, that they care to integrate, and that they can repeat the process for every proprietary API and service out there. That requires a fulltime developer or another service that does the integration for them. Which again isn't a problem for a lot of businesses, they might be more than happy to do that, but we won't ever hit 100% coverage with those services, especially not across all the "smart assistants" out there. This allows users to work with almost 100% of businesses right now, and businesses can further integrate without duplex if needed/wanted and the user will not have to care what system the business uses, or how it integrates.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    But that assumes that businesses have the time to integrate, that they care to integrate, and that they can repeat the process for every proprietary API and service out there. Google is the 800 pound gorilla. Companies would integrate with them if they don't want to be left out. This allows users to work with almost 100% of businesses right now, You're assuming that it will be good enough and that the businesses won't hang up on it like people do with every other spam automated system.
- Eridrus 8y ago
  And this runs head long into competitive issues. Google says they'll integrate the Google Assistant with OpenTable to let you book tables, but what's the chance OpenTable would nix that integration if Google was trying to make a free competitor? Google doesn't want to be in the restaurant booking system business, and this let's them offer a service in their assistant that no one else can.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    Companies already go out of their way to place nice with Google (AMP pages). OpenTable really wouldn't have a choice. By being the default, Google has a competitive advantage. Google doesn't want to be in the restaurant booking system business Google wants to be in every business where they can gather data to better target advertising.
- VivaLaPanda 8y ago
  They already do this actually, but the coverage is pretty spotty. There are still restaurants that don't have websites and you're asking them to set up a digital booking system through Google. It's just not going to happen. Also, I see this tech as more of a way of training up their AIs on tasks that provide a bit of value while they wait for people to connect to the official booking APIs and such.

scarface74 8y ago

No the good would be Google hosting a free booking software as a service system and an app or even Google Assistant to interact with the system. I'm sure companies would jump at the opportunity. Google gets more information about people's habits and it the success rate would be a lot higher. "Don't let overly complicated be the enemy of the simple"....

Klathmon 8y ago
Which they can still do! And are in a way (they also showed integrations with assistant and APIs at the same time as showing Duplex). But that assumes that businesses have the time to integrate, that they care to integrate, and that they can repeat the process for every proprietary API and service out there. That requires a fulltime developer or another service that does the integration for them. Which again isn't a problem for a lot of businesses, they might be more than happy to do that, but we won't ever hit 100% coverage with those services, especially not across all the "smart assistants" out there. This allows users to work with almost 100% of businesses right now, and businesses can further integrate without duplex if needed/wanted and the user will not have to care what system the business uses, or how it integrates.
- scarface74 8y ago
  But that assumes that businesses have the time to integrate, that they care to integrate, and that they can repeat the process for every proprietary API and service out there. Google is the 800 pound gorilla. Companies would integrate with them if they don't want to be left out. This allows users to work with almost 100% of businesses right now, You're assuming that it will be good enough and that the businesses won't hang up on it like people do with every other spam automated system.
Eridrus 8y ago
And this runs head long into competitive issues. Google says they'll integrate the Google Assistant with OpenTable to let you book tables, but what's the chance OpenTable would nix that integration if Google was trying to make a free competitor? Google doesn't want to be in the restaurant booking system business, and this let's them offer a service in their assistant that no one else can.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Companies already go out of their way to place nice with Google (AMP pages). OpenTable really wouldn't have a choice. By being the default, Google has a competitive advantage. Google doesn't want to be in the restaurant booking system business Google wants to be in every business where they can gather data to better target advertising.
VivaLaPanda 8y ago
They already do this actually, but the coverage is pretty spotty. There are still restaurants that don't have websites and you're asking them to set up a digital booking system through Google. It's just not going to happen. Also, I see this tech as more of a way of training up their AIs on tasks that provide a bit of value while they wait for people to connect to the official booking APIs and such.