4 ms·

It's been around for 3 years now though??? How long does something have to last before it's worth trying out?

ohazi 8y ago
It's not about any one particular product. I used to be excited about Google products in general, and was eager to try them out. Now I'm not. This was genuine good will that the Google brand used to have, and they threw it away -- the blame here lies squarely with Google. The core principals of the company seem pretty firmly rooted now. There's everything related to the advertising and tracking side of the business, which nobody really likes and which they try to keep hidden, but that pays the bills a hundred times over. Then there's the "cool new technologies" side of Google, which used to be run by sensible intelligent people. This was the glamorous side of Google, so a lot of the attention seeking sociopaths ended up here. Most wannabe-Googlers are interested in this side of the company, not ads. So now this side of the company is full of bozo politicking PMs with no original ideas other than to make shitty clones of everything Apple does, and the smart people are either frustrated or gone. Google corporate dangles the most ridiculous, foot-shooting promotion structure anyone has ever seen, and so their non-ad product roadmap is a complete circus. So it doesn't matter that this particular product happened to be around for three years before getting axed. Google's non-ad product strategy is essentially that every product will get killed or replaced by a "new and improved" product, designed by a completely different team, that's demonstrably worse. Fuck that.
- nraynaud 8y ago
  be careful it could be your age advancing that simply reduces your enthusiasm for new tech. (I'm the same, but I'm trying to be better that the other grumpy old men by simultaneously getting those pesky kids off my lawn and knowing that I do it because of the conflict of generations)
  - TeMPOraL 8y ago
    Could be, but I'm not old and I feel the same way GP does. Google of ~8 years ago was about creating powerful new tools. Google of today is about bloating them, removing features, and ruining the UX with unnecessary redesigns. Yes, I am more cynical these days, but I attribute it to stopping paying attention to what tech could be, and instead observing what it is, and how it actually gets used.
  - xemdetia 8y ago
    I doubt it's really an ageism thing, Google sometimes acts like an extremely immature company when it comes to product lifecycles. Even IBM when it cuts products usually at least publishes a EOL date to rely on. All of Google's shutoffs are abrupt, sudden, and generally with barely enough time to scrape what you need from them before they disappear. A startup of the week at least is hanging its hat on the idea that they are trying to turn into a business and even if it evaporates you at least know the focus is there. Google's commitment to customer has always been generally terrible unless you are in the 1MM per annum and up club. Google's general radio silence when it comes to support/evangelizing these products is just crazy. I have more faith any day of the week using the latest and greatest toys from Amazon (AWS), IBM, and Microsoft compared to Google because they usually have clear EOL cycles and suitable warning periods for things going away if there is ANY level of interest. The only products I feel like are going to be there in six years is Search (because it keeps the lights on) and Gmail (because it is entrenched, popular, and enterprise pays for it).
- dreamcompiler 8y ago
  A thousand times this. This is why Google maps suck even though they didn't five years ago. This is why Gmail sucks while it didn't a year ago. At Google, you don't get promoted for maintaining a good product. You only get promoted by pissing on a good one and ruining it.
  - pjc50 8y ago
    One of these days I'll write a hack for gmaps to get it to actually show some POI markets without having to zoom all the way in.
    - lotsofpulp 8y ago
      They have started showing logos for businesses that want to advertise on the maps, such as bed bath and beyond or staples stores.
      - pavel_lishin 8y ago
        Oh, are those hidden behind the giant EXPLORE tab at the bottom of my phone that I dismiss literally every time?

It's not about any one particular product. I used to be excited about Google products in general, and was eager to try them out. Now I'm not. This was genuine good will that the Google brand used to have, and they threw it away -- the blame here lies squarely with Google. The core principals of the company seem pretty firmly rooted now. There's everything related to the advertising and tracking side of the business, which nobody really likes and which they try to keep hidden, but that pays the bills a hundred times over. Then there's the "cool new technologies" side of Google, which used to be run by sensible intelligent people. This was the glamorous side of Google, so a lot of the attention seeking sociopaths ended up here. Most wannabe-Googlers are interested in this side of the company, not ads. So now this side of the company is full of bozo politicking PMs with no original ideas other than to make shitty clones of everything Apple does, and the smart people are either frustrated or gone. Google corporate dangles the most ridiculous, foot-shooting promotion structure anyone has ever seen, and so their non-ad product roadmap is a complete circus. So it doesn't matter that this particular product happened to be around for three years before getting axed. Google's non-ad product strategy is essentially that every product will get killed or replaced by a "new and improved" product, designed by a completely different team, that's demonstrably worse. Fuck that.

nraynaud 8y ago
be careful it could be your age advancing that simply reduces your enthusiasm for new tech. (I'm the same, but I'm trying to be better that the other grumpy old men by simultaneously getting those pesky kids off my lawn and knowing that I do it because of the conflict of generations)
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  Could be, but I'm not old and I feel the same way GP does. Google of ~8 years ago was about creating powerful new tools. Google of today is about bloating them, removing features, and ruining the UX with unnecessary redesigns. Yes, I am more cynical these days, but I attribute it to stopping paying attention to what tech could be, and instead observing what it is, and how it actually gets used.
- xemdetia 8y ago
  I doubt it's really an ageism thing, Google sometimes acts like an extremely immature company when it comes to product lifecycles. Even IBM when it cuts products usually at least publishes a EOL date to rely on. All of Google's shutoffs are abrupt, sudden, and generally with barely enough time to scrape what you need from them before they disappear. A startup of the week at least is hanging its hat on the idea that they are trying to turn into a business and even if it evaporates you at least know the focus is there. Google's commitment to customer has always been generally terrible unless you are in the 1MM per annum and up club. Google's general radio silence when it comes to support/evangelizing these products is just crazy. I have more faith any day of the week using the latest and greatest toys from Amazon (AWS), IBM, and Microsoft compared to Google because they usually have clear EOL cycles and suitable warning periods for things going away if there is ANY level of interest. The only products I feel like are going to be there in six years is Search (because it keeps the lights on) and Gmail (because it is entrenched, popular, and enterprise pays for it).
dreamcompiler 8y ago
A thousand times this. This is why Google maps suck even though they didn't five years ago. This is why Gmail sucks while it didn't a year ago. At Google, you don't get promoted for maintaining a good product. You only get promoted by pissing on a good one and ruining it.
- pjc50 8y ago
  One of these days I'll write a hack for gmaps to get it to actually show some POI markets without having to zoom all the way in.
  - lotsofpulp 8y ago
    They have started showing logos for businesses that want to advertise on the maps, such as bed bath and beyond or staples stores.
    - pavel_lishin 8y ago
      Oh, are those hidden behind the giant EXPLORE tab at the bottom of my phone that I dismiss literally every time?