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This is the HN bubble. They only have this reputation among nerds who are still angry about losing Google Reader. Go ask any normal person if Google has a rep
by notatoad 8y ago
This is the HN bubble. They only have this reputation among nerds who are still angry about losing Google Reader. Go ask any normal person if Google has a reputation for discontinuing products, and they won't know what you're talking about.
Also, i don't know who out there is heavily invested in a $35 audio dongle. I love mine, but it still works just as well today as it did yesterday and not being able to order more isn't causing me any anxiety.
- burtonator 8y agoSerious question... is there a list of Google created products vs products they purchased? The only two successful Google consumer products are gmail and maps... almost everything else they acquired.
- njarboe 8y agoForgot Google search/Adwords. Its what "googling" means. :)
- dehrmann 8y agoHalf credit for Adwords; Adsense (the other side of Adwords) was an acquisition.
- darren_ 8y agogoogler. This one always comes up a lot for some reason (I really don't understand what point is being made), but I'll point out that maps was actually acquired. But, it's been so long since that it's been a) thoroughly ship of theseus-ed such that I'd be surprised if there's more than minor fragments of the original codebase remaining and b) sprouted large new features that are under the 'maps' umbrella but could easily be standalone apps in their own right (example: public transit support in google maps; there's a whole marketplace of apps that just do that). Similarly for docs, android, etc - maybe they were started with an acquisition but given the amount of change and work done on top of that: so what?
- pxeboot 8y agoDidn't Maps start out as Keyhole?
- dragonwriter 8y ago> The only two successful Google consumer products are gmail and maps. I dunno, Search seems pretty successful. > almost everything else they acquired. Android was neither successful nor much like what became successful when they acquired it.
- derp_dee_derp 8y agoI might just be a "nerd" on hacker news but I'm also the guy who just made the decision on which cloud service, email provider, and document sharing service to use at my job. Guess which company didn't get the contract.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- burgerboy 8y agoOh no a few small fish lost
- praneshp 8y agoIf you're making those decisions because you're bitter over Google Reader, I think Google's not the one that's hurting.....
- guggle 8y agoI can relate. This extends to any technology they offer. Like Go... interesting on paper, but I just won't invest my personal time in it.
- ViViDboarder 8y agoFor me, Go Go is a bit different as it’s open source with a strong community. I don’t see it going anywhere.
- jhall1468 8y agoAnd none of those services are going anywhere. If you're given the responsibility to make those types of decisions, I have my doubts that you based it on whether an audio dongle or RSS feed reader were dumped.
- spurgu 8y agoI went through a similar process the other day with a startup. We did pick GSuite at the end but the questionable decisions made by Google in the last 1-2 years made me want to look into alternatives instead of just choosing the one which would've been a no-brainer choice in the past.
- saurik 8y agoI never used Google Reader and never cared much for RSS, and yet as a developer I have been bit by tons of services Google has discontinued, from login mechanisms to web APIs. The shut down tons of things, including things that make them money (Google Checkout). I know end users sad about Picasa, as they had organized all of their photos into that app, and have seen end users concerned about the continual discontinuation of messaging apps. Where is this storyline / narrative that this is always about Google Reader coming from? It is downright nonsensical at this point, and is clearly false.
- CobrastanJorji 8y agoAt the time you posted this comment, there was already at least one other hacker news reader complaining about Google Reader in this thread. Check any other thread about Google killing a thing, on this site or any other, and it's always there.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoWell, there was and there will be for foreseeable future, because Google Reader was damn useful and is a poster child of Google's habit of hyping up useful products and then canning them.
- ThomPete 8y agoWhy havent anyone attempted to take over? Is it only possible for google?
- dsr_ 8y agoThere are a dozen services and a hundred run-your-own servers. People lose detail in older memories; Google Reader did a pretty good job and had few awful problems, so it is remembered fondly. The death notice was a big shock to people who relied on it heavily, so it is remembered vividly. I set up a Tiny RSS server and have been reasonably content.
- 8y ago
- dana321 8y agoSo many successful products canned. https://killedbygoogle.com/ https://killedbygoogle.com/ Also, the Google Search API (not the site search) which was useful was killed off as well.
- geerlingguy 8y agoAnd Google Search Appliance, Urchin Web Monitor, etc. it’s definitely not just a bunch of people burned by Reader.
- Fnoord 8y agoAnd GCM [1] which kills microG as there's no FCM implementation. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Cloud_Messaging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Cloud_Messaging
- ehsankia 8y agoAgain, ask an average person, and they won't recognize even 5 products in that list. The only things in that list they might recognize is Google+ and Inbox, both of which aren't even dead yet.
- dana321 8y agoI think most people know of Google Wave, Orkut, Google Answers, Google Video (was turned from a service into a search), Picasa and Google Reader. Most people probably remember Google Labs, iGoogle homepage and Google Answers too. Google Desktop was pretty popular as well.
- starpilot 8y agoWe all have to remember HN commenters are irrelevant as far as marketing any product. If you see the embarrassing "Show HN" posts for Dropbox, interviewcake and other startups, you can see that being hated by HN has zero relation to the success of a product. Right now Quora is getting a lot of hate here, while they may be on the verge of a $1 billion IPO. We need to realize that our views really don't matter and in some cases are counter productive.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- Fnoord 8y agoYou can say that about any website; doesn't make the argument valid or invalid. It simply doesn't describe anything about the impact of the argument _either_ way.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- mikeash 8y agoDo normal people know that Google even has any products besides Google search and Gmail?
- sigi45 8y agoYes and its justified!11 Google Reader was great :-)
- foobiekr 8y agoA few years ago, Google's penchant for abandoning projects was an actual honest-to-god issue for both Go adoption and the use of GCP at a very large company I am deeply familiar with. It's not just nerds, it's also director-level types.
- drb91 8y agoI mean it doesn’t really matter what their reputation is when they are the type of company that abandons products with little concern for users.
- hmcdona1 8y ago"Normal" people don't know because they don't use niche software products like an rss reader or Google's latest messaging app. If something is not an instant mainstream hit, Google might can it. That's a risk if you plan on trying out something new from Google before your uncle is asking you how to set it up.
- pjc50 8y agoAt one point Hangouts was the default messaging app on a lot of Android phones. Just the other day I was using the adb trick I learned on hn to uninstall the normally unremovable Plus app from my phone..
- vatueil 8y agoAnd yet after years of speculation about its imminent shutdown, Hangouts still works to this day. In response to the most recent reports of its demise Google explicitly denied the rumored shutdown date and committed to supporting classic Hangouts until all users transition to Hangouts Chat: https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/12/03/hangouts-executive-rebuts-rumors-of-shut-down-users-will-be-transitioned-to-hangouts-chat-and-meet/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/12/03/hangouts-executive-...
- diminoten 8y agoTalking about the bubble to the bubble is a tough road to hoe, so good luck.
- acjohnson55 8y agoOn the other hand, it was nerds that popularized Google. Maybe they don't need nerd love anymore, though.
- computerex 8y agoAs someone who likes nice speakers, being restricted to bluetooth is a big let down.
- spurgu 8y ago> Go ask any normal person if Google has a reputation for discontinuing products, and they won't know what you're talking about. These are on the other hand the same people who ask (or are being told by) the nerds which browser to use, which email provider to choose etc, so the collective HN/techie opinion still has far-reaching implications.
- tjoff 8y agoAlso, i don't know who out there is heavily invested in a $35 audio dongle. I love mine, but it still works just as well today as it did yesterday and not being able to order more isn't causing me any anxiety. It does give me some anxiety. Because there are no and, unless google ships a replacement, probably will never be anything equivalent. The chromecasts as devices are quite weird. Their usability for most things are just horrible. But they are simple devices. Once you get over the hurdle of how to use it becomes functional. Everything supports it. It took weeks frustration to get my parents to learn the chromecast, and it requires dedication. Now they love it, but apparently now I have to find something entirely different for audio. And I expect there to be a ton of compromises to even get to the clunkyness of the chromecast. The value of the chromecast is the software support. Something only few could do not because it is hard but because you need the market penetration. And google does have a tight lid on the software integration. That way they can sell the chromecast with ridiculous margins. Not sure how they reason canning chromecast audio, it's basically free money.
- sumedh 8y ago> Go ask any normal person if Google has a reputation for discontinuing products The multiple Google chat applications.
- icelancer 8y agoI use Hangouts currently and I literally have no idea what Hangouts Chat is. I have Allo and Duo installed on my phone for calling iOS devices for psuedo-Facetime. I really have no idea what the future is going to be on these products and it's not very clear at all.
- shay_ker 8y agoI agree with the sentiment, but I take exception at the name calling. No need for that.
- kyriakos 8y agoI'm angry about Inbox too. Inbox is a superior product to Gmail and they are killing it off.