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>I've always wondered why Google is so bad at keeping various services going I'm starting to believe that it might be simply because low quality software is ha

>I've always wondered why Google is so bad at keeping various services going I'm starting to believe that it might be simply because low quality software is hard to maintain. They have some very complex software, but nothing of great quality. They might hire a lot of smart people, but not very many that are actually good at developing quality software. It appears that being smart doesn't make you diligent in your work, or give you an eye for detail. Examples of this bad quality are simply everywhere; cursor left and right too fast in Google Image Search and that functionality breaks until you use the mouse to select the next image. Want to reply in Gmail, you have to click the reply button twice for the reply pane to appear. This is really basic stuff, and suggests a lack of competency in developing quality software, and a lack of care. They are huge, but they are actually not very good.

Godel_unicode 8y ago
> Want to reply in Gmail, you have to click the reply button twice for the reply pane to appear This doesn't happen to me, and a quick Google (ha) isn't turning up complaint posts about it. This might just be a you thing. Have you used Google maps? Or Google {search,photos}? I get the feeling that they have two very different grades of software they write, and the stuff written by the varsity is so good that it's invisible to it's users.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
  I had to upgrade my two year old phone because GMaps was turning into a sluggish nightmare that wasn't usable on a non-retina display. Google has serious QC problems. Their varsity team still doesn't turn out best of class software.
webreac 8y ago
Google's software is "free". If it was too good, it would kill competition. Google has one fear: to be cut in pieces because of monopolistic behaviour. Google, Gmail, Google map and google translate have almost killed concurrency. Google doc is improving.
- uryga 8y ago
  i think you mean "the competition" instead of "concurrency". but i see where you're coming from, it's "konkurencja" in Polish :)
treis 8y ago
To add to this, they can't even properly display screen saver photos on Chromecast from Google photos. My 4:3 photos get the top and bottom cut off instead of being letterboxed.
- Godel_unicode 8y ago
  Who's to say that your idea is proper? Letterboxing causes burn-in on OLEDs, not exactly ideal for a screen saver.
  - lstamour 8y ago
    (a) watching movies letterboxed has yet to cause burn in on my OLED and (b) you could make the backdrop a frosted glass version of the same photo... Not to say that every point is spot-on, but it’s true that Google in general makes their software and UIs complicated enough that outside of perhaps search or betas, they don’t update or change them all that frequently, maybe every two years at best. Apple or Microsoft could by now show them a thing or two on how to iterate user interfaces annually to evolve UI instead of making drastic changes folks might not like or sticking with the status quo forever with rollouts via obscure settings panels.
  - treis 8y ago
    >Who's to say that your idea is proper I will fight to death anyone who says different. >Letterboxing causes burn-in on OLEDs, not exactly ideal for a screen saver. They letterbox the portrait photos correctly. Well, sort of. They have a small gap between the top/bottom of the TV and the top/bottom of the photo. The letterbox area uses part of the photo so there's no additional risk of burn in. Even if they did just use black, I don't think black can be burned in.
- therealx 8y ago
  You act like anyone at Google has any 4:3 photos.
- auiya 8y ago
  Properly displaying screen saver photos is the absolute least of the bugs affecting Chromecast. Ever try casting a 'watch later' queue of long-form YouTube videos from an iPhone? It loses audio sync constantly, drops frames excessively, loses connection to the chromecast device periodically, plays videos out of order; it's a complete disaster. I don't see how it ever left QA and went to market tbh. Google support exhausted all possibilities with me and left me with a "Sorry, nothing else we can do. #YOLO". They know it's busted, they don't care.
mav3rick 8y ago
Lack of care ? I don't think you understand what it takes to keep Search and Maps and YouTube working seamlessly. Many big systems that companies use were invented at Google. Sure you can find UI bugs or issues butt conveniently ignore that Gmail changed the game with it's 1GB accounts in the era of MBs. Or the uptime of critical services. You have no idea how important design and code reviews are inside.
- virtualized 8y ago
  You just said "They are huge, but they are actually not very good" in a lot more words.
  - mav3rick 8y ago
    No I didn't running at that scale can't happen if you didn't design things thoughtfully.
TheKarateKid 8y ago
> They might hire a lot of smart people, but not very many that are actually good at developing quality software. This. They seem to hire people who are excellent Computer Scientists, but that DOESN'T make you an excellent software engineer! The result is what we often see from Google: A product with an impressive/complex algorithm (whether it be AI or efficiency) wrapped in terrible software prone to tons of bugs and breakage.

Godel_unicode 8y ago

> Want to reply in Gmail, you have to click the reply button twice for the reply pane to appear This doesn't happen to me, and a quick Google (ha) isn't turning up complaint posts about it. This might just be a you thing. Have you used Google maps? Or Google {search,photos}? I get the feeling that they have two very different grades of software they write, and the stuff written by the varsity is so good that it's invisible to it's users.

kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
I had to upgrade my two year old phone because GMaps was turning into a sluggish nightmare that wasn't usable on a non-retina display. Google has serious QC problems. Their varsity team still doesn't turn out best of class software.

webreac 8y ago

Google's software is "free". If it was too good, it would kill competition. Google has one fear: to be cut in pieces because of monopolistic behaviour. Google, Gmail, Google map and google translate have almost killed concurrency. Google doc is improving.

uryga 8y ago
i think you mean "the competition" instead of "concurrency". but i see where you're coming from, it's "konkurencja" in Polish :)

treis 8y ago

To add to this, they can't even properly display screen saver photos on Chromecast from Google photos. My 4:3 photos get the top and bottom cut off instead of being letterboxed.

Godel_unicode 8y ago
Who's to say that your idea is proper? Letterboxing causes burn-in on OLEDs, not exactly ideal for a screen saver.
- lstamour 8y ago
  (a) watching movies letterboxed has yet to cause burn in on my OLED and (b) you could make the backdrop a frosted glass version of the same photo... Not to say that every point is spot-on, but it’s true that Google in general makes their software and UIs complicated enough that outside of perhaps search or betas, they don’t update or change them all that frequently, maybe every two years at best. Apple or Microsoft could by now show them a thing or two on how to iterate user interfaces annually to evolve UI instead of making drastic changes folks might not like or sticking with the status quo forever with rollouts via obscure settings panels.
- treis 8y ago
  >Who's to say that your idea is proper I will fight to death anyone who says different. >Letterboxing causes burn-in on OLEDs, not exactly ideal for a screen saver. They letterbox the portrait photos correctly. Well, sort of. They have a small gap between the top/bottom of the TV and the top/bottom of the photo. The letterbox area uses part of the photo so there's no additional risk of burn in. Even if they did just use black, I don't think black can be burned in.
therealx 8y ago
You act like anyone at Google has any 4:3 photos.
auiya 8y ago
Properly displaying screen saver photos is the absolute least of the bugs affecting Chromecast. Ever try casting a 'watch later' queue of long-form YouTube videos from an iPhone? It loses audio sync constantly, drops frames excessively, loses connection to the chromecast device periodically, plays videos out of order; it's a complete disaster. I don't see how it ever left QA and went to market tbh. Google support exhausted all possibilities with me and left me with a "Sorry, nothing else we can do. #YOLO". They know it's busted, they don't care.

mav3rick 8y ago

Lack of care ? I don't think you understand what it takes to keep Search and Maps and YouTube working seamlessly. Many big systems that companies use were invented at Google. Sure you can find UI bugs or issues butt conveniently ignore that Gmail changed the game with it's 1GB accounts in the era of MBs. Or the uptime of critical services. You have no idea how important design and code reviews are inside.

virtualized 8y ago
You just said "They are huge, but they are actually not very good" in a lot more words.
- mav3rick 8y ago
  No I didn't running at that scale can't happen if you didn't design things thoughtfully.

TheKarateKid 8y ago

> They might hire a lot of smart people, but not very many that are actually good at developing quality software. This. They seem to hire people who are excellent Computer Scientists, but that DOESN'T make you an excellent software engineer! The result is what we often see from Google: A product with an impressive/complex algorithm (whether it be AI or efficiency) wrapped in terrible software prone to tons of bugs and breakage.