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Forewarning... I think a lot of people on HN (myself included) are a bit tired of this joke now. While I get and understand the frustration/sentiment, I think i

Forewarning... I think a lot of people on HN (myself included) are a bit tired of this joke now. While I get and understand the frustration/sentiment, I think it's a bit played out, and doesn't add to the discussion anymore.

jedberg 8y ago
It's true that it's not a funny joke, but it does make a point. Any time Google announces something cool, the first thought most engineers have is, "Do I really want to invest in this given that it could go away with minimal warning?". It's a huge problem that Google will have to overcome. Say what you will about AWS, but they've only ever cancelled one product as far as I know (SimpleDB) and they gave people multiple years warning and a replacement product.
- minimaxir 8y ago
  This case is a bit different because it's explicitly an enterprise product (w/ contracts) than a consumer product like Inbox and Reader.
  - jedberg 8y ago
    Sure, but that in some sense makes it worse. So now I get locked into a contract for years on a product that maybe they'll just stop working in 1/2 way through my contract. Sure, they'll have to keep it running for me until the end of the contract, but they may not keep it running well.
- v7p1Qbt1im 8y ago
  Free consumer products != GCP
  - jedberg 8y ago
    I understand that but it's still a reputation that follows them.
- groby_b 8y ago
  Which paid product has Google cancelled?
  - jedberg 8y ago
    Google search appliance. Specifically made for the Enterprise.
    - groby_b 8y ago
      That's one product. In hardware. With a 3-year deprecation phase. I can clearly see how that would be terrifying.
      - jedberg 8y ago
        The terrifying part was that they stopped maintaining it years before it was cancelled and provided no replacement product.
- jsnell 8y ago
  I think GCP hasn't cancelled products either? The comparison would have to be to Amazon as a whole. And they must have a graveyard just as big as Google's. Remember when Amazon used to run a search engine? No? They were really big into it. I even used it for a while, around 2006. Then they cancelled it, with no replacement. Remember the Fire Phone? Unsurprisingly they quickly discontinued it with no successor. (And before you object... By the standards of the "Google kills all products" meme not making a follow-up to a hardware device counts. And this wasn't the Fire Phone riding slowly into the sunset with a deprecation period.) They had competitors for Paypal, for Yahoo Answers, Amazon used to have a Paypal competitor too. They killed it with no replacement. How about that Yahoo Answers competitor they had. Guess what? Dead. With no replacement. Amapedia, their "wikipedia for products sold on Amazon" is of course dead. Because it was an Amazon product, and that's what Amazon do. They make products, and then they kill them. But somehow you're willing to give Amazon a free pass, while thinking that the worn-out joke about Google is a "valid point".
whatshisface 8y ago
Not everybody is on the same page w.r.t. "dead memes," for example I had not considered Google's history of service cancellation when I saw this page.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
ehsankia 8y ago
This outdated joke doesn't even apply to Google Cloud anyways. In its 10 years of existence, they haven't killed a single service. People comparing the deprecation of an RSS reader to that of an enterprise-tier service clearly don't understand anything about tech.

jedberg 8y ago

It's true that it's not a funny joke, but it does make a point. Any time Google announces something cool, the first thought most engineers have is, "Do I really want to invest in this given that it could go away with minimal warning?". It's a huge problem that Google will have to overcome. Say what you will about AWS, but they've only ever cancelled one product as far as I know (SimpleDB) and they gave people multiple years warning and a replacement product.

minimaxir 8y ago
This case is a bit different because it's explicitly an enterprise product (w/ contracts) than a consumer product like Inbox and Reader.
- jedberg 8y ago
  Sure, but that in some sense makes it worse. So now I get locked into a contract for years on a product that maybe they'll just stop working in 1/2 way through my contract. Sure, they'll have to keep it running for me until the end of the contract, but they may not keep it running well.
v7p1Qbt1im 8y ago
Free consumer products != GCP
- jedberg 8y ago
  I understand that but it's still a reputation that follows them.
groby_b 8y ago
Which paid product has Google cancelled?
- jedberg 8y ago
  Google search appliance. Specifically made for the Enterprise.
  - groby_b 8y ago
    That's one product. In hardware. With a 3-year deprecation phase. I can clearly see how that would be terrifying.
    - jedberg 8y ago
      The terrifying part was that they stopped maintaining it years before it was cancelled and provided no replacement product.
jsnell 8y ago
I think GCP hasn't cancelled products either? The comparison would have to be to Amazon as a whole. And they must have a graveyard just as big as Google's. Remember when Amazon used to run a search engine? No? They were really big into it. I even used it for a while, around 2006. Then they cancelled it, with no replacement. Remember the Fire Phone? Unsurprisingly they quickly discontinued it with no successor. (And before you object... By the standards of the "Google kills all products" meme not making a follow-up to a hardware device counts. And this wasn't the Fire Phone riding slowly into the sunset with a deprecation period.) They had competitors for Paypal, for Yahoo Answers, Amazon used to have a Paypal competitor too. They killed it with no replacement. How about that Yahoo Answers competitor they had. Guess what? Dead. With no replacement. Amapedia, their "wikipedia for products sold on Amazon" is of course dead. Because it was an Amazon product, and that's what Amazon do. They make products, and then they kill them. But somehow you're willing to give Amazon a free pass, while thinking that the worn-out joke about Google is a "valid point".

whatshisface 8y ago

Not everybody is on the same page w.r.t. "dead memes," for example I had not considered Google's history of service cancellation when I saw this page.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

ehsankia 8y ago

This outdated joke doesn't even apply to Google Cloud anyways. In its 10 years of existence, they haven't killed a single service. People comparing the deprecation of an RSS reader to that of an enterprise-tier service clearly don't understand anything about tech.