4 ms·

They care for their user base. Their user base just isn't us people using their services.

RobertRoberts 7y ago
At some point there has to be a value in marketing for keeping people happy, right? At least mothball upgrades and leave this running "slowly" or _anything_ other than just shut everything down for reasons... My daughter wrote a letter to a clothing manufacturer about how the embroidered lettering was falling apart on a brand name shirt. They sent her a new one, for free. That is good marketing. What Google is doing? Slowly turning their brand into the "don't trust us with anything long term" brand.
- ucaetano 7y ago
  > At some point there has to be a value in marketing for keeping people happy, right? Not a lot of value in keeping HN people happy. We're too small of a user niche but too big of complainers.
- dreamcompiler 7y ago
  That clothing manufacturer doesn't have a billion daily users who will use them regardless of how evil they are.
  - cannonedhamster 7y ago
    No but Microsoft used to be untouchable too. They've come back a bit under Nadella who seems to understand why people use his product. I never thought I'd see the day where I trusted MS more than Google but wow has Google just become a scummy, unreliable company since Alphabet.
    - vidarh 7y ago
      I've gone from considering MS outright evil to being unconcerned about being their customer. While with Google I now find myself actively worrying about how to avoid their services before they break things I depend on. I certainly will not use any new services from Google... It feels like the world has turned upside down.
    - Jorge1o1 7y ago
      Agreed. Microsoft had the whole “embrace, extend, extinguish phase” but Google really took it to the next level. Now it’s just “acquire, extinguish”
- sixothree 7y ago
  > What Google is doing? Google Doodles. edit: by that I mean using many tools to project an image of clean smart friendliness.

At some point there has to be a value in marketing for keeping people happy, right? At least mothball upgrades and leave this running "slowly" or _anything_ other than just shut everything down for reasons... My daughter wrote a letter to a clothing manufacturer about how the embroidered lettering was falling apart on a brand name shirt. They sent her a new one, for free. That is good marketing. What Google is doing? Slowly turning their brand into the "don't trust us with anything long term" brand.

ucaetano 7y ago
> At some point there has to be a value in marketing for keeping people happy, right? Not a lot of value in keeping HN people happy. We're too small of a user niche but too big of complainers.
dreamcompiler 7y ago
That clothing manufacturer doesn't have a billion daily users who will use them regardless of how evil they are.
- cannonedhamster 7y ago
  No but Microsoft used to be untouchable too. They've come back a bit under Nadella who seems to understand why people use his product. I never thought I'd see the day where I trusted MS more than Google but wow has Google just become a scummy, unreliable company since Alphabet.
  - vidarh 7y ago
    I've gone from considering MS outright evil to being unconcerned about being their customer. While with Google I now find myself actively worrying about how to avoid their services before they break things I depend on. I certainly will not use any new services from Google... It feels like the world has turned upside down.
  - Jorge1o1 7y ago
    Agreed. Microsoft had the whole “embrace, extend, extinguish phase” but Google really took it to the next level. Now it’s just “acquire, extinguish”
sixothree 7y ago
> What Google is doing? Google Doodles. edit: by that I mean using many tools to project an image of clean smart friendliness.