12 ms·
I see Google API/ecosystem fans often defending or dismissing Google’s pattern of behavior here, using arguments like this: “Well, sure, they shut down that AP
by electrograv 7y ago
I see Google API/ecosystem fans often defending or dismissing Google’s pattern of behavior here, using arguments like this:
“Well, sure, they shut down that API I don’t use — big deal; all things come to an end eventually! But, they’d NEVER do that to this API I rely on — that would be so horrible, Google just would not do it!”
I hope we all can acknowledge that this argument is on perpetually eroding ground, at the very least.
- saagarjha 7y agoSeems like a variant of the “first they came for” argument.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- kd0amg 7y agoFirst they came for Google Wave, and I did not speak out—Because I never really understood what Wave was to begin with. Then they came for Google+, and I did not speak out—Because almost all the people I want life updates from are on Facebook. Then they came for Google Reader, and I did not speak out—Because I never actually heard of Reader until years after it was eliminated. Maybe Reader was actually first? Then they came for Works with Nest, and I smugly said, "I told you so"—Because I always thought it was a bad idea to expose my thermostat to the internet. Finally, they game for GMail—and I couldn't contact anyone who might speak out for me.
- Andrex 7y agoBy the time they get around to killing Gmail all of HN/technorati will have grown to fully hate it anyways. :P /s
- hedora 7y agoSo tomorrow then? One can dream. :-)
- hyeonwho4 7y agoYou don't seem fully serious, but the writing is probably on the wall for third party tools which integrate with GMail. I use InboxZero through Beeminder, and could see Beeminder being locked out.
- michaelmrose 7y agoIdeally your Gmail ought to be through a domain and services that add value via imap. Then its impossible for the functionality to evaporate.
- freen 7y agoYou are assuming they will retain imap functionality. Ask the xmpp/jabber folks about hangouts.
- xyzzy_plugh 7y agoYeah I fully expect imap to disappear in the next few years. I've started migrating to domains I own for this reason. I can see them keeping it around for enterprise for a bit longer, though.
- gonyea 7y agoUh, you realize that imap support has been in GMail for its entire history?
- ImprovedSilence 7y agoDamn I miss Reader.
- sanderjd 7y agoWhy? There are tons of perfectly good rss feed readers. I've never understood this one. I was a heavy Reader user, seamlessly switched to Feedly like the day after it was spun down, and never thought about it again.
- ImprovedSilence 7y agoDo you mostly consume text, or images/rich media? Something about Reader just worked for me. It was partly some blogs I followed and wanted to keep up with reading, but the meat of it for me was just scrolling endless pictures from various design blogs, that i'd sometimes star or label. Or some webcomic that I'd share with my handful of friends that were on there. Or I'd catch up whatever BMX or ski edits that came out. The interface was just clean for seamless and endless scrolling of all that media, (without titles and sources and headings taking up too much space), and the organization was clutch. Nothing else has caught my eye since. I've tried Feedly, old reader, and a few others, but none of them have me coming back for more, I just never got in the habit with them like i did for Reader. Looking back, I guess it served as a kind of instagram/facebook feed, but for the internet that I wanted to see (which would differ from time to time, sometimes i want webcomics, sometimes I want ffffound <- this is largly something social media has yet to pick up on, the ebb and flow of what our attention wants). But no social media has captured my attention like Reader did...
- Semaphor 7y agoIsn't Feedly exactly for people like you? I never liked it because I mainly want text, but it always struck me as a reader for people who want pictures.
- glangdale 7y agoReader worked really well for me, too. And killing Reader seemed to send a signal to a lot of people that rss was 'done', whether rightly or wrongly - all that matters is that people believe it. I saw a lot less rss around subsequently. I switched to a few other services but ultimately just faded out on rss in general, which is a shame, as it was nice to have a non-algorithmic-curation feed of stuff I liked.
- DivisionSol 7y agoI've been considering pasting this: https://killedbygoogle.com/ https://killedbygoogle.com/ every time the argument comes up. Maybe Google proponents will make one for other companies notorious for killing services, but at least for now, the Google Graveyard grows.
- modzu 7y agothat site is a bit disingenuous -- it doesn't distinguish between projects that were merely upgraded/renamed/deprecated for good reason for example, "secure google search" was "killed" but all this means is that instead of having to type "secure.google.com" to use encryption, google made HTTPS the default... there are lots of legitimate examples so such exaggerations seem unneccessary
- Svip 7y agoOdd. I can't find "secure google search" on the website. Are you confusing it with "Encrypted Search", that allowed you to search anonymously?
- modzu 7y agosee that's what i mean; "encrypted search" is on the list, which is referencing this: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/7631341?hl=en https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/7631341?hl=en and does not have anything more to do with "anonymous" searching
- Svip 7y agoOK, but then that's different. Because you were complaining that they were not differentiating between actual killed services and things that naturally reached their end of life, but in this case, the site is actually wrong. It clearly says that it provided provided users with anonymous search, which gives the impression of something like DuckDuckGo or Startpage. But that's not what's happening, and I think that's worse than your original complaint.
- teej 7y agoMaybe I spend too much time on HN, but I’ve literally never seen someone take Google’s side in these situations.
- tclancy 7y agoAre you waiting to?
- rendall 7y agoThere are some in this very comment page who are taking Google's side. They are getting severely downvoted, but still.
- andybak 7y agoMy only beef is people posting "hurrrr. i wonder how long before they shut it down" on every single Google product announcement. Not because it's not a valid criticism but because people seem to think they are the only person ever to make that damn joke.
- EADGBE 7y agoAlso, people who take Google's side on this don't see the downside; they're probably already Google Assistant users. Now they're just getting the functionality they always wanted with a device (Looks like that Homekit integration isn't going to happen after all...).
- debacle 7y agoDid they not just kill Chromecast Audio to push Google Home?
- AndrewKemendo 7y agoMy understanding from an xoogler of how Google makes these large decisions to end services, is based on whether or not they can find a way to get the Google Ads product seamlessly integrated once the product is at a plateau in growth. Is that backed up by anyone else?
- jdoliner 7y agoFirst they came for the works-with-Nest API, and I did not speak out--- Because my app does not use the works-with-Nest API
- mcv 7y agoRelying on APIs you can't control is always going to be risky. This is why open standards and open source are vital; when an API that you rely on gets abandoned, you want to be able to set up your own replacement API. Anything less than that means you're relying on a temporary situation whose end you don't control and can't predict.
- ttctciyf 7y agoThink of it like this: the API is a football, Google is Lucy, and the developers are Charlie Brown.