4 ms·

I don't disagree with your assertions. But I want to point out that other tech giants sunset stuff all the time too. It some ways, it's endemic to the industry.

I don't disagree with your assertions. But I want to point out that other tech giants sunset stuff all the time too. It some ways, it's endemic to the industry. Here's a list of everything Microsoft shut down over the years. It's a big list. https://www.versionmuseum.com/history-of/discontinued-microsoft-products https://www.versionmuseum.com/history-of/discontinued-micros...

Majromax 7y ago
As of this writing, that list contains about 270 items over about 35 years (from the first closure). The "Killed by Google" list contains 191 over 13 years.
- wetpaws 7y ago
  It would be interesting to know total lunched products to closed products ratio, pretty sure MS looks better in this aspect as well
  - tech-historian 7y ago
    That would be an interesting analysis. Just keep in mind that "products" are nuanced; it's not always apples to apples. Both companies have some products that are free and some that cost lots of money. Some items are full blown enterprise applications, and some are just labs-style projects. All these different types of products are weighted the same in these lists. But I don't necessarily think they have the same weight, so to speak. For example, the majority of products Google shut down were free, and the majority of Microsoft's were not. How should that be evaluated? I don't really know! It would be interesting to look at this.
scarface74 7y ago
Many of those products were cut down consumer products with a clear migration path (Outlook Express, Works, Personal Webserver, etc) or products that were declining in popularity (the older languages). They were also mostly software that you could run practically forever without MS support because MS strives for backwards compatibility. Once Google subsets a service, you can’t use it anymore.

4 ms·

I don't disagree with your assertions. But I want to point out that other tech giants sunset stuff all the time too. It some ways, it's endemic to the industry.

by tech-historian 7y ago

Majromax 7y ago
As of this writing, that list contains about 270 items over about 35 years (from the first closure). The "Killed by Google" list contains 191 over 13 years.
- wetpaws 7y ago
  It would be interesting to know total lunched products to closed products ratio, pretty sure MS looks better in this aspect as well
  - tech-historian 7y ago
    That would be an interesting analysis. Just keep in mind that "products" are nuanced; it's not always apples to apples. Both companies have some products that are free and some that cost lots of money. Some items are full blown enterprise applications, and some are just labs-style projects. All these different types of products are weighted the same in these lists. But I don't necessarily think they have the same weight, so to speak. For example, the majority of products Google shut down were free, and the majority of Microsoft's were not. How should that be evaluated? I don't really know! It would be interesting to look at this.
scarface74 7y ago
Many of those products were cut down consumer products with a clear migration path (Outlook Express, Works, Personal Webserver, etc) or products that were declining in popularity (the older languages). They were also mostly software that you could run practically forever without MS support because MS strives for backwards compatibility. Once Google subsets a service, you can’t use it anymore.