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My biggest takeaway from this article was that while Google publicly reports its "cloud" revenue (including GSuite revenue) as $8 billion a year, its cloud comp

My biggest takeaway from this article was that while Google publicly reports its "cloud" revenue (including GSuite revenue) as $8 billion a year, its cloud computing revenue (the portion that competes with AWS and Azure) is at $1-2 billion a year. That would explain why Google would be willing to shut down Google Cloud in 2023 if they are not one of the top 2 players in this space. (Additional context and previous discussion below.) [1] The Information: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/google-brass-set-2023-as-deadline-to-beat-amazon-microsoft-in-cloud https://www.theinformation.com/articles/google-brass-set-202... [2] Discussed on Hacker News previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21815260 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21815260

haecceity 7y ago
The rest of Google are Google cloud customers so I don't think they would shut it down.
- sanxiyn 7y ago
  This is not true. The rest of Google does not run on GCP.
  - rossjudson 7y ago
    No, this is not true. There are parts of Google that run on GCP. And parts that don't.
    - haecceity 7y ago
      Customers and potential customers if it pleases you.
SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
Doesn't Microsoft do the same thing? The last revenue numbers I remember seeing from them were for some category called "Intelligent Cloud", which includes: * Server products and cloud services, including Microsoft SQL Server, Windows Server, Visual Studio, System Center, and related CALs, Microsoft Azure, and GitHub. * Enterprise Services, including Premier Support Services and Microsoft Consulting Services. (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2019-Q3/IRFinancialStatementsPopups?tag=us-gaap:SegmentReportingDisclosureTextBlock&title=Intelligent%20Cloud https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2019-Q3...)
- tootie 7y ago
  Yeah, MS have (very cleverly) melded Visual Studio and Office 365 with Azure into the total cloud footprint.
Crash0v3rid3 7y ago
Source on the 1-2 billion a year for GCP? I didn't think the cloud revenue split was public knowledge.
- samspenc 7y ago
  It's in one of the graphs in the parent OP article showing the 2018 annual revenue (estimated) for each of the cloud computing providers.
  - 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
    $8 billion (quoted by Google) is 2019. $1-2 billion (unsourced) is 2018.
cmdshiftf4 7y ago
>That would explain why Google would be willing to shut down Google Cloud in 2023 if they are not one of the top 2 players in this space. I wonder how much of an effect this disclosure will affect the outcome? I've used AWS heavily for work-related services and have touched GCP a few times for little side projects in the past. Knowing that they'd be prepared to shut down GCP if they're not market leader or market second within a small amount of time ensures I personally will never, _ever_ use them for enterprise work, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.
- mlthoughts2018 7y ago
  I’m in the middle of a painful migration from AWS to GCP and my advice is definitely stay away from GCP. The cloud tools do not usually have real parity or interop with other cloud tools as claimed (eg interop with boto or s3), many gcloud utilities have way worse performance and memory issues, the docs are plastered with up-selling ads and, inconsistent service account auth vs IAM-style user auth issues, and on top of all that, there is this risk Google shuts it down. Even if they don’t shut down GCS or GKE core stuff, there are so many peripheral products like managed big data solutions, Cloud Functions, etc., that seem like _classic_ cases where Google will abruptly shut them down.
  - sciurus 7y ago
    For info on how things are shut down, see https://cloud.google.com/terms/#deprecation-policy https://cloud.google.com/terms/#deprecation-policy https://cloud.google.com/terms/deprecation https://cloud.google.com/terms/deprecation
- urda 7y ago
  You just can't rely on Google for long term services any more. That memo was just the final nail the GCP coffin. Google wouldn't care a second about you, so why should you give them your business?
jonahbenton 7y ago
Those resources should not be read as implying that there is any chance GCloud gets "shut down" in 2023 or 2033 or 2043 or anytime before the recognizable end of computing as a business. There are issues, to be sure, but this is not Reader. Google maintains strategic leadership in infrastructure to efficiently run Ads. The ultimate addressable market in the cloud business is as large or larger than the ads business. Cloud also is just getting into the middle game, where commodity storage/compute services start to give way to specialized and domain specific storage/compute/analytics/intelligence. Google has unique strengths there, and a number of opportunities/advantages vis a vis Microsoft/AWS. But rather than dominating in Cloud, Google treats it as a hobby- like TV was for Apple for about a decade. Google can perfectly well continue to treat it like a hobby. They are well ahead technically, and have plenty of cash to maintain that leadership underneath Ads. Those resources are reporting on the framing that- for the right leaders inside Google, there is an opportunity to turn their infrastructure capabilities from a strategic skillset into a leading business. That's all. Maybe they will, maybe not. But even if they don't, there will be no "shutting down" on any near term time frame. Even as a hobby Cloud will be big enough to be alive for a long time.
rossjudson 7y ago
Nice how "theinformation" dumped this "article" out on dec 17 when, you know, everybody is going on vacation. Some of us are back now (as it turns out, I work in GCP, but I code). I suspect there will be an official response to the response to this pile of crap at some point. And speaking of crap, how do you get from "risk loss of funding" to "shut down"?
dodobirdlord 7y ago
This is nonsense, based on ignorance/misunderstanding blown out of proportion, compounded by a popular meme that's not actually applicable. But don't take my word for it, take the word of Corey Quinn, an AWS consultant who (I believe, maybe someone knows an earlier example) originally popularized the joke that Google might someday shut down GCP, and whose current dominant refrain is that Kubernetes will eventually fail and be abandoned.[0] [0] https://www.lastweekinaws.com/blog/google-cloud-is-probably-here-to-stay/ https://www.lastweekinaws.com/blog/google-cloud-is-probably-...
ailideex 7y ago
> That would explain why Google would be willing to shut down Google Cloud in 2023 if they are not one of the top 2 players in this space. (Additional context and previous discussion below.) > [1] The Information: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/google-brass-set-2023-as-deadline-to-beat-amazon-microsoft-in-cloud?utm_source=hackernews&utm_medium=unlock https://www.theinformation.com/articles/google-brass-set-202... I don't see anything mentioning that Google will shut down GCP unit in 2023 - I see something saying that GCP unit will risk losing funding - presumably this is not quite the same thing. Losing funding to me would mean they will have to fund themselves on their own revenue.

haecceity 7y ago

The rest of Google are Google cloud customers so I don't think they would shut it down.

sanxiyn 7y ago
This is not true. The rest of Google does not run on GCP.
- rossjudson 7y ago
  No, this is not true. There are parts of Google that run on GCP. And parts that don't.
  - haecceity 7y ago
    Customers and potential customers if it pleases you.

SpicyLemonZest 7y ago

Doesn't Microsoft do the same thing? The last revenue numbers I remember seeing from them were for some category called "Intelligent Cloud", which includes: * Server products and cloud services, including Microsoft SQL Server, Windows Server, Visual Studio, System Center, and related CALs, Microsoft Azure, and GitHub. * Enterprise Services, including Premier Support Services and Microsoft Consulting Services. (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2019-Q3/IRFinancialStatementsPopups?tag=us-gaap:SegmentReportingDisclosureTextBlock&title=Intelligent%20Cloud https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2019-Q3...)

tootie 7y ago
Yeah, MS have (very cleverly) melded Visual Studio and Office 365 with Azure into the total cloud footprint.

Crash0v3rid3 7y ago

Source on the 1-2 billion a year for GCP? I didn't think the cloud revenue split was public knowledge.

samspenc 7y ago
It's in one of the graphs in the parent OP article showing the 2018 annual revenue (estimated) for each of the cloud computing providers.
- 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
  $8 billion (quoted by Google) is 2019. $1-2 billion (unsourced) is 2018.

cmdshiftf4 7y ago

>That would explain why Google would be willing to shut down Google Cloud in 2023 if they are not one of the top 2 players in this space. I wonder how much of an effect this disclosure will affect the outcome? I've used AWS heavily for work-related services and have touched GCP a few times for little side projects in the past. Knowing that they'd be prepared to shut down GCP if they're not market leader or market second within a small amount of time ensures I personally will never, _ever_ use them for enterprise work, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that.

mlthoughts2018 7y ago
I’m in the middle of a painful migration from AWS to GCP and my advice is definitely stay away from GCP. The cloud tools do not usually have real parity or interop with other cloud tools as claimed (eg interop with boto or s3), many gcloud utilities have way worse performance and memory issues, the docs are plastered with up-selling ads and, inconsistent service account auth vs IAM-style user auth issues, and on top of all that, there is this risk Google shuts it down. Even if they don’t shut down GCS or GKE core stuff, there are so many peripheral products like managed big data solutions, Cloud Functions, etc., that seem like _classic_ cases where Google will abruptly shut them down.
- sciurus 7y ago
  For info on how things are shut down, see https://cloud.google.com/terms/#deprecation-policy https://cloud.google.com/terms/#deprecation-policy https://cloud.google.com/terms/deprecation https://cloud.google.com/terms/deprecation
urda 7y ago
You just can't rely on Google for long term services any more. That memo was just the final nail the GCP coffin. Google wouldn't care a second about you, so why should you give them your business?

jonahbenton 7y ago

Those resources should not be read as implying that there is any chance GCloud gets "shut down" in 2023 or 2033 or 2043 or anytime before the recognizable end of computing as a business. There are issues, to be sure, but this is not Reader. Google maintains strategic leadership in infrastructure to efficiently run Ads. The ultimate addressable market in the cloud business is as large or larger than the ads business. Cloud also is just getting into the middle game, where commodity storage/compute services start to give way to specialized and domain specific storage/compute/analytics/intelligence. Google has unique strengths there, and a number of opportunities/advantages vis a vis Microsoft/AWS. But rather than dominating in Cloud, Google treats it as a hobby- like TV was for Apple for about a decade. Google can perfectly well continue to treat it like a hobby. They are well ahead technically, and have plenty of cash to maintain that leadership underneath Ads. Those resources are reporting on the framing that- for the right leaders inside Google, there is an opportunity to turn their infrastructure capabilities from a strategic skillset into a leading business. That's all. Maybe they will, maybe not. But even if they don't, there will be no "shutting down" on any near term time frame. Even as a hobby Cloud will be big enough to be alive for a long time.

rossjudson 7y ago

Nice how "theinformation" dumped this "article" out on dec 17 when, you know, everybody is going on vacation. Some of us are back now (as it turns out, I work in GCP, but I code). I suspect there will be an official response to the response to this pile of crap at some point. And speaking of crap, how do you get from "risk loss of funding" to "shut down"?

dodobirdlord 7y ago

This is nonsense, based on ignorance/misunderstanding blown out of proportion, compounded by a popular meme that's not actually applicable. But don't take my word for it, take the word of Corey Quinn, an AWS consultant who (I believe, maybe someone knows an earlier example) originally popularized the joke that Google might someday shut down GCP, and whose current dominant refrain is that Kubernetes will eventually fail and be abandoned.[0] [0] https://www.lastweekinaws.com/blog/google-cloud-is-probably-here-to-stay/ https://www.lastweekinaws.com/blog/google-cloud-is-probably-...

ailideex 7y ago

> That would explain why Google would be willing to shut down Google Cloud in 2023 if they are not one of the top 2 players in this space. (Additional context and previous discussion below.) > [1] The Information: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/google-brass-set-2023-as-deadline-to-beat-amazon-microsoft-in-cloud?utm_source=hackernews&utm_medium=unlock https://www.theinformation.com/articles/google-brass-set-202... I don't see anything mentioning that Google will shut down GCP unit in 2023 - I see something saying that GCP unit will risk losing funding - presumably this is not quite the same thing. Losing funding to me would mean they will have to fund themselves on their own revenue.