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While I’m glad they reverted, the doublespeak is absurd. As if they didn’t know users would hate it. User experience had nothing to do with this. It was all a

While I’m glad they reverted, the doublespeak is absurd. As if they didn’t know users would hate it. User experience had nothing to do with this. It was all about revenue. The main question after this is what user hostile move will they attempt next? Without major changes all over the company I don’t see how Google will get better.

_jal 7y ago
Yes, it is about revenue, but I bet they honestly were surprised, at least at the magnitude of the pushback. This is a very public embarrassment for a number of people - you don't intentionally risk this sort of thing. The most likely explanation is that they expected people like me to grumble but the vast majority to not mind. They were wrong. > Without major changes all over the company I don’t see how Google will get better. Agree with this. And major changes don't come without major systemic shock.
hinkley 7y ago
Don’t they have 100,000 employees that could’ve told them this just as well? You’re right this isn’t about UX. It’s about ego.
- gwittel 7y ago
  Either many employees did tell them it was a bad idea and they ignored them. Or no one told them. Both ways reflect very poorly on Google. They rolled the dice hoping it would blow over. Government attention was likely the killer.
bostik 7y ago
> The main question after this is what user hostile move will they attempt next? We can look back in history and make a well educated guess. It took me a couple of days to figure it out, but we HAVE seen this same game play out. Back in the 90s there was a search engine that started out pretty decent but eventually did their best (or worst) to make ads and search results indistinguishable. It was called Altavista.
kmlx 7y ago
> As if they didn’t know users would hate it. i'm going to admit: not only do i love favicons in search, i've sent countless emails and replied to various tweets with the need, even requirement, to add favicons in search. it helps me find what i'm looking for much much faster.

_jal 7y ago

Yes, it is about revenue, but I bet they honestly were surprised, at least at the magnitude of the pushback. This is a very public embarrassment for a number of people - you don't intentionally risk this sort of thing. The most likely explanation is that they expected people like me to grumble but the vast majority to not mind. They were wrong. > Without major changes all over the company I don’t see how Google will get better. Agree with this. And major changes don't come without major systemic shock.

hinkley 7y ago

Don’t they have 100,000 employees that could’ve told them this just as well? You’re right this isn’t about UX. It’s about ego.

gwittel 7y ago
Either many employees did tell them it was a bad idea and they ignored them. Or no one told them. Both ways reflect very poorly on Google. They rolled the dice hoping it would blow over. Government attention was likely the killer.

bostik 7y ago

> The main question after this is what user hostile move will they attempt next? We can look back in history and make a well educated guess. It took me a couple of days to figure it out, but we HAVE seen this same game play out. Back in the 90s there was a search engine that started out pretty decent but eventually did their best (or worst) to make ads and search results indistinguishable. It was called Altavista.

kmlx 7y ago

> As if they didn’t know users would hate it. i'm going to admit: not only do i love favicons in search, i've sent countless emails and replied to various tweets with the need, even requirement, to add favicons in search. it helps me find what i'm looking for much much faster.