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This is weird. They see the general tech community slowly turning against them and they double down on all the wrong things they were doing that caused the nega

This is weird. They see the general tech community slowly turning against them and they double down on all the wrong things they were doing that caused the negativity.

ggoo 6y ago
It's pretty difficult to change your momentum, product at google has decided on a direction and it will take a lot change that.
- emilsedgh 6y ago
  Or maybe higher levels have had a cost/benefit analysis before letting this happen?
- adrianmonk 6y ago
  Then that's bad product management. Staying the course is one thing, but realizing you're off course is also important. Google needs to improve its ability to lead. Which is not the same thing as being wedded to an idea and insular.
- octoberfranklin 6y ago
  See "Google Plus"
untog 6y ago
The general tech community is a tiny fraction of their user base, though. Put simply, they don’t care.
- airstrike 6y ago
  I subscribe to the idea that the tech community overlaps with the definition of "early adopters", who become zealots driving everyone else's adoption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle
  - ezconnect 6y ago
    The problem is they don't need early adopters anymore, almost everyone already adopted their thing.
  - craftinator 6y ago
    I subscribe to this idea too. Unfortunately, I think Google is too large, too influential, and too entrenched for the standard tech adoption life cycle to be the dominant factor.
  - axaxs 6y ago
    Agreed. I've turned my wife, daughter, and Mom, none of whom are tech oriented at all, into Brave converts on mobile.
    - Conan_Kudo 6y ago
      Unfortunately, that helps exactly zilch. Brave, along with all other Blink/Chromium based browsers and frameworks, further entrenches Chrome as the platform. Either use Firefox on Android or give up. For desktop, you have at least Firefox, Otter Browser, and Epiphany as options.
      - axaxs 6y ago
        I see your point, but I wasn't listing my example as helping or hurting any cause, just how 'techies' can have influence on the broader community. If it helps, you could replace the word Brave with Firefox, for example. If I show three people, and they show three people, etc, we can have big influences on market shares. Now as a reply to this specific comment, I've tried Firefox multiple times on Android and always hated it. So I obviously can't advocate people use something I hate. But I do wish there were more...options.
      - userbinator 6y ago
        ...and you can keep using IE too, or even the NetSurf/Dillo/etc. if you want to be really against "big browsers".
      - 6y ago
- hipsterstal1n 6y ago
  Exactly. Those that care and / or know enough to care are a tiny fraction of the population, in the same vein as those who care enough to use Linux instead of Windows. Google knows that with their high usage numbers (partly thanks to Android and Firefox's mistakes in the 2000s to mid 2010's, they can do pretty much anything and will still keep their Chrome browser popularity. This is thanks to Android and the general population across the world who don't care enough about their privacy. Plus, if someone uninstalls Chrome where will they go? To Brave (Chromium), Opera(Chromium), Edge(Chromium), Vivaldi(Chromium), or Firefox.
- DoingIsLearning 6y ago
  This is actually my worry with the new direction of Firefox on Android which I assume is mostly a push from the Mozilla 'Foundation'/corp. It feels like they are just force-feeding the 'UX features' of Chrome and ignoring all the feedback from the tech community. Things like truncating url sub-domains and hiding the url address bar with dynamictoolbar are not necessarily wrong features. However, to me they should always be opt-in, they should never be fixed defaults as what we have now in the latest upgrade of Firefox for Android. Firefox used to be about freedom and customization. If I want to break it by messing with about:config then I should be able. If I want to break it with a non-compatible add-on then I should be able to. This whole UX mindset of padding the room and "we know better than you what you should want" feels very dismaying especially for a project that exists because of community contributions.
toyg 6y ago
Works for Apple.
- barkerja 6y ago
  Not sure what you're referring to, but Safari has three configurable options for auto-play: - Allow All Auto-Play - Stop Media with Sound - Never Auto-Play This can be configured on a global level, or on a site-by-site basis.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - Razengan 6y ago
    Wow, the above comment was already grayed out in just 5 minutes, simply for stating some facts, as are all the other comments on this page which are critical of Google. Sometimes it seems HN is heavily astroturfed by Google; They will bury any criticism and somehow bizarrely manage to turn it against other companies! Any company that does such blatant manipulation just makes people despise them further.
    - dang 6y ago
      Would you please stop breaking the site guidelines? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - ehsankia 6y ago
    Does it handle blocking autoplaying gifs and canvas? If not, it's not really solving the problem then.
esperent 6y ago
The only tech people that matter much to Google are the ones who work for them, and considering that there will always be one person saying "I work for Google and here's why I think this is A-ok" on every thread like this, suggests that demographic is still in their pocket. See the top comment on this post.

This is weird. They see the general tech community slowly turning against them and they double down on all the wrong things they were doing that caused the negativity.

ggoo 6y ago

It's pretty difficult to change your momentum, product at google has decided on a direction and it will take a lot change that.

emilsedgh 6y ago
Or maybe higher levels have had a cost/benefit analysis before letting this happen?
adrianmonk 6y ago
Then that's bad product management. Staying the course is one thing, but realizing you're off course is also important. Google needs to improve its ability to lead. Which is not the same thing as being wedded to an idea and insular.
octoberfranklin 6y ago
See "Google Plus"

untog 6y ago

The general tech community is a tiny fraction of their user base, though. Put simply, they don’t care.

airstrike 6y ago
I subscribe to the idea that the tech community overlaps with the definition of "early adopters", who become zealots driving everyone else's adoption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_adoption_life_cycle
- ezconnect 6y ago
  The problem is they don't need early adopters anymore, almost everyone already adopted their thing.
- craftinator 6y ago
  I subscribe to this idea too. Unfortunately, I think Google is too large, too influential, and too entrenched for the standard tech adoption life cycle to be the dominant factor.
- axaxs 6y ago
  Agreed. I've turned my wife, daughter, and Mom, none of whom are tech oriented at all, into Brave converts on mobile.
  - Conan_Kudo 6y ago
    Unfortunately, that helps exactly zilch. Brave, along with all other Blink/Chromium based browsers and frameworks, further entrenches Chrome as the platform. Either use Firefox on Android or give up. For desktop, you have at least Firefox, Otter Browser, and Epiphany as options.
    - axaxs 6y ago
      I see your point, but I wasn't listing my example as helping or hurting any cause, just how 'techies' can have influence on the broader community. If it helps, you could replace the word Brave with Firefox, for example. If I show three people, and they show three people, etc, we can have big influences on market shares. Now as a reply to this specific comment, I've tried Firefox multiple times on Android and always hated it. So I obviously can't advocate people use something I hate. But I do wish there were more...options.
    - userbinator 6y ago
      ...and you can keep using IE too, or even the NetSurf/Dillo/etc. if you want to be really against "big browsers".
    - 6y ago
hipsterstal1n 6y ago
Exactly. Those that care and / or know enough to care are a tiny fraction of the population, in the same vein as those who care enough to use Linux instead of Windows. Google knows that with their high usage numbers (partly thanks to Android and Firefox's mistakes in the 2000s to mid 2010's, they can do pretty much anything and will still keep their Chrome browser popularity. This is thanks to Android and the general population across the world who don't care enough about their privacy. Plus, if someone uninstalls Chrome where will they go? To Brave (Chromium), Opera(Chromium), Edge(Chromium), Vivaldi(Chromium), or Firefox.
DoingIsLearning 6y ago
This is actually my worry with the new direction of Firefox on Android which I assume is mostly a push from the Mozilla 'Foundation'/corp. It feels like they are just force-feeding the 'UX features' of Chrome and ignoring all the feedback from the tech community. Things like truncating url sub-domains and hiding the url address bar with dynamictoolbar are not necessarily wrong features. However, to me they should always be opt-in, they should never be fixed defaults as what we have now in the latest upgrade of Firefox for Android. Firefox used to be about freedom and customization. If I want to break it by messing with about:config then I should be able. If I want to break it with a non-compatible add-on then I should be able to. This whole UX mindset of padding the room and "we know better than you what you should want" feels very dismaying especially for a project that exists because of community contributions.

toyg 6y ago

Works for Apple.

barkerja 6y ago
Not sure what you're referring to, but Safari has three configurable options for auto-play: - Allow All Auto-Play - Stop Media with Sound - Never Auto-Play This can be configured on a global level, or on a site-by-site basis.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- Razengan 6y ago
  Wow, the above comment was already grayed out in just 5 minutes, simply for stating some facts, as are all the other comments on this page which are critical of Google. Sometimes it seems HN is heavily astroturfed by Google; They will bury any criticism and somehow bizarrely manage to turn it against other companies! Any company that does such blatant manipulation just makes people despise them further.
  - dang 6y ago
    Would you please stop breaking the site guidelines? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- ehsankia 6y ago
  Does it handle blocking autoplaying gifs and canvas? If not, it's not really solving the problem then.

esperent 6y ago

The only tech people that matter much to Google are the ones who work for them, and considering that there will always be one person saying "I work for Google and here's why I think this is A-ok" on every thread like this, suggests that demographic is still in their pocket. See the top comment on this post.