7 ms·

"Ok, Google" makes everyone hate saying the word "Google". It is now linked to the emotions of frustration and anger forever.

TAForObvReasons 6y ago
Considering Amazon uses "Alexa" and Apple uses "Siri" and Microsoft uses "Cortana", it is strange that Google opted not to pick an alternative name
- ViViDboarder 6y ago
  Is out? Since when has Google been good at branding? Look at Google/Android TV’s history. Or even Google Play.
  - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
    > Since when has Google been good at branding? Google's Mid-2000s marketing and product-nomenclature was on-point though: * Google Mail * Google Maps * Google Image Search
    - coldtea 6y ago
      That's because it was hardly a product name - they just slapped their corporate name of top of the respective noun...
      - vanshg 6y ago
        Exactly
      - spurgu 6y ago
        Well they've named it Google Assistant. I think I'd prefer "ok/hey assistant".
        petepete 6y ago
        "Hey Larry"
        Dolores12 6y ago
        "Hey Sergey" is more catchy
        ksaj 6y ago
        I'd prefer it be treated like passwords - upon installation, you should change the default immediately. I refuse to use a service that requires me to say its globally recognized name so often I will probably become brainwashed to it. And then there's the older hacks with TV commercials that took advantage of those defaults, and the (cooler) hypersonic transmitted voice command attacks, or the ones delivered by vibrating the device's microphone with a laser, etc. None of these attacks would have worked if the product trigger wasn't so predictable from the get-go. Eventually even Raspberry Pi stopped using the default pi/raspberry default combination. How we invoke our voice-activated programs should be treated with equal care.
        saagarjha 6y ago
        I assume this lets the wakeword listening model be simpler.
        Jeff_Brown 6y ago
        Call me childish but I think "OK <profane insult>" would take a long time to wear thin.
        Fanmade 6y ago
        This reminds me of the great Sci-fi book series "Old Man's War", where the soldiers get a thought-controlled computer called "Brain Pal™" installed in their head. After installation they first have to choose a name and almost everyone uses a swear word for that. The main protagonist then keeps activating it with the phrase "Hey Asshole". I'm pretty sure that this book came out way before Google Assistant.
      - arcticbull 6y ago
        Sometimes the best decisions are the simplest.
    - thaumasiotes 6y ago
      Google Maps and Google Image Search were called that and are still around, but "Google Mail" was never called that and isn't now.
  - rurp 6y ago
    I'd also add their insistence on using the same branding approach for experimental apps as their core offerings. A new app named `Google $RandomNoun` has a really high chance of being killed a few years from now, while `Google Search` and `Google Maps` don't. I'm sure the company wants to use the same structure to give new products an initial boost, but they seem weirdly indifferent to the long term damage it's doing to the overall brand.
    - steve_adams_86 6y ago
      They’re not weirdly indifferent, they’re busy shovelling cash into their vaults from their advertising oriented businesses
    - londons_explore 6y ago
      The used to call things Google Labs Foo. That idea was canned...
- philip1209 6y ago
  Or, was it prescient branding?
- agranig 6y ago
  „Ok Glass“
  - SoSoRoCoCo 6y ago
    Google: /starts playing Einstein on the Beach, the 9-hour version/ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_on_the_Beach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_on_the_Beach
- GauntletWizard 6y ago
  They would have had to pay the Roddenberry estate licensing money. https://www.techspot.com/news/46668-googles-answer-to-siri-majel.html https://www.techspot.com/news/46668-googles-answer-to-siri-m...
- mijoharas 6y ago
  So, I can't find the reference googling it now, but apparently Jeff Bezos really wanted Alexa to be called "Amazon" (pretty similar to Ok Google). I think he didn't want to dilute the brand, and have the association front of mind or something, but the people on the alexa project managed to convince him to go with alexa instead (as it's confusing, and arguably a better name). I think that's part of the reason for the different wake words, one of which is amazon (though the confusion with people called alexa is likely a much bigger one. It's probably why they have amazon in that list at least).
  - bretthowell 6y ago
    Very interesting. I can’t help feel the irony given Alexa itself was a brand Bezos acquired* in 1999 to get in on being a Search Engine just when Google was on the rise... I can hear it now “We finally have a use for that brand we spent all that money on..” [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexa_Internet https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexa_Internet
    - mijoharas 6y ago
      Oh wow, I didn't know that, they're the guys that do alexa traffic rankings. Didn't really know it was owned by amazon. Thanks for the info!
- schoen 6y ago
  "OK, Sirotta"? :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googol#Etymology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googol#Etymology
- gumby 6y ago
  The team who developed it chose that so their product couldn’t be killed. Could you imagine the headlines? True story.
  - gumby 6y ago
    (By the way not a true story as far as I know -- it's just the kind of thing someone telling a tall tale usually finishes with).
- lloeki 6y ago
  At some point you could say “Ok Jarvis” as an Easter egg.
dspillett 6y ago
"OK Google"/"hey Google" is one of the reasons I went with Amazon's products instead! (other reasons include that they seem to understand my voice more reliably than Google or Microsoft's systems). I get to call it Computer instead of Alexa too, though if I were stuck with Alexa it would still be preferable to Google (or Amazon for that matter). It's isn't just branding though, if I'm right. The wake word needs to be something that is easy to pick out from a complex audio environment and not be a regular part of common speech so cause confusion (computer fails a bit in that regard) so allowing completely custom wake words might cause reliability issues. Also some might choose wake words that the brands don't want to be seen listening for: I might choose "slave" as a Blake's 7 reference for instance but that could easily offend some if they overhear, and there are many other epithets, slurs, and swears, that would not be deemed suitable either.
- AgentOrange1234 6y ago
  “Computer” seems humane. There’s a teenager down the street named Alexa. She apparently gets asked the weather a lot. :(
  - dwd 6y ago
    As a Radiohead fan I could live with the occassional misplaying of Ok Computer.
    - dspillett 6y ago
      Amazon devices don't need the "OK" do that hasn't happened (to me). Though it can get a little confused occasionally when I'm playing some variety of Star Trek on the nearby TV.
      - willcipriano 6y ago
        My Alexa logs are 10% brief clips of Geordi Laforge making demands.
      - dwd 6y ago
ev0lv 6y ago
Slightly on topic: Say "McDonalds!" to end the commercial. https://www.fastcompany.com/90185994/sony-files-patent-to-make-tv-ads-into-video-games https://www.fastcompany.com/90185994/sony-files-patent-to-ma...
- aasasd 6y ago
  Is that the origin of the ‘verification can’: https://www.reddit.com/r/4chan/comments/1ggg4u/please_drink_a_verification_can/ https://www.reddit.com/r/4chan/comments/1ggg4u/please_drink_... ? Because sure sounds like it is.

TAForObvReasons 6y ago

Considering Amazon uses "Alexa" and Apple uses "Siri" and Microsoft uses "Cortana", it is strange that Google opted not to pick an alternative name

ViViDboarder 6y ago
Is out? Since when has Google been good at branding? Look at Google/Android TV’s history. Or even Google Play.
- DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
  > Since when has Google been good at branding? Google's Mid-2000s marketing and product-nomenclature was on-point though: * Google Mail * Google Maps * Google Image Search
  - coldtea 6y ago
    That's because it was hardly a product name - they just slapped their corporate name of top of the respective noun...
    - vanshg 6y ago
      Exactly
    - spurgu 6y ago
      Well they've named it Google Assistant. I think I'd prefer "ok/hey assistant".
      - petepete 6y ago
        "Hey Larry"
        Dolores12 6y ago
        "Hey Sergey" is more catchy
      - ksaj 6y ago
        I'd prefer it be treated like passwords - upon installation, you should change the default immediately. I refuse to use a service that requires me to say its globally recognized name so often I will probably become brainwashed to it. And then there's the older hacks with TV commercials that took advantage of those defaults, and the (cooler) hypersonic transmitted voice command attacks, or the ones delivered by vibrating the device's microphone with a laser, etc. None of these attacks would have worked if the product trigger wasn't so predictable from the get-go. Eventually even Raspberry Pi stopped using the default pi/raspberry default combination. How we invoke our voice-activated programs should be treated with equal care.
        saagarjha 6y ago
        I assume this lets the wakeword listening model be simpler.
      - Jeff_Brown 6y ago
        Call me childish but I think "OK <profane insult>" would take a long time to wear thin.
        Fanmade 6y ago
        This reminds me of the great Sci-fi book series "Old Man's War", where the soldiers get a thought-controlled computer called "Brain Pal™" installed in their head. After installation they first have to choose a name and almost everyone uses a swear word for that. The main protagonist then keeps activating it with the phrase "Hey Asshole". I'm pretty sure that this book came out way before Google Assistant.
    - arcticbull 6y ago
      Sometimes the best decisions are the simplest.
  - thaumasiotes 6y ago
    Google Maps and Google Image Search were called that and are still around, but "Google Mail" was never called that and isn't now.
- rurp 6y ago
  I'd also add their insistence on using the same branding approach for experimental apps as their core offerings. A new app named `Google $RandomNoun` has a really high chance of being killed a few years from now, while `Google Search` and `Google Maps` don't. I'm sure the company wants to use the same structure to give new products an initial boost, but they seem weirdly indifferent to the long term damage it's doing to the overall brand.
  - steve_adams_86 6y ago
    They’re not weirdly indifferent, they’re busy shovelling cash into their vaults from their advertising oriented businesses
  - londons_explore 6y ago
    The used to call things Google Labs Foo. That idea was canned...
philip1209 6y ago
Or, was it prescient branding?
agranig 6y ago
„Ok Glass“
- SoSoRoCoCo 6y ago
  Google: /starts playing Einstein on the Beach, the 9-hour version/ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_on_the_Beach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_on_the_Beach
GauntletWizard 6y ago
They would have had to pay the Roddenberry estate licensing money. https://www.techspot.com/news/46668-googles-answer-to-siri-majel.html https://www.techspot.com/news/46668-googles-answer-to-siri-m...
mijoharas 6y ago
So, I can't find the reference googling it now, but apparently Jeff Bezos really wanted Alexa to be called "Amazon" (pretty similar to Ok Google). I think he didn't want to dilute the brand, and have the association front of mind or something, but the people on the alexa project managed to convince him to go with alexa instead (as it's confusing, and arguably a better name). I think that's part of the reason for the different wake words, one of which is amazon (though the confusion with people called alexa is likely a much bigger one. It's probably why they have amazon in that list at least).
- bretthowell 6y ago
  Very interesting. I can’t help feel the irony given Alexa itself was a brand Bezos acquired* in 1999 to get in on being a Search Engine just when Google was on the rise... I can hear it now “We finally have a use for that brand we spent all that money on..” [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexa_Internet https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexa_Internet
  - mijoharas 6y ago
    Oh wow, I didn't know that, they're the guys that do alexa traffic rankings. Didn't really know it was owned by amazon. Thanks for the info!
schoen 6y ago
"OK, Sirotta"? :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googol#Etymology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googol#Etymology
gumby 6y ago
The team who developed it chose that so their product couldn’t be killed. Could you imagine the headlines? True story.
- gumby 6y ago
  (By the way not a true story as far as I know -- it's just the kind of thing someone telling a tall tale usually finishes with).
lloeki 6y ago
At some point you could say “Ok Jarvis” as an Easter egg.

dspillett 6y ago

"OK Google"/"hey Google" is one of the reasons I went with Amazon's products instead! (other reasons include that they seem to understand my voice more reliably than Google or Microsoft's systems). I get to call it Computer instead of Alexa too, though if I were stuck with Alexa it would still be preferable to Google (or Amazon for that matter). It's isn't just branding though, if I'm right. The wake word needs to be something that is easy to pick out from a complex audio environment and not be a regular part of common speech so cause confusion (computer fails a bit in that regard) so allowing completely custom wake words might cause reliability issues. Also some might choose wake words that the brands don't want to be seen listening for: I might choose "slave" as a Blake's 7 reference for instance but that could easily offend some if they overhear, and there are many other epithets, slurs, and swears, that would not be deemed suitable either.

AgentOrange1234 6y ago
“Computer” seems humane. There’s a teenager down the street named Alexa. She apparently gets asked the weather a lot. :(
- dwd 6y ago
  As a Radiohead fan I could live with the occassional misplaying of Ok Computer.
  - dspillett 6y ago
    Amazon devices don't need the "OK" do that hasn't happened (to me). Though it can get a little confused occasionally when I'm playing some variety of Star Trek on the nearby TV.
    - willcipriano 6y ago
      My Alexa logs are 10% brief clips of Geordi Laforge making demands.
    - dwd 6y ago

ev0lv 6y ago

Slightly on topic: Say "McDonalds!" to end the commercial. https://www.fastcompany.com/90185994/sony-files-patent-to-make-tv-ads-into-video-games https://www.fastcompany.com/90185994/sony-files-patent-to-ma...

aasasd 6y ago
Is that the origin of the ‘verification can’: https://www.reddit.com/r/4chan/comments/1ggg4u/please_drink_a_verification_can/ https://www.reddit.com/r/4chan/comments/1ggg4u/please_drink_... ? Because sure sounds like it is.