6 ms·

The mistakes made by Google Cloud and why they should be larger than AWS today

44 points by grimzucchini 6y ago

shahmeer_khan 6y ago
Interesting but don't you think google has the advantage of being the major platform and they can learn from their mistakes without paying for them. While competitors have to be more careful
- MaxBarraclough 6y ago
  Compared to who? The article is about how/why AWS is bigger than GCP.
osipov 6y ago
>Common thread: engineering hubris. (Source: https://threader.app/thread/1343969802080030720 https://threader.app/thread/1343969802080030720) Hubris at Google isn't just on the engineering team.
book-sandworm 6y ago
This reminds me how I used to write 20 years ago. Take a few classes in writing. couple of remarks about style, you make the reader work too much to understand whatever you are trying to say. A blog is not a twitter thread, post this on twitter if this is the style you like. Create a plan what you actually want to say with the post, because now it just seems like mudslide of your mind, wrapping up with some weird conclusion that doesn't really reflect the blog itself that well. I cant' even understand what your arguments are for GCP to be bigger than AWS. It's no shame in being a good 3rd.
- rad_gruchalski 6y ago
  > A blog is not a twitter thread, post this on twitter if this is the style you like. Threader takes Twitter threads and compiles them into blog like entries. This reads like a Twitter thread because it is a Twitter thread: https://mobile.twitter.com/MohapatraHemant/status/1343969802080030720 https://mobile.twitter.com/MohapatraHemant/status/1343969802....
- Shorel 6y ago
  Twitter is the wrong platform for so many things...
webmobdev 6y ago
What does the following mean: ARR, GTM, PMF, S&M?
- colesantiago 6y ago
  acronym soup without definition, hate it.
- raviisoccupied 6y ago
  I agree with the sentiment (I assume is) behind this statement, I did a year at IBM and found the culture of TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) confusing, lazy, and exclusionary. In case you/others wanted an answer: - ARR: Annual Recurring Revenue - GTM: Go To Market - PMF: Product Market Fit - S&M: Sales and Marketing
- vatican_banker 6y ago
  The writing style looked weird to me until I realized this is a twitter thread glued together to look like an article. Hence all the abbreviations.
Shorel 6y ago
The last thing the tech world needs is a bigger Google.
- sidibe 6y ago
  A little ironically, if you broke up Google, Google Cloud would probably instantly become the biggest public cloud.
EdwinLarkin 6y ago
It's simple really. Google does not make products that people want to buy. They make products that people want to/have to use. Amazon understands the people that actually want to pay for products and is able to capture that market. GCP is designed by googlers for googlers.
billconan 6y ago
google cloud’s ui is pretty poor in my opinion. Hard to find settings, unless you google for docs/help first.
m23khan 6y ago
All the technical details aside, Microsoft under Bill Gates, Apple under Steve Jobs, Amazon/AWS under Jeff Bazos, and Tesla under Musk. To a somewhat lesser extent - Alibaba under Jack Ma, Oracle under Larry Ellison and Dell under Michael Dell. You see a trend here? I reckon there is a connection between how well a Tech Company's products are received by the consumers based on whether it has an identified / globally recognized, Billionaire Head? I don't know but that's what came to my mind. Sure, Jobs is not there any more nor is Gates the head of Microsoft but their legacy certainly carries on with the consumers.
ff333ttee 6y ago
Google increased their map-prices by 1400% in one night and Firebase-prices were also massively increased... Google also deprecated 223 of their services... Many other bad things happen. I don't trust them and will not give them a penny.
kolpator 6y ago
dude, Three Letter Acronyms simply raped whole article....
sunstone 6y ago
The article doesn't mention lock in. When I was looking at GAE in the early days I gave it a pass just because of this. I wanted a regular linux cloud server that I could move my app to another provider with very few problems if I wanted to. GAE would be ok for small brochure sites with maybe a tiny database but anything bigger and I would start to get cold feet.
pasttense01 6y ago
So when do posters here expect Google will kill it?
rawgabbit 6y ago
The way the article was written fits the common perception of Google. It was written for insiders who understood Google’s lingua franca. It didn’t offer any insight to the outsider other than to make them feel small for not being one of the cool kids.
- cryptos 6y ago
  Yes, it is an awful style of writing!
bromonkey 6y ago
What's "GCP @<150M ARR & left @~4B (excld GSuite.)" mean for those of us that don't speak google?
- Matthias247 6y ago
  I guess "Annual Recurring Revenue". And for me it's a sign that the article is purely from a business person - which likely has a very different view on the state of things than engineers working on the projects.
- gipp 6y ago
  That's not "speaking google" that's "speaking MBA"
- samspenc 6y ago
  "Google Cloud Platform at less than $150 million Annual Recurring Revenue & left at around $4 billion (excluding Google Suite.)" I suspect he used abbreviations generously since he actually posted this on Twitter and ThreadApp is just merging multiple tweets in an article format to make it easier to read.
stunt 6y ago
Add the lack of proper account management and customer support to the list.
EADGBE 6y ago
IIRC, AWS had the free tier first. Which is what brought me in. I wasn’t trying to change the world, but I’ll take free server space if they’re giving it away. Then they sealed the deal when a little Echo skill I wrote for myself gave me (and continues to give me) got me $100/month in AWS credits. Combine that with every place of work using AWS, and I’m pretty much married to it. I at least know the UI, and for a programming who hates configuration, that means a lot (as far as getting in and getting out quickly).

44 points by grimzucchini 6y ago

Interesting but don't you think google has the advantage of being the major platform and they can learn from their mistakes without paying for them. While competitors have to be more careful

MaxBarraclough 6y ago
Compared to who? The article is about how/why AWS is bigger than GCP.

osipov 6y ago

>Common thread: engineering hubris. (Source: https://threader.app/thread/1343969802080030720 https://threader.app/thread/1343969802080030720) Hubris at Google isn't just on the engineering team.

book-sandworm 6y ago

This reminds me how I used to write 20 years ago. Take a few classes in writing. couple of remarks about style, you make the reader work too much to understand whatever you are trying to say. A blog is not a twitter thread, post this on twitter if this is the style you like. Create a plan what you actually want to say with the post, because now it just seems like mudslide of your mind, wrapping up with some weird conclusion that doesn't really reflect the blog itself that well. I cant' even understand what your arguments are for GCP to be bigger than AWS. It's no shame in being a good 3rd.

rad_gruchalski 6y ago
> A blog is not a twitter thread, post this on twitter if this is the style you like. Threader takes Twitter threads and compiles them into blog like entries. This reads like a Twitter thread because it is a Twitter thread: https://mobile.twitter.com/MohapatraHemant/status/1343969802080030720 https://mobile.twitter.com/MohapatraHemant/status/1343969802....
Shorel 6y ago
Twitter is the wrong platform for so many things...

webmobdev 6y ago

What does the following mean: ARR, GTM, PMF, S&M?

colesantiago 6y ago
acronym soup without definition, hate it.
raviisoccupied 6y ago
I agree with the sentiment (I assume is) behind this statement, I did a year at IBM and found the culture of TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) confusing, lazy, and exclusionary. In case you/others wanted an answer: - ARR: Annual Recurring Revenue - GTM: Go To Market - PMF: Product Market Fit - S&M: Sales and Marketing
vatican_banker 6y ago
The writing style looked weird to me until I realized this is a twitter thread glued together to look like an article. Hence all the abbreviations.

Shorel 6y ago

The last thing the tech world needs is a bigger Google.

sidibe 6y ago
A little ironically, if you broke up Google, Google Cloud would probably instantly become the biggest public cloud.

EdwinLarkin 6y ago

It's simple really. Google does not make products that people want to buy. They make products that people want to/have to use. Amazon understands the people that actually want to pay for products and is able to capture that market. GCP is designed by googlers for googlers.

billconan 6y ago

google cloud’s ui is pretty poor in my opinion. Hard to find settings, unless you google for docs/help first.

m23khan 6y ago

All the technical details aside, Microsoft under Bill Gates, Apple under Steve Jobs, Amazon/AWS under Jeff Bazos, and Tesla under Musk. To a somewhat lesser extent - Alibaba under Jack Ma, Oracle under Larry Ellison and Dell under Michael Dell. You see a trend here? I reckon there is a connection between how well a Tech Company's products are received by the consumers based on whether it has an identified / globally recognized, Billionaire Head? I don't know but that's what came to my mind. Sure, Jobs is not there any more nor is Gates the head of Microsoft but their legacy certainly carries on with the consumers.

ff333ttee 6y ago

Google increased their map-prices by 1400% in one night and Firebase-prices were also massively increased... Google also deprecated 223 of their services... Many other bad things happen. I don't trust them and will not give them a penny.

kolpator 6y ago

dude, Three Letter Acronyms simply raped whole article....

sunstone 6y ago

The article doesn't mention lock in. When I was looking at GAE in the early days I gave it a pass just because of this. I wanted a regular linux cloud server that I could move my app to another provider with very few problems if I wanted to. GAE would be ok for small brochure sites with maybe a tiny database but anything bigger and I would start to get cold feet.

pasttense01 6y ago

So when do posters here expect Google will kill it?

rawgabbit 6y ago

The way the article was written fits the common perception of Google. It was written for insiders who understood Google’s lingua franca. It didn’t offer any insight to the outsider other than to make them feel small for not being one of the cool kids.

cryptos 6y ago
Yes, it is an awful style of writing!

bromonkey 6y ago

What's "GCP @<150M ARR & left @~4B (excld GSuite.)" mean for those of us that don't speak google?

Matthias247 6y ago
I guess "Annual Recurring Revenue". And for me it's a sign that the article is purely from a business person - which likely has a very different view on the state of things than engineers working on the projects.
gipp 6y ago
That's not "speaking google" that's "speaking MBA"
samspenc 6y ago
"Google Cloud Platform at less than $150 million Annual Recurring Revenue & left at around $4 billion (excluding Google Suite.)" I suspect he used abbreviations generously since he actually posted this on Twitter and ThreadApp is just merging multiple tweets in an article format to make it easier to read.

stunt 6y ago

Add the lack of proper account management and customer support to the list.

EADGBE 6y ago

IIRC, AWS had the free tier first. Which is what brought me in. I wasn’t trying to change the world, but I’ll take free server space if they’re giving it away. Then they sealed the deal when a little Echo skill I wrote for myself gave me (and continues to give me) got me $100/month in AWS credits. Combine that with every place of work using AWS, and I’m pretty much married to it. I at least know the UI, and for a programming who hates configuration, that means a lot (as far as getting in and getting out quickly).