4 ms·

> Yet Google’s reputation is so god-fucking-awful Where? In the HN bubble? Ok.

theonemind 5y ago
Yes. That matters immensely. This is not just any bubble, but the bubble of the people who drive technology adoption...by writing articles on tech, by having friends trust their judgment, and so on. It is a leading indicator, not a lagging one.
- PragmaticPulp 5y ago
  Gmail has well over a billion users. The number of people who search with Google is in the multiple billions. The relatively tiny tech community's opinion doesn't matter at all to the general public who just want to accomplish their communication and search tasks. HN isn't even a blip on the radar.
  - alexpetralia 5y ago
    Early adopters matter early in the adoption curve, not late.
  - interestica 5y ago
    In two weeks, Google will start counting new photos against users' Gmail/Drive space unless one pays to upgrade. I think it could cause a shift in perception.
  - SllX 5y ago
    Google and Gmail adoption was also driven by the same sorts of people that would have been on HN if HN were around back then. Yahoo and MSN/Hotmail used to matter a lot more than they do nowadays.
  - majewsky 5y ago
    This does not invalidate the original argument: This crowd here is representative of who first adopted GMail and spread the word. Without these early adopters, the other billion users would likely not have followed suit. I cannot comment on the early years of the search engine since I was about 8 years old at the time, but I find it likely that it was similar back in the day.
joezydeco 5y ago
https://killedbygoogle.com/ https://killedbygoogle.com/
ajnin 5y ago
If you hang around gaming communities a bit the sentiment is the same. Google has killed many products used by a lot of people.
aspaceman 5y ago
Nah, in gaming communities and the "little-less than tech literate" crowd. View a Reddit thread. Not exactly representative I know, but pretty normie imo.
swivelmaster 5y ago
In every industry that might depend on it for revenue via platforms like Stadia. I’m in a number of game industry Discord servers and Stadia is a joke because everyone knows that Google’s rollout has been so bad that they’ll likely shutter the service within a year or two, which means nobody wants to put any effort into supporting it. The other issue is that their advertising is so bad that most of the regular gaming audience has no idea what it even is. My housemate is a casual gamer with a doctor-level education and I asked him if he understood what Stadia was or did and he had no idea.

Yes. That matters immensely. This is not just any bubble, but the bubble of the people who drive technology adoption...by writing articles on tech, by having friends trust their judgment, and so on. It is a leading indicator, not a lagging one.

PragmaticPulp 5y ago
Gmail has well over a billion users. The number of people who search with Google is in the multiple billions. The relatively tiny tech community's opinion doesn't matter at all to the general public who just want to accomplish their communication and search tasks. HN isn't even a blip on the radar.
- alexpetralia 5y ago
  Early adopters matter early in the adoption curve, not late.
- interestica 5y ago
  In two weeks, Google will start counting new photos against users' Gmail/Drive space unless one pays to upgrade. I think it could cause a shift in perception.
- SllX 5y ago
  Google and Gmail adoption was also driven by the same sorts of people that would have been on HN if HN were around back then. Yahoo and MSN/Hotmail used to matter a lot more than they do nowadays.
- majewsky 5y ago
  This does not invalidate the original argument: This crowd here is representative of who first adopted GMail and spread the word. Without these early adopters, the other billion users would likely not have followed suit. I cannot comment on the early years of the search engine since I was about 8 years old at the time, but I find it likely that it was similar back in the day.

joezydeco 5y ago

https://killedbygoogle.com/ https://killedbygoogle.com/

ajnin 5y ago

If you hang around gaming communities a bit the sentiment is the same. Google has killed many products used by a lot of people.

aspaceman 5y ago

Nah, in gaming communities and the "little-less than tech literate" crowd. View a Reddit thread. Not exactly representative I know, but pretty normie imo.

swivelmaster 5y ago

In every industry that might depend on it for revenue via platforms like Stadia. I’m in a number of game industry Discord servers and Stadia is a joke because everyone knows that Google’s rollout has been so bad that they’ll likely shutter the service within a year or two, which means nobody wants to put any effort into supporting it. The other issue is that their advertising is so bad that most of the regular gaming audience has no idea what it even is. My housemate is a casual gamer with a doctor-level education and I asked him if he understood what Stadia was or did and he had no idea.