4 ms·

Google X: Is the Y party Over? I think I seen this on HN about 4 times in the last year. Is there any front where google managed to beat a good established pr

by Murkin 15y ago

Google X: Is the Y party Over? I think I seen this on HN about 4 times in the last year. Is there any front where google managed to beat a good established product (except Android) ? Only good thing to come out of this, is a hopeful price reduction on Dropbox..

tokenadult 15y ago
Is there any front where google managed to beat a good established product Are we already forgetting about the former Web-based email products? Before Gmail came along, some of those looked like "good established products," but now I think they are all in decline, based on what I read in the industry press and observe of the behavior of my friends and professional colleagues.
Groxx 15y ago
Only 4? I don't think you've been watching very closely. Though maybe after deduplication... And yes: Chrome (massive bite out of both IE and Firefox's share), email (Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, etc, take your pick), and mapping being the big ones. You could probably toss in online document editing and machine-translation too. Google seems to do reasonably well with taking over tools, and less-so for taking over primarily-user-friendly applications or features. I'm not sure Dropbox has much to worry about.
- eavc 15y ago
  You could probably add Picasa, Reader, Virtual Voicemail / Google Voice, Calendar, Video Chat, Instant Messaging as well.
  - Groxx 15y ago
    Yeah, though they haven't really dominated any of those sections - I considered a few, actually. Picasa for instance is decent and moderately used, but Flickr and especially Facebook are way way larger in almost every respect. Their calendar is the best online calendar I've found, but nobody I know uses it except Google-aware geeks and the ones I've taught (they love it now, didn't know it existed before). And online calendars haven't really reached public-awareness or usefulness yet, it seems - the closest most people come to computer calendars is their work's shared calendar that runs through Outlook. Instant messaging they've certainly impacted, but I think AIM and MSN and Yahoo individually still out-number Google, though that may change with Plus. And Skype dominates video and voice chats, though Google is a threat (again, depends on how Plus pans out). edit: Though Voice is incredibly awesome and absolutely dominates in its niche - of course, it's the only contender. But nobody knows how to use it, and its user-base consists of a laughable amount compared to <random national telecom>, AFAIK.
    - eavc 15y ago
      Agreed that the market penetration is still limited for many or most of those things, but I imagine Google's offering has made a disruptive splash to more than a few companies.
      - Groxx 15y ago
        Yeah, we agree there :) I, for one, like the disruption - even if Google doesn't do it better, it spurs changes.
noobiscus 15y ago
"Is there any front where google managed to beat a good established product (except Android) ?" Are you serious? Try WEB SEARCH. Actually; Web Search Web Advertising Web Based Email Online Mapping They're not exactly failing in the Browser market either. If you stop thinking in terms of Buzz and Wave etc, Google, when entering an arena with an existing proven market to attack, have a record of becoming the big dog in the yard quite handily.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

by Murkin 15y ago

tokenadult 15y ago

Is there any front where google managed to beat a good established product Are we already forgetting about the former Web-based email products? Before Gmail came along, some of those looked like "good established products," but now I think they are all in decline, based on what I read in the industry press and observe of the behavior of my friends and professional colleagues.

Groxx 15y ago

Only 4? I don't think you've been watching very closely. Though maybe after deduplication... And yes: Chrome (massive bite out of both IE and Firefox's share), email (Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, etc, take your pick), and mapping being the big ones. You could probably toss in online document editing and machine-translation too. Google seems to do reasonably well with taking over tools, and less-so for taking over primarily-user-friendly applications or features. I'm not sure Dropbox has much to worry about.

eavc 15y ago
You could probably add Picasa, Reader, Virtual Voicemail / Google Voice, Calendar, Video Chat, Instant Messaging as well.
- Groxx 15y ago
  Yeah, though they haven't really dominated any of those sections - I considered a few, actually. Picasa for instance is decent and moderately used, but Flickr and especially Facebook are way way larger in almost every respect. Their calendar is the best online calendar I've found, but nobody I know uses it except Google-aware geeks and the ones I've taught (they love it now, didn't know it existed before). And online calendars haven't really reached public-awareness or usefulness yet, it seems - the closest most people come to computer calendars is their work's shared calendar that runs through Outlook. Instant messaging they've certainly impacted, but I think AIM and MSN and Yahoo individually still out-number Google, though that may change with Plus. And Skype dominates video and voice chats, though Google is a threat (again, depends on how Plus pans out). edit: Though Voice is incredibly awesome and absolutely dominates in its niche - of course, it's the only contender. But nobody knows how to use it, and its user-base consists of a laughable amount compared to <random national telecom>, AFAIK.
  - eavc 15y ago
    Agreed that the market penetration is still limited for many or most of those things, but I imagine Google's offering has made a disruptive splash to more than a few companies.
    - Groxx 15y ago
      Yeah, we agree there :) I, for one, like the disruption - even if Google doesn't do it better, it spurs changes.

noobiscus 15y ago

"Is there any front where google managed to beat a good established product (except Android) ?" Are you serious? Try WEB SEARCH. Actually; Web Search Web Advertising Web Based Email Online Mapping They're not exactly failing in the Browser market either. If you stop thinking in terms of Buzz and Wave etc, Google, when entering an arena with an existing proven market to attack, have a record of becoming the big dog in the yard quite handily.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]