11 ms·

It feels like Google’s attention span, leadership longevity, and product development patience is roughly 3 years. Any product that survives longer than that pr

It feels like Google’s attention span, leadership longevity, and product development patience is roughly 3 years. Any product that survives longer than that probably has transcended beyond being a “pet project/toy” into a PR-problem or revenue-stream significant enough that it takes on a life of it’s own. As management turns over, that lease on life is renewed… https://killedbygoogle.com/ https://killedbygoogle.com/ While this fosters new ideas and opportunities, that conversion into long-term direction and execution can be pretty rough.

sbrother 4y ago
3 years is roughly the average time it takes to get promoted at Google.
- enduroman 4y ago
  Or the time someone leaves and goes to another job.
  - formerkrogemp 4y ago
    Or the time for a product to die.
    - justinjlynn 4y ago
      Funny how they all seem to be correlated. /s
fswd 4y ago
You nailed it. Every 3 years google renames and rebadges their chat system. I don't even know what to call it anymore.
- easrng 4y ago
  There's Google Chat, which is really made for companies but available on normal accounts too, and Google Messages, their SMS/MMS/RCS app for Android, which requires that you have an Android phone and a phone plan.
  - Andrew_nenakhov 4y ago
    Also Hangouts, Meet, Duo, Allo, Spaces. I don't even know if all of them are alive now, and I don't care enough to check.
    - lyton 4y ago
      I used Allo for some time. It's long gone now.
    - zeusk 4y ago
      I'm pretty sure there was a Google+ chat, and who remembers Google Talk?
      - joeframbach 4y ago
        And Wave, whatever that was?
        Izkata 4y ago
        It was Slack/etc years before those existed. They just couldn't figure out how to market it because there were no reference points at the time, so few could see any reason to use it.
        HNHatesUsers 4y ago
        GekkePrutser 4y ago
        I doubt it's just that. If those things were actually great, people would have embraced them like they did slack. Consider Google+ also. They had plenty of reference points for that. It was just not very good. Google tends to abandon development on new projects way too quickly, before they're ready for mass appeal. They probably expect it to explode like Gmail did. But I think they forget they lost a lot of promotors like us when they abandoned the don't be evil thing. At the time I recommended Gmail to everyone, now I try to get people away from Google :)
- samizdis 4y ago
  I've posted this link before in comments, but for anyone who's not read this arstechnica piece it is well worth it: A decade and a half of instability: The history of Google messaging apps https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/a-decade-and-a-half-of-instability-the-history-of-google-messaging-apps/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/a-decade-and-a-half-...
  - skinnymuch 4y ago
    Wow! This really does cover everything. I just wrote a comment saying Disco is never brought up. It is here.
  - ImprovedSilence 4y ago
    Good stuff. To give google a little credit, google talk is what killed off AIM for everyone I knew. Mostly because you could knock out chat and email on one page and it was cool cuz google was not yet being evil and then eventually they had other fun stuff to integrate with like reader and igoogle…
  - tablespoon 4y ago
    > A decade and a half of instability: The history of Google messaging apps How do they keep failing over and over, in the same way, when these failures are a well-known embarrassment? You'd think the CEO would either just ban development of new messaging apps or pick a winner and give it the same kind of care and feeding as GMail.
    - the_only_law 4y ago
      I was completely fine with the old Hangouts thing. A small little call/chat system embedded into the inbox. Would occasionally ping friends and occasionally chat.
      - ako 4y ago
        You maybe, but Google is looking for a whatsapp/wechat killer, and will keep trying till they have it, or abandon the idea.
- lostlogin 4y ago
  > I don't even know what to call it anymore. Google.
- erung88 4y ago
llaolleh 4y ago
“Show me the incentives and I will show you the outcome.” - Charlie Munger
- stephbu 4y ago
  This is probably the most insightful answer, the system is geared to rewarding creation of the next greatest technology. Sustaining what ever your predecessor did just doesn’t get prizes.
b112 4y ago
* see google product * create stealth startup to compete * wait??? * pounce on userbase when Google crashes and burns
- llampx 4y ago
  * get bought by Google * profit
Mo3 4y ago
I generally agree but I really dislike that site. Change is inevitable, as is progress. Angular 2010-2021? Seriously? Angular was simply superseeded after 11 years by better technology, and same goes for a lot of other projects and services on that site. I’m not a Google fanboy and I know about the few instances where they screwed over users by turning stuff off but cmon now.

sbrother 4y ago

3 years is roughly the average time it takes to get promoted at Google.

enduroman 4y ago
Or the time someone leaves and goes to another job.
- formerkrogemp 4y ago
  Or the time for a product to die.
  - justinjlynn 4y ago
    Funny how they all seem to be correlated. /s

fswd 4y ago

You nailed it. Every 3 years google renames and rebadges their chat system. I don't even know what to call it anymore.

easrng 4y ago
There's Google Chat, which is really made for companies but available on normal accounts too, and Google Messages, their SMS/MMS/RCS app for Android, which requires that you have an Android phone and a phone plan.
- Andrew_nenakhov 4y ago
  Also Hangouts, Meet, Duo, Allo, Spaces. I don't even know if all of them are alive now, and I don't care enough to check.
  - lyton 4y ago
    I used Allo for some time. It's long gone now.
  - zeusk 4y ago
    I'm pretty sure there was a Google+ chat, and who remembers Google Talk?
    - joeframbach 4y ago
      And Wave, whatever that was?
      - Izkata 4y ago
        It was Slack/etc years before those existed. They just couldn't figure out how to market it because there were no reference points at the time, so few could see any reason to use it.
        HNHatesUsers 4y ago
        GekkePrutser 4y ago
        I doubt it's just that. If those things were actually great, people would have embraced them like they did slack. Consider Google+ also. They had plenty of reference points for that. It was just not very good. Google tends to abandon development on new projects way too quickly, before they're ready for mass appeal. They probably expect it to explode like Gmail did. But I think they forget they lost a lot of promotors like us when they abandoned the don't be evil thing. At the time I recommended Gmail to everyone, now I try to get people away from Google :)
samizdis 4y ago
I've posted this link before in comments, but for anyone who's not read this arstechnica piece it is well worth it: A decade and a half of instability: The history of Google messaging apps https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/a-decade-and-a-half-of-instability-the-history-of-google-messaging-apps/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/a-decade-and-a-half-...
- skinnymuch 4y ago
  Wow! This really does cover everything. I just wrote a comment saying Disco is never brought up. It is here.
- ImprovedSilence 4y ago
  Good stuff. To give google a little credit, google talk is what killed off AIM for everyone I knew. Mostly because you could knock out chat and email on one page and it was cool cuz google was not yet being evil and then eventually they had other fun stuff to integrate with like reader and igoogle…
- tablespoon 4y ago
  > A decade and a half of instability: The history of Google messaging apps How do they keep failing over and over, in the same way, when these failures are a well-known embarrassment? You'd think the CEO would either just ban development of new messaging apps or pick a winner and give it the same kind of care and feeding as GMail.
  - the_only_law 4y ago
    I was completely fine with the old Hangouts thing. A small little call/chat system embedded into the inbox. Would occasionally ping friends and occasionally chat.
    - ako 4y ago
      You maybe, but Google is looking for a whatsapp/wechat killer, and will keep trying till they have it, or abandon the idea.
lostlogin 4y ago
> I don't even know what to call it anymore. Google.
erung88 4y ago

llaolleh 4y ago

“Show me the incentives and I will show you the outcome.” - Charlie Munger

stephbu 4y ago
This is probably the most insightful answer, the system is geared to rewarding creation of the next greatest technology. Sustaining what ever your predecessor did just doesn’t get prizes.

b112 4y ago

* see google product * create stealth startup to compete * wait??? * pounce on userbase when Google crashes and burns

llampx 4y ago
* get bought by Google * profit

Mo3 4y ago

I generally agree but I really dislike that site. Change is inevitable, as is progress. Angular 2010-2021? Seriously? Angular was simply superseeded after 11 years by better technology, and same goes for a lot of other projects and services on that site. I’m not a Google fanboy and I know about the few instances where they screwed over users by turning stuff off but cmon now.