4 ms·

Any of y'all worked at Google? I'm fascinated by the internal processes that would lead to something like this happening with no warning for any of their users.

by iameli 4y ago

Any of y'all worked at Google? I'm fascinated by the internal processes that would lead to something like this happening with no warning for any of their users. Everywhere I've worked before someone would be like "hey we should probably send an email at least"

riceart 4y ago
What’s the incentive? None. There is no internal process. You’ve been working for a company that has had for its entire history a cash cow that essentially has no customer facing contact for its survival - you wouldn’t think to go there. Keep google search and YouTube running, don’t fuck up chrome too much - everything else is basically unimportant.
- sneak 4y ago
  You forgot Maps, Android, Gmail, and GCP, each of which is a multibillion dollar company on its own.
  - macintux 4y ago
    Is Android turning any significant profit? I'd be surprised.
    - AlotOfReading 4y ago
      I imagine the licensing revenues are a literal rounding error, but it's hugely profitable if we include things like Play services. The latest numbers I could find accounted for $48B in revenue in 2021, compared to $256B for all of alphabet. It's pretty substantial.
    - sowbug 4y ago
      Even if it doesn't directly bring in a dollar in revenue (let alone profit), I suspect there's significant value in Android running on 3 of every 4 phones worldwide.
  - polski-g 4y ago
    I am shocked that anyone would run their business on GCP given how they treat customers.
    - nikau 4y ago
      Like anything it depends on your scale. People say the same thing about Microsoft with their generic "reinstall the OS" solution for small userbases - once you get past a certain size you get decent support with an account rep, SLA on support tickets, etc.
  - crossroadsguy 4y ago
    Maps, yes. I think even people who don’t use a single Google service use this product - Google Maps (w/o logging in that is). Simply because every other alternative is worse than atrociously bad. Android is like Chrome — a vehicle for their apps and services that carry ads. GCP — I have no data on it but the places I have worked at, relevant people scoff even at the mention of GCP.
    - zuhsetaqi 4y ago
      I only use Apple Maps and it works really great
    - jwestbury 4y ago
      > Simply because every other alternative is worse than atrociously bad. Perhaps true in the past, but these days have long since come and gone. As long ago as a decade, Here Maps on Nokia Windows Phones was better. These days, Apple Maps and Google Maps are pretty solid competitors, but I prefer Apple Maps whilst driving, because it gives more detailed directions (lane warnings come earlier, verbal directions often include details such as "go past the next light, then use the left lane to turn left"). For certain areas, Google Maps is, itself, a second-rate alternative to the best option, too. For instance, in London, Citymapper is worlds better than Google Maps for navigating without a car.
- jvolkman 4y ago
  There are so many internal processes at Google. At least when I was there 4 years ago.
  - mrzimmerman 4y ago
    Are any of those processes user facing or in contact with users doing interviews with users or something similar? Or I guess given your experience: would you say they’re useful internal processes? I was thinking about bureaucracy today and how the word is often maligned but the processes can actually be helpful or harmful, depending on how the humans involve implement it. Anyway, I’m curious on your perspective about the effectiveness and purposes of the internal processes you saw.
Aeolun 4y ago
I think in the places I’ve worked people would mostly find their systems unusable once they uploaded 10k files, so we’d never have an issue like this.
powera 4y ago
15 years ago, GFS had "bytes" quotas and "files" quotas for internal users. That doesn't matter directly here, but a file-count limit is an extremely natural thing to have from an operational perspective. Clearly Google still doesn't know how to communicate that type of thing to customers.

by iameli 4y ago

riceart 4y ago

What’s the incentive? None. There is no internal process. You’ve been working for a company that has had for its entire history a cash cow that essentially has no customer facing contact for its survival - you wouldn’t think to go there. Keep google search and YouTube running, don’t fuck up chrome too much - everything else is basically unimportant.

sneak 4y ago
You forgot Maps, Android, Gmail, and GCP, each of which is a multibillion dollar company on its own.
- macintux 4y ago
  Is Android turning any significant profit? I'd be surprised.
  - AlotOfReading 4y ago
    I imagine the licensing revenues are a literal rounding error, but it's hugely profitable if we include things like Play services. The latest numbers I could find accounted for $48B in revenue in 2021, compared to $256B for all of alphabet. It's pretty substantial.
  - sowbug 4y ago
    Even if it doesn't directly bring in a dollar in revenue (let alone profit), I suspect there's significant value in Android running on 3 of every 4 phones worldwide.
- polski-g 4y ago
  I am shocked that anyone would run their business on GCP given how they treat customers.
  - nikau 4y ago
    Like anything it depends on your scale. People say the same thing about Microsoft with their generic "reinstall the OS" solution for small userbases - once you get past a certain size you get decent support with an account rep, SLA on support tickets, etc.
- crossroadsguy 4y ago
  Maps, yes. I think even people who don’t use a single Google service use this product - Google Maps (w/o logging in that is). Simply because every other alternative is worse than atrociously bad. Android is like Chrome — a vehicle for their apps and services that carry ads. GCP — I have no data on it but the places I have worked at, relevant people scoff even at the mention of GCP.
  - zuhsetaqi 4y ago
    I only use Apple Maps and it works really great
  - jwestbury 4y ago
    > Simply because every other alternative is worse than atrociously bad. Perhaps true in the past, but these days have long since come and gone. As long ago as a decade, Here Maps on Nokia Windows Phones was better. These days, Apple Maps and Google Maps are pretty solid competitors, but I prefer Apple Maps whilst driving, because it gives more detailed directions (lane warnings come earlier, verbal directions often include details such as "go past the next light, then use the left lane to turn left"). For certain areas, Google Maps is, itself, a second-rate alternative to the best option, too. For instance, in London, Citymapper is worlds better than Google Maps for navigating without a car.
jvolkman 4y ago
There are so many internal processes at Google. At least when I was there 4 years ago.
- mrzimmerman 4y ago
  Are any of those processes user facing or in contact with users doing interviews with users or something similar? Or I guess given your experience: would you say they’re useful internal processes? I was thinking about bureaucracy today and how the word is often maligned but the processes can actually be helpful or harmful, depending on how the humans involve implement it. Anyway, I’m curious on your perspective about the effectiveness and purposes of the internal processes you saw.

Aeolun 4y ago

I think in the places I’ve worked people would mostly find their systems unusable once they uploaded 10k files, so we’d never have an issue like this.

powera 4y ago

15 years ago, GFS had "bytes" quotas and "files" quotas for internal users. That doesn't matter directly here, but a file-count limit is an extremely natural thing to have from an operational perspective. Clearly Google still doesn't know how to communicate that type of thing to customers.