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>Question: why isn’t Anthropic using Google Cloud, given who their past investors include? They also have a fiduciary duty to their other investors, and going

>Question: why isn’t Anthropic using Google Cloud, given who their past investors include? They also have a fiduciary duty to their other investors, and going all-in on Google cloud would be a pretty big risk (relative to other cloud providers) given the uncertainty about whether it'll still exist in 5-10 years.

londons_explore 3y ago
What do the betting markets think about the continued existence of Google Cloud? https://manifold.markets/OliverMattos/will-google-announce-the-closure-of?r=T2xpdmVyTWF0dG9z https://manifold.markets/OliverMattos/will-google-announce-t...
- srveale 3y ago
  > the betting markets For context, there are 5 people and 1 bot betting, and it's not real cash or even something with a cash equivalent, and the bet amounts are less than what you get for free on sign up -- not exactly what I'd call a "market". And the bet is that they'll close Google Cloud in 2 years, not 5-10 years as is being discussed.
jocaal 3y ago
Why wouldn't google cloud exist in 5-10 years? The scale of the project isn't the same as google reader or of their other cancelled projects.
- NikolaNovak 3y ago
  I think that's true and Google cloud as such is unlikely to completely vanish (it may or may not morph significantly and any given service or price isn't necessarily safe) Still, for proper context, google reader may be small but google stadia was big by any scale, with significant datacentre investment, dedicated consumer hardware, exclusive publishing deals, marketing campaigns, etc. And 10 years isn't as long as it used to be in the IT world :)
  - joshuamorton 3y ago
    Stadia existed for a total of 3 years. And downsized significantly after only two. Google cloud (it's earliest form anyway) launched in 2008. It's older than Drive and Photos. In a year or two, there will be Google employees younger than Cloud is.
    - zht 3y ago
      Google is hiring 15 year olds?
      - joshuamorton 3y ago
        "in a year or two".
        zht 3y ago
        Google hires 17 year olds?
        surajrmal 3y ago
        I've seen 18 years old full times (some that never went to college). I wouldn't be surprised to see a 17 year old intern or full time if they graduated college early.
cnj 3y ago
> Google Cloud boosted its operating profits to $395 million for the second quarter From https://www.geekwire.com/2023/google-cloud-posts-second-straight-profitable-quarter-on-28-revenue-growth/ https://www.geekwire.com/2023/google-cloud-posts-second-stra... Yes, Google has killed a lot of products... but none of those ever came anywhere close to turning such a profit!
- jedberg 3y ago
  Google includes the income from paid Gmail accounts in their cloud revenue. From all accounts, that is all of the profit and in fact it generates more profit that offsets the cloud losses.
  - jsnell 3y ago
    Do you have a reference to some of those "all accounts"? Doesn't need to be all of them, just a couple of the most credible ones would be great.
  - TwentyPosts 3y ago
    Do you have any evidence for this? Seems like a pretty severe accusation.
- zie 3y ago
  To you and me, that's a lot of money, for Google's size that's really not a lot of money. The fact that it just became profitable certainly helps the beancounters decide to keep it around though.
  - cflewis 3y ago
    Being in Silicon Valley has warped my sense of money so much. When I read $300m, what I read is "when you factor in office costs & health care as well as salary/stock grants, an average FAANG software engineer must be ~$1m. That's only 300 employees!" It's a crazy way to think. Suddenly all prices that end with `m` and not `b` seem pointless.
nerdjon 3y ago
I would say it's less wether or not Google Cloud will exist in 5-10 years (which is still a valid concern). But will specific parts of Google Cloud continue to exist or increase in cost. Things that have happened to GCloud very recently. It just isn't worth the risk to invest in google cloud.
- what_ever 3y ago
  > But will specific parts of Google Cloud continue to exist or increase in cost. Things that have happened to GCloud very recently. Like what exactly?

londons_explore 3y ago

What do the betting markets think about the continued existence of Google Cloud? https://manifold.markets/OliverMattos/will-google-announce-the-closure-of?r=T2xpdmVyTWF0dG9z https://manifold.markets/OliverMattos/will-google-announce-t...

srveale 3y ago
> the betting markets For context, there are 5 people and 1 bot betting, and it's not real cash or even something with a cash equivalent, and the bet amounts are less than what you get for free on sign up -- not exactly what I'd call a "market". And the bet is that they'll close Google Cloud in 2 years, not 5-10 years as is being discussed.

jocaal 3y ago

Why wouldn't google cloud exist in 5-10 years? The scale of the project isn't the same as google reader or of their other cancelled projects.

NikolaNovak 3y ago
I think that's true and Google cloud as such is unlikely to completely vanish (it may or may not morph significantly and any given service or price isn't necessarily safe) Still, for proper context, google reader may be small but google stadia was big by any scale, with significant datacentre investment, dedicated consumer hardware, exclusive publishing deals, marketing campaigns, etc. And 10 years isn't as long as it used to be in the IT world :)
- joshuamorton 3y ago
  Stadia existed for a total of 3 years. And downsized significantly after only two. Google cloud (it's earliest form anyway) launched in 2008. It's older than Drive and Photos. In a year or two, there will be Google employees younger than Cloud is.
  - zht 3y ago
    Google is hiring 15 year olds?
    - joshuamorton 3y ago
      "in a year or two".
      - zht 3y ago
        Google hires 17 year olds?
        surajrmal 3y ago
        I've seen 18 years old full times (some that never went to college). I wouldn't be surprised to see a 17 year old intern or full time if they graduated college early.

cnj 3y ago

> Google Cloud boosted its operating profits to $395 million for the second quarter From https://www.geekwire.com/2023/google-cloud-posts-second-straight-profitable-quarter-on-28-revenue-growth/ https://www.geekwire.com/2023/google-cloud-posts-second-stra... Yes, Google has killed a lot of products... but none of those ever came anywhere close to turning such a profit!

jedberg 3y ago
Google includes the income from paid Gmail accounts in their cloud revenue. From all accounts, that is all of the profit and in fact it generates more profit that offsets the cloud losses.
- jsnell 3y ago
  Do you have a reference to some of those "all accounts"? Doesn't need to be all of them, just a couple of the most credible ones would be great.
- TwentyPosts 3y ago
  Do you have any evidence for this? Seems like a pretty severe accusation.
zie 3y ago
To you and me, that's a lot of money, for Google's size that's really not a lot of money. The fact that it just became profitable certainly helps the beancounters decide to keep it around though.
- cflewis 3y ago
  Being in Silicon Valley has warped my sense of money so much. When I read $300m, what I read is "when you factor in office costs & health care as well as salary/stock grants, an average FAANG software engineer must be ~$1m. That's only 300 employees!" It's a crazy way to think. Suddenly all prices that end with `m` and not `b` seem pointless.

nerdjon 3y ago

I would say it's less wether or not Google Cloud will exist in 5-10 years (which is still a valid concern). But will specific parts of Google Cloud continue to exist or increase in cost. Things that have happened to GCloud very recently. It just isn't worth the risk to invest in google cloud.

what_ever 3y ago
> But will specific parts of Google Cloud continue to exist or increase in cost. Things that have happened to GCloud very recently. Like what exactly?