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In relative terms, it's not huge - NYT is no more specific than hundreds, so let's say 500, out of 182,000 - that's 0.27% (though obviously a higher impact on e

by wt__ 3y ago

In relative terms, it's not huge - NYT is no more specific than hundreds, so let's say 500, out of 182,000 - that's 0.27% (though obviously a higher impact on engineering - you might that would be what they'd cut last).

fluidcruft 3y ago
And it seems to be layoffs in hardware which, frankly, Google is not great with. Yes, Pixel has improved vs previous years. But Pixel is mostly US, Apple owns the US market and Pixel is not making any inroads (at best it is eating other Android devices). Google has no real runaway hardware hits. It's had a few promising launches but then they manage to take them in bad directions (Google WiFi going from a simple focused thing to becoming this giant Google Home mess that's a pain in the ass to use, Chromecast devices losing functionality, etc, etc). Google support documentation has been 100% useless every time I've had an issue (to be fair: so is Apple's). Amazon's hardware (Alexa) is the market leader I think and even it was hit with layoffs last year wasn't it? Even specifically Alexa which Google's Assistant hardware line tries to compete with. It's probably extremely rational to step back and conclude that Google sucks at hardware. I do like Google WiFi (it frustrates me but it is fairly set-it-and-forget-it for my parents/non technical friends) and Pixel (because I hate iOS).
- eschneider 3y ago
  Google as a company doesn't have the attention span or focus anymore to ship excellent hardware. "Everyone knows" that they don't stay focused on things, and I can't imagine that making it easy to higher top quality hardware and firmware folks. Once you eliminate good pay and stability, there's not a lot to recommend Google to hardware folks.
- cjsplat 3y ago
  You need to distinguish "hardware" and "consumer hardware". Google wouldn't exist as you know it if they didn't didn't build great data center and network hardware. Their problems in consumer hardware are not about the hardware specifically. It is about product management and go-to-market.

by wt__ 3y ago

fluidcruft 3y ago

And it seems to be layoffs in hardware which, frankly, Google is not great with. Yes, Pixel has improved vs previous years. But Pixel is mostly US, Apple owns the US market and Pixel is not making any inroads (at best it is eating other Android devices). Google has no real runaway hardware hits. It's had a few promising launches but then they manage to take them in bad directions (Google WiFi going from a simple focused thing to becoming this giant Google Home mess that's a pain in the ass to use, Chromecast devices losing functionality, etc, etc). Google support documentation has been 100% useless every time I've had an issue (to be fair: so is Apple's). Amazon's hardware (Alexa) is the market leader I think and even it was hit with layoffs last year wasn't it? Even specifically Alexa which Google's Assistant hardware line tries to compete with. It's probably extremely rational to step back and conclude that Google sucks at hardware. I do like Google WiFi (it frustrates me but it is fairly set-it-and-forget-it for my parents/non technical friends) and Pixel (because I hate iOS).

eschneider 3y ago
Google as a company doesn't have the attention span or focus anymore to ship excellent hardware. "Everyone knows" that they don't stay focused on things, and I can't imagine that making it easy to higher top quality hardware and firmware folks. Once you eliminate good pay and stability, there's not a lot to recommend Google to hardware folks.
cjsplat 3y ago
You need to distinguish "hardware" and "consumer hardware". Google wouldn't exist as you know it if they didn't didn't build great data center and network hardware. Their problems in consumer hardware are not about the hardware specifically. It is about product management and go-to-market.