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How did big tech walk back crypto, ML, Web 2.0? They really don't need to walk back anything. If the features are too expensive to support and ultimately unus

How did big tech walk back crypto, ML, Web 2.0? They really don't need to walk back anything. If the features are too expensive to support and ultimately unused, then they'll just quietly kill them off. Otherwise, it'll just be another feature in the feature lists. Not something that really buys anything but also not something making them a lot of money.

dag11 2y ago
I'm struggling to think of any mainstream big tech products that incorporated crypto at all. Besides some financial apps adding an additional tab for it.
j16sdiz 2y ago
Funny you put crypto on the same list with ML. (and I guess you meant Web 3.0, not 2.0)
- cogman10 2y ago
  Nah, web 2.0 was a super hype back in the late 90s early 00s. Everyone was all about advertising their adoption and development of web 2.0. Web 3.0 was never really a thing, beyond some crypto enthusiasts nobody cared. As for crypto, I probably should have said blockchain instead. There was one point recently where everything was block chained.
  - Hasu 2y ago
    They didn't walk web 2.0 back because web 2.0 won so completely that web 1.0 sites are noted for being quaint and charming callbacks to an older era. Web 2.0 was "social web", wikis, AJAX requests, and the move towards SPAs. It's very much still the reigning paradigm.
  - danaris 2y ago
    "Everything"—but not from the big tech giants. None of the FAANG companies, to my knowledge, offered a blockchain-based product.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
  - ben_w 2y ago
    """Web 2.0 (also known as participative (or participatory)[1] web and social web)[2] refers to websites that emphasize user-generated content, ease of use, participatory culture and interoperability (i.e., compatibility with other products, systems, and devices) for end users.""" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0 I don't think I need to elaborate this quotation? But if I do, note the domain I'm quoting from and the website in which you are reading this comment from me.
gjm11 2y ago
I don't think I understand your first sentence. Big tech wasn't invested in crypto in the way it is in AI. For a few days Meta pretended they were going to launch a cryptocurrency, but that's kinda it. Whereas in this case all the biggest tech players are making a lot of noise about how AI is The Future and investing a tremendous amount of resources into trying to make their AI be The Future. Big tech investment into machine learning didn't need walking back because machine learning morphed smoothly into AI. Big tech investment into "Web 2.0" didn't need walking back because "Web 2.0", to whatever extent it was a definite specific thing, was a huge success and now we just call it the web. (If you meant "Web 3.0", that didn't need walking back for the same reason as crypto didn't: it was never a very big thing for very big tech.) So I'm not seeing how any of those things was like AI today. If it turns out that present-day AI is a bubble and it bursts, it will not be like crypto or "Web 3.0" for the big tech companies because those were only ever fads that the big tech companies didn't particularly tie themselves to. It won't be like machine learning because it will be the same bubble, just later on. And it won't be like "Web 2.0" because that wasn't a bubble and didn't burst.
- pjc50 2y ago
  A better example from Meta is probably the Metaverse losses: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66913551 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66913551
Theodores 2y ago
There is a difference in zealotry. With blockchain technology there were many people prepared to die on that hill. It was going to solve world hunger albeit not the obesity epidemic. It also had all of its own lingo for not selling or buying the dip. I remember people saying how things would be replaced with blockchain technology such as ecommerce, and apps 'on the chain' would find many thousands of uses. People were quite insistent. On HN you risked getting modded down to hell and shadowbanned for life if you said anything wrongful about crypto. It was bizarre. With AI we don't have this level of zealotry. You can say it is a load of rubbish and nobody wants to kill you. Weird, but indicative that AI has found some use, even if it is for 'art' and just marketing. Nonetheless, if someone does get a bit zealous about it, I can tell them that I have all problems solved already with blockchain technology apps, just for trolling value.

dag11 2y ago

I'm struggling to think of any mainstream big tech products that incorporated crypto at all. Besides some financial apps adding an additional tab for it.

j16sdiz 2y ago

Funny you put crypto on the same list with ML. (and I guess you meant Web 3.0, not 2.0)

cogman10 2y ago
Nah, web 2.0 was a super hype back in the late 90s early 00s. Everyone was all about advertising their adoption and development of web 2.0. Web 3.0 was never really a thing, beyond some crypto enthusiasts nobody cared. As for crypto, I probably should have said blockchain instead. There was one point recently where everything was block chained.
- Hasu 2y ago
  They didn't walk web 2.0 back because web 2.0 won so completely that web 1.0 sites are noted for being quaint and charming callbacks to an older era. Web 2.0 was "social web", wikis, AJAX requests, and the move towards SPAs. It's very much still the reigning paradigm.
- danaris 2y ago
  "Everything"—but not from the big tech giants. None of the FAANG companies, to my knowledge, offered a blockchain-based product.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- ben_w 2y ago
  """Web 2.0 (also known as participative (or participatory)[1] web and social web)[2] refers to websites that emphasize user-generated content, ease of use, participatory culture and interoperability (i.e., compatibility with other products, systems, and devices) for end users.""" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0 I don't think I need to elaborate this quotation? But if I do, note the domain I'm quoting from and the website in which you are reading this comment from me.

gjm11 2y ago

I don't think I understand your first sentence. Big tech wasn't invested in crypto in the way it is in AI. For a few days Meta pretended they were going to launch a cryptocurrency, but that's kinda it. Whereas in this case all the biggest tech players are making a lot of noise about how AI is The Future and investing a tremendous amount of resources into trying to make their AI be The Future. Big tech investment into machine learning didn't need walking back because machine learning morphed smoothly into AI. Big tech investment into "Web 2.0" didn't need walking back because "Web 2.0", to whatever extent it was a definite specific thing, was a huge success and now we just call it the web. (If you meant "Web 3.0", that didn't need walking back for the same reason as crypto didn't: it was never a very big thing for very big tech.) So I'm not seeing how any of those things was like AI today. If it turns out that present-day AI is a bubble and it bursts, it will not be like crypto or "Web 3.0" for the big tech companies because those were only ever fads that the big tech companies didn't particularly tie themselves to. It won't be like machine learning because it will be the same bubble, just later on. And it won't be like "Web 2.0" because that wasn't a bubble and didn't burst.

pjc50 2y ago
A better example from Meta is probably the Metaverse losses: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66913551 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66913551

Theodores 2y ago

There is a difference in zealotry. With blockchain technology there were many people prepared to die on that hill. It was going to solve world hunger albeit not the obesity epidemic. It also had all of its own lingo for not selling or buying the dip. I remember people saying how things would be replaced with blockchain technology such as ecommerce, and apps 'on the chain' would find many thousands of uses. People were quite insistent. On HN you risked getting modded down to hell and shadowbanned for life if you said anything wrongful about crypto. It was bizarre. With AI we don't have this level of zealotry. You can say it is a load of rubbish and nobody wants to kill you. Weird, but indicative that AI has found some use, even if it is for 'art' and just marketing. Nonetheless, if someone does get a bit zealous about it, I can tell them that I have all problems solved already with blockchain technology apps, just for trolling value.