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Every project by Google I was willing to jump platforms for, they killed. So outside of email, maps, and search, sometimes voice, they have nothing left that is
by 0x1ch 2y ago
Every project by Google I was willing to jump platforms for, they killed. So outside of email, maps, and search, sometimes voice, they have nothing left that is worth investing time into. It will disappear within a couple years or less.
- sureIy 2y agoVoice? Could easily fold and be sold to Sprint. I’m honestly surprised (and thankful) it’s been working for 15+ years. Completely out of Google character. I hope they forgot about it running on a server under someone’s desk in the basement just below a red stapler.
- inanutshellus 2y agoPresumably because it's still providing value. It was originally about mass collecting voice data so they could train their speech-to-text capabilities with various dialects. Dialects are always in flux and there are plenty of languages out there they haven't conquered, so ... I'd guess they're just leaving it running to detect new speech or languages or dialets or ... personal data gathering or... ?
- 0x1ch 2y agoMan, they collected a lot of prank calls from my younger-self lol.
- kortilla 2y agoYoutube has significantly better voice data
- aniviacat 2y agoThe audio quality of Youtube videos is not representative of the audio quality of someone speaking into their phone. The speech patterns also differ heavily, with Youtubers (usually) talking in a presentative manner and speaking very clearly. I think the way people talk in private phone calls, as well as the call audio quality, are much more similar to that of someone speaking to an assistant.
- TheKarateKid 2y agoGoogle Voice was also supposed to revolutionize how many parts of cell phone service were to be provided -- signing in to an account instead of SIM cards, multiple phone numbers on one device, visual voicemail, advanced calling features. Android was supposed to be the vehicle of delivery. In fact, Google Voice on Android was supposed to make calls via data-only (no minutes usage) on a smartphone, but carriers would not allow Google to do that. Hence the strange random-number dialing which utilizes a 3 way call to make a 2 way call by default. Years later, they quietly allowed calls over data but by then GV was already on lifesupport.
- glenstein 2y agoSame here. I'm equal parts glad and puzzled that it hasn't been killed. I genuinely don't know what I would replace it with.
- delichon 2y agoI used it since a few years before Google bought GrandCentral in '07. A couple of years ago I moved to voip.ms as part of my de-googling and am happy with it. There are oodles of such providers.
- selimthegrim 2y agoDoes Sprint even exist anymore
- bobthepanda 2y agono, Sprint was folded into T-mobile. The only reason that merger was even allowed to happen was because it was extremely clear that Sprint would not have been a going concern into the next year if it would stay independent.
- kelnos 2y agoAnd as a result, T-Mobile has gotten worse, because now they don't have to try as hard to compete with AT&T and Verizon. I feel like Sprint failing may have been better for the market; I expect more Sprint customers would have switched to AT&T or Verizon than to T-Mobile, and T-Mobile would still have to fight for customers. Instead, T-Mo has jacked up prices just like everyone else, reduced nice perks, and their "uncarrier" movement is but a memory.
- saurik 2y agoHush now, don't remind them of it!! ;P In all seriousness, though: if I were a user of Google Voice, I'd be seriously concerned that they would shut it down in a way that caused me to lose access to my phone number (even if only indirectly, as happened recently with their divesture of Google Domains or whatever their registrar was called)... you are much braver than I ;P.
- InvaderFizz 2y agoI wouldn't worry about voice. They offer it as a paid feature of GSuite to business customers. It's not going anywhere.
- maxwell 2y agoThey're now calling it "Google Workspace" for the moment. Like Google Domains? https://support.google.com/domains/answer/6069226 https://support.google.com/domains/answer/6069226
- paradox460 2y agoSprint is T-Mobile now
- buu700 2y agoI've been burned by Google too many times, but I'm definitely thankful for them continuing to maintain Voice, and even actively improving it over the last few years. I've been using it as my primary phone number since the GrandCentral days, so it'd be a pretty big pain to have the rug pulled out from under me at this point. It would also be pretty shortsighted from a business perspective, IMO. Voice could still be extended to compete with iMessage and WhatsApp, like they sort of tried to do back when they were going to merge it with Hangouts.
- tracker1 2y agoI think there is/are some executives at Google/Alphabet that utilize GV so much that they couldn't kill it if they wanted to. I used to have a voip device that worked with my GV number, and Google extended the life of the API used several years, I since stopped using that device and the service had still been working for it. I do miss when GV and SMS were integrated with Hangouts though... was imo a much better experience than you get today with all the broken out apps.
- no_wizard 2y agoFiber is also still running, somehow. I don’t think they’re expanding much if at all but I’m shocked it hasn’t been sold off. Frankly, I’m just as shocked they didn’t go full throttle with it either, because talk about a data selling gold mine with all that traffic While I’m on that subject, it could have been a real opportunity for them to push fiber + YouTube TV as a package. Google isn’t good at making original content but at some point they have made a software + services play that makes such a package more palatable and user friendly, imagine subscribing to a YouTube channel and it becomes a channel as part of the TV app for instance. A lot of people watch channels like this as it is.
- cymor 2y agoThey've been expanding again, and are now offering 8gbps in my area. I've been very happy with it, and I'm still only paying $70/month.
- manmal 2y agoThat’s absolutely amazing. Besides hosting at home, do you feel any difference vs say a 1gbps line? Surely most servers won’t saturate this when downloading or browsing?
- kstrauser 2y agoOur ISP (Sonic) offers 10Gb uncapped for $50/mo. I don't feel any difference over our previous 1G service, other than it never lags, even if multiple kids are streaming video and I have a backup running. The biggest difference is that it's half the price of the 1G service that ran over AT&T's fiber.
- nickstinemates 2y agoI really wish Sonic would expand out to West Marin. My only options are comcast and starlink.
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- otteromkram 2y agoSearch? DuckDuckGo is great for most purposes. The best product Google has is Maps. That's about it.
- Dwedit 2y agoDuckDuckGo is literally Bing but with location-based ads added to the bottom of your search results.
- Retric 2y agoWhen did that change? I haven’t tested it in a while, but in the past DuckDuckGo indexed some stuff that wasn’t on Bing. I’ve been using Google and Duck on different kinds of searches these days, because neither is universally better but I might try Bing again. Edit: NM, Bings UI is still annoying. It slides stuff in from the side when you scroll down.
- latexr 2y ago> When did that change? It didn’t. The person you’re replying to is either exaggerating or uninformed. Maybe give Ecosia a try. The interface is decent and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the results.
- pb7 2y agoYou're right, it didn't change. It was always just a thin wrapper around Bing.
- Arisaka1 2y ago>The best product Google has is Maps. That's about it. Are we just going to pretend that Chrome and Android don't exist just like that, or do I have a different definition of "has"?