5 ms·

> they also have an incredibly bad track record of supporting their products Incredibly bad track record of supporting products that don't grow. I'm not saying

> they also have an incredibly bad track record of supporting their products Incredibly bad track record of supporting products that don't grow. I'm not saying this to defend Google, I'm still (perhaps unreasonably) angry because of Reader, it's just that there is a pattern and AI isn't likely to fit that for a long while.

RandomThoughts3 2y ago
I’m sad for reader but it was a somewhat niche product. Inbox I can’t forgive. It was insanely good and was killed because it was a threat to Gmail. My main issue with Google is that internal politic affects users all the time. See the debacle of anything built on top of Android and being treated as a second citizen. You can’t trust a company which can’t shield users from its internal politics. It means nothing is aligned correctly for users to be taken seriously.
- kanzenryu2 2y ago
  Google reader was killed because there was only one guy who knew how to support it
  - troupo 2y ago
    And that is a problem for a company with 20k employees? No, Reader was killed because it: - was free - didn't contribute to revenue growth from ads
    - creesch 2y ago
      > And that is a problem for a company with 20k employees? It is for a company where the promotion culture rewards new initiatives and products and doesn't reward people maintaining products. Which was most certainly the company culture around the time reader was killed.
  - thibaut_barrere 2y ago
    If anything, this adds meat to the fact it can be understandable that people do not trust Google with products longevity. Bus factor et al. is literally CS 101.
- FezzikTheGiant 2y ago
  would you be willing to pay for something that essentially is google inbox - but a separate web view client with more personalization/better search?
mannycalavera42 2y ago
not going to miss the opportunity to upvote on the grief of having lost Reader
msabalau 2y ago
Yeah, either AI is significant, in which case Google isn't going to kill it. Or AI is a bubble, in any of the alternatives one might pick can easily crash and die long before Google ends of life anything. This isn't some minor consumer play, like a random tablet or Stadia. Anyone who has paying attention would have noticed that AI has been an important, consistent, long term strategic interest of Google's for a very long time. They've been killing off the fail/minor products to invest in this.
esafak 2y ago
Why would they grow if they don't vocally support them? Launch and hope for the best does not work; it's not the wild west on the Internet any more.
makeitdouble 2y ago
> products that don't grow. I think we all acknowledge this. The question is seldom "why" they kill it (I'd argue ultimately it doesn't matter), it's about how fast and what they offer as a migration path for those who boarded the train. That also means the minute Gemini stops looking like a growing product it's gone from this world, where Microsoft backed alternatives have a fighting chance to get some leeway to recover or pivot.
- mnau 2y ago
  Yeah, MS Azure DevOps is still alive, though stagnant. I thought everyone would be moved to GitHub in few years after MS acquired GitHub. Yet here we are, 6 years later.
  - aryonoco 2y ago
    I can guarantee that DevOps will still be around and functional in 2030. It won't have new features but it will still be supported. Microsoft bought FoxBase in 1992. FoxPro never took the world by storm but it had a dedicated group of devs and ISVs who used it and it solved their needs. The last version was released in 2004, long after Microsoft had released.Net and C# and SQL Server. Microsoft officially ended support for it in 2015. Google? If the product doesn't become an instant #1 or #2 in its market and doesn't directly contribute to their bottom line in a way which can be itemised in their earnings call, it's gone in less than 3 years guaranteed.
Teever 2y ago
It's more nuanced than that. Like how many different instant messengers did they make at the same time only to abandon them all instead of just making one and supporting it?
The_Colonel 2y ago
> Incredibly bad track record of supporting products that don't grow. That's irrelevant to me as a user if I've already invested my time into the product. To an extent all companies do it. Google just does it much more, to a degree that I tend to ignore most Google's launches because of this uncertainty.
nanna 2y ago
Please can we just get over Reader. Please. Yes it was devastating for RSS, but the debacle took place eleven years ago. Enough.
- egeozcan 2y ago
  You are not wrong, but my irrational mind is unlikely to take your advice. Try treating it as a meme, rather than anything belonging to a sane discussion. For me, I don't think I'll ever get over it. I'm sorry.
- aryonoco 2y ago
  No we can't cause it was absolutely a turning point in Google's trajectory. After Reader, it was Currents, Google TV, Picasa, Google Now, Spaces, Chromecast Audio,Inbox, GCM, Nest, Fusion Tables, Google Cloud Print, Google Play Music, Google Bookmarks, Chrome Apps, G Suite.... Reader keeps coming up because after Reader, Google's motto turned into "Do be Evil"
michaelt 2y ago
> Incredibly bad track record of supporting products that don't grow. [...] AI isn't likely to fit that for a long while. Have you seen Google Bard anywhere recently? Me neither :)
- egeozcan 2y ago
  As far as I know, they just renamed it to Gemini. Now I'm not sure if are you arguing that a name change is not supporting a product or that Gemini is a different product with a different feature set?

RandomThoughts3 2y ago

I’m sad for reader but it was a somewhat niche product. Inbox I can’t forgive. It was insanely good and was killed because it was a threat to Gmail. My main issue with Google is that internal politic affects users all the time. See the debacle of anything built on top of Android and being treated as a second citizen. You can’t trust a company which can’t shield users from its internal politics. It means nothing is aligned correctly for users to be taken seriously.

kanzenryu2 2y ago
Google reader was killed because there was only one guy who knew how to support it
- troupo 2y ago
  And that is a problem for a company with 20k employees? No, Reader was killed because it: - was free - didn't contribute to revenue growth from ads
  - creesch 2y ago
    > And that is a problem for a company with 20k employees? It is for a company where the promotion culture rewards new initiatives and products and doesn't reward people maintaining products. Which was most certainly the company culture around the time reader was killed.
- thibaut_barrere 2y ago
  If anything, this adds meat to the fact it can be understandable that people do not trust Google with products longevity. Bus factor et al. is literally CS 101.
FezzikTheGiant 2y ago
would you be willing to pay for something that essentially is google inbox - but a separate web view client with more personalization/better search?

mannycalavera42 2y ago

not going to miss the opportunity to upvote on the grief of having lost Reader

msabalau 2y ago

Yeah, either AI is significant, in which case Google isn't going to kill it. Or AI is a bubble, in any of the alternatives one might pick can easily crash and die long before Google ends of life anything. This isn't some minor consumer play, like a random tablet or Stadia. Anyone who has paying attention would have noticed that AI has been an important, consistent, long term strategic interest of Google's for a very long time. They've been killing off the fail/minor products to invest in this.

esafak 2y ago

Why would they grow if they don't vocally support them? Launch and hope for the best does not work; it's not the wild west on the Internet any more.

makeitdouble 2y ago

> products that don't grow. I think we all acknowledge this. The question is seldom "why" they kill it (I'd argue ultimately it doesn't matter), it's about how fast and what they offer as a migration path for those who boarded the train. That also means the minute Gemini stops looking like a growing product it's gone from this world, where Microsoft backed alternatives have a fighting chance to get some leeway to recover or pivot.

mnau 2y ago
Yeah, MS Azure DevOps is still alive, though stagnant. I thought everyone would be moved to GitHub in few years after MS acquired GitHub. Yet here we are, 6 years later.
- aryonoco 2y ago
  I can guarantee that DevOps will still be around and functional in 2030. It won't have new features but it will still be supported. Microsoft bought FoxBase in 1992. FoxPro never took the world by storm but it had a dedicated group of devs and ISVs who used it and it solved their needs. The last version was released in 2004, long after Microsoft had released.Net and C# and SQL Server. Microsoft officially ended support for it in 2015. Google? If the product doesn't become an instant #1 or #2 in its market and doesn't directly contribute to their bottom line in a way which can be itemised in their earnings call, it's gone in less than 3 years guaranteed.

Teever 2y ago

It's more nuanced than that. Like how many different instant messengers did they make at the same time only to abandon them all instead of just making one and supporting it?

The_Colonel 2y ago

> Incredibly bad track record of supporting products that don't grow. That's irrelevant to me as a user if I've already invested my time into the product. To an extent all companies do it. Google just does it much more, to a degree that I tend to ignore most Google's launches because of this uncertainty.

nanna 2y ago

Please can we just get over Reader. Please. Yes it was devastating for RSS, but the debacle took place eleven years ago. Enough.

egeozcan 2y ago
You are not wrong, but my irrational mind is unlikely to take your advice. Try treating it as a meme, rather than anything belonging to a sane discussion. For me, I don't think I'll ever get over it. I'm sorry.
aryonoco 2y ago
No we can't cause it was absolutely a turning point in Google's trajectory. After Reader, it was Currents, Google TV, Picasa, Google Now, Spaces, Chromecast Audio,Inbox, GCM, Nest, Fusion Tables, Google Cloud Print, Google Play Music, Google Bookmarks, Chrome Apps, G Suite.... Reader keeps coming up because after Reader, Google's motto turned into "Do be Evil"

michaelt 2y ago

> Incredibly bad track record of supporting products that don't grow. [...] AI isn't likely to fit that for a long while. Have you seen Google Bard anywhere recently? Me neither :)

egeozcan 2y ago
As far as I know, they just renamed it to Gemini. Now I'm not sure if are you arguing that a name change is not supporting a product or that Gemini is a different product with a different feature set?