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My wife got upset with me when I dns-blocked all the ads. It sounds totally insane but we’re the minority here. That’s why Google is a $4.5 trillion company.

Jzush 5mo ago
By that logic though wouldn’t Google have wildly successful products instead of a long line of failures? Googles product strategy is akin to throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. Sure some stuff sticks but most falls off the wall and is axed barely half way into the product life cycle.
- vntok 5mo ago
  But they do have wildly successful products. They also have failures, then again most companies have failures as well at all points in the product cycle.
- xboxnolifes 5mo ago
  You're on HN, you should be aware of the idea of not needing every product to succeed. They only need 1 in 10, or 1 in 20, or however many moonshots to succeed. You can not like that strategy, but it's basically the entire tech industry.
- MiSeRyDeee 5mo ago
  Pretty much all companies have a long line of failed products, only the ones we heard have successful ones. Google is definitely one of the most successful companies ever existed
- AntiUSAbah 5mo ago
  No one around me cared about Google Reader / their RSS Reader. Pepole around me don't even know what google is doing besides search and probably maps. I'm the person with an adblocker, the others are not. Who is Googles target audiance? Its not me. I might only be a target for when i run some IT Platform in my work as an architect.
  - duzer65657 5mo ago
    >> Who is Googles target audiance? I think this is an easy question to answer: 1. what's your monthly ad spend? 2. how many ads did you view lasy week? You're probably not their target.
- kevin_thibedeau 5mo ago
  Those failures are funded by a wildly successful product.
- WalterBright 5mo ago
  > Sure some stuff sticks but most falls off the wall and is axed barely half way into the product life cycle. If you're not failing often, you're not an innovative company.
- impulser_ 5mo ago
  People need to understand Google. They have a long line of failures, because they are an innovative company. Their whole goal is to scale products to billions of users. So if they release a product, and they see no path to billions of users they cut it and move on. This has always been the way Google has worked. This is why they are literally the most successful company in the history of the world.
  - rchaud 5mo ago
    That's the economic model of Saudi Arabia. Just because the world wants to pay for oil and apparently ad inventory today doesn't mean that it'll do so forever.
- TacticalCoder 5mo ago
  > By that logic though wouldn’t Google have wildly successful products instead of a long line of failures? Failures like YouTube, GMail and Android?
  - wiseowise 5mo ago
    Two out of those were bought by Google.
    - SquareWheel 5mo ago
      Sure, and Microsoft acquired DOS, and Adobe acquired Photoshop. At a certain point though, after 20+ years of development, you need to give some credit to the new owners for making it into what it is today.
    - kernal 5mo ago
      No. Android was just a JavaScript demo. The OS was developed at Google.
- luckydata 5mo ago
  so you're saying Google DOESN'T have wildly successful products? That's definitely a hot take.
duzer65657 5mo ago
let's be clear: Google is a titan because they successfully sold ads to people who sold to you. We were never the target market beyond building a monopoly on eyeballs, and it's questionable if their ad empire continues. Outside of that they've had very few successes, and while traditionally the hardware is high quality, the bundled services and level of enshitification now is a no-go for my family. If you're buying into the single vendor for the rest of your life, the choice is currently Apple IMO, because they're "least bad".
bodge5000 5mo ago
We are in the minority, but don't think the majority is the opposite and like this kind of thing. The majority just don't care at all about it.
- soerxpso 5mo ago
  It's really not uncommon for me to speak to someone who actively doesn't want any sort of adblock on their computer. I would say maybe 5% of people, anecdotally, just don't want it, even when you're in front of their computer at that very moment, and offer, and insist that it would take 30 seconds to install. It's not a majority, but I found it surprising.
- knuppar 5mo ago
  On the spot. A lot of replies in this thread which outline "useful" AI features fail to acknowledge the same: this is hackernews, and it's a very specific and non representative slice of the population.
  - soraminazuki 5mo ago
    This is Hacker News, where corporate loyalists line up to write screeds about how the population loves being screwed over by big tech.
engeljohnb 5mo ago
Okay, I just have to pry here: why? Does she like ads?
- paulcole 5mo ago
  I don’t block ads. I like buying things. I go to work and make money. I’m going to spend some of it on stuff that looks nice and seems fun. Ads are a good way (not the only good way) to find out about new things to buy.
  - BLKNSLVR 5mo ago
    I feel as if you're exactly the opposite of me. This feels, to me, like such an upside down, back-to-front position. If I need to buy something new in order feel like I'm having 'fun', then I try to ask 'why' as many times as necessary to work out what hole I'm actually trying to fill, or what scratch I'm trying to itch. There are a couple of second hand items I want to buy off Gumtree, but I have no immediate need for them, they'd be for some future situation that's more likely than not to be only theoretical. Knowing that they are there, available, makes me want them, rather than some actual existing purpose. > to find out about new things to buy. I would interpret this as "to find out why I should feel unhappy and empty that I don't own these things". On things that look nice, yes, I've got some nice art, but there's a limited amount of space in which to put up nice looking things, and if you're buying them frequently then you're either throwing out a lot or you're having to store a lot. Additionally, I don't think I've ever seen anything that looks remotely nice advertised on the Internet; or at least looks nice and isn't, in actuality, mass-produced shit that's been polished up. Having said that, if I had more money to throw away I'd do up my study like an old-school English manor-house library, full matching bookshelves, wainscoting, desk and chair. That's purely 'looks nice' and I would throw away the patchwork that currently furnishes my study. I'll say that's been advertised to me through (un)intentional 'product placement' in movies and TV shows, rather than Internet advertising though. I am a basic human being, however.
    - paulcole 5mo ago
      > I am a basic human being, however. Hate to burst your bubble but we’re the same. We both want to enjoy our lives.
BLKNSLVR 5mo ago
I had a similar reaction from in-law family members. The main reason was that they wanted to be able to see the ads that unlocked more gameplay time on their free game. Just feels crazy to me, but I guess that's what addiction looks like.
- hirako2000 5mo ago
  In their case it may rather be accepting the subsidies, trading precious time for pennies. Purchasing upon ads is the opposite. Trading dollars (and freewill) for time (along with painkiller to having to have personal taste)
jailbreakslur 5mo ago
This. This is why "sync your files and cast your apps with 0 installs" are even being sold as features. Normies HATE customizing their devices. Children will literall reach for AI instead of search engines when they just want to change a background image. Jailbreak is a slur for "Installation" that tech companies want to keep that way.
- randomeel 5mo ago
  This is also true.Normies in no situation will customize their device anyhow.
razorbeamz 5mo ago
My wife also got upset with me over this.
madaxe_again 5mo ago
Ditto. It hadn’t even occurred to me that she was clicking on the damned things, but then I’d never thought to ask “hey, how did you find out about this useless Chinese plastic crap that lives in a drawer and is never used”.
- wvh 5mo ago
  Sometimes you've got to protect people against themselves...
port11 5mo ago
EDRi is in the minority, the EFF is in the minority, and so on. But someone has got to fight the corps, they can’t be the only ones dictating what’s socially acceptable.

Jzush 5mo ago

By that logic though wouldn’t Google have wildly successful products instead of a long line of failures? Googles product strategy is akin to throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. Sure some stuff sticks but most falls off the wall and is axed barely half way into the product life cycle.

vntok 5mo ago
But they do have wildly successful products. They also have failures, then again most companies have failures as well at all points in the product cycle.
xboxnolifes 5mo ago
You're on HN, you should be aware of the idea of not needing every product to succeed. They only need 1 in 10, or 1 in 20, or however many moonshots to succeed. You can not like that strategy, but it's basically the entire tech industry.
MiSeRyDeee 5mo ago
Pretty much all companies have a long line of failed products, only the ones we heard have successful ones. Google is definitely one of the most successful companies ever existed
AntiUSAbah 5mo ago
No one around me cared about Google Reader / their RSS Reader. Pepole around me don't even know what google is doing besides search and probably maps. I'm the person with an adblocker, the others are not. Who is Googles target audiance? Its not me. I might only be a target for when i run some IT Platform in my work as an architect.
- duzer65657 5mo ago
  >> Who is Googles target audiance? I think this is an easy question to answer: 1. what's your monthly ad spend? 2. how many ads did you view lasy week? You're probably not their target.
kevin_thibedeau 5mo ago
Those failures are funded by a wildly successful product.
WalterBright 5mo ago
> Sure some stuff sticks but most falls off the wall and is axed barely half way into the product life cycle. If you're not failing often, you're not an innovative company.
impulser_ 5mo ago
People need to understand Google. They have a long line of failures, because they are an innovative company. Their whole goal is to scale products to billions of users. So if they release a product, and they see no path to billions of users they cut it and move on. This has always been the way Google has worked. This is why they are literally the most successful company in the history of the world.
- rchaud 5mo ago
  That's the economic model of Saudi Arabia. Just because the world wants to pay for oil and apparently ad inventory today doesn't mean that it'll do so forever.
TacticalCoder 5mo ago
> By that logic though wouldn’t Google have wildly successful products instead of a long line of failures? Failures like YouTube, GMail and Android?
- wiseowise 5mo ago
  Two out of those were bought by Google.
  - SquareWheel 5mo ago
    Sure, and Microsoft acquired DOS, and Adobe acquired Photoshop. At a certain point though, after 20+ years of development, you need to give some credit to the new owners for making it into what it is today.
  - kernal 5mo ago
    No. Android was just a JavaScript demo. The OS was developed at Google.
luckydata 5mo ago
so you're saying Google DOESN'T have wildly successful products? That's definitely a hot take.

duzer65657 5mo ago

let's be clear: Google is a titan because they successfully sold ads to people who sold to you. We were never the target market beyond building a monopoly on eyeballs, and it's questionable if their ad empire continues. Outside of that they've had very few successes, and while traditionally the hardware is high quality, the bundled services and level of enshitification now is a no-go for my family. If you're buying into the single vendor for the rest of your life, the choice is currently Apple IMO, because they're "least bad".

bodge5000 5mo ago

We are in the minority, but don't think the majority is the opposite and like this kind of thing. The majority just don't care at all about it.

soerxpso 5mo ago
It's really not uncommon for me to speak to someone who actively doesn't want any sort of adblock on their computer. I would say maybe 5% of people, anecdotally, just don't want it, even when you're in front of their computer at that very moment, and offer, and insist that it would take 30 seconds to install. It's not a majority, but I found it surprising.
knuppar 5mo ago
On the spot. A lot of replies in this thread which outline "useful" AI features fail to acknowledge the same: this is hackernews, and it's a very specific and non representative slice of the population.
- soraminazuki 5mo ago
  This is Hacker News, where corporate loyalists line up to write screeds about how the population loves being screwed over by big tech.

engeljohnb 5mo ago

Okay, I just have to pry here: why? Does she like ads?

paulcole 5mo ago
I don’t block ads. I like buying things. I go to work and make money. I’m going to spend some of it on stuff that looks nice and seems fun. Ads are a good way (not the only good way) to find out about new things to buy.
- BLKNSLVR 5mo ago
  I feel as if you're exactly the opposite of me. This feels, to me, like such an upside down, back-to-front position. If I need to buy something new in order feel like I'm having 'fun', then I try to ask 'why' as many times as necessary to work out what hole I'm actually trying to fill, or what scratch I'm trying to itch. There are a couple of second hand items I want to buy off Gumtree, but I have no immediate need for them, they'd be for some future situation that's more likely than not to be only theoretical. Knowing that they are there, available, makes me want them, rather than some actual existing purpose. > to find out about new things to buy. I would interpret this as "to find out why I should feel unhappy and empty that I don't own these things". On things that look nice, yes, I've got some nice art, but there's a limited amount of space in which to put up nice looking things, and if you're buying them frequently then you're either throwing out a lot or you're having to store a lot. Additionally, I don't think I've ever seen anything that looks remotely nice advertised on the Internet; or at least looks nice and isn't, in actuality, mass-produced shit that's been polished up. Having said that, if I had more money to throw away I'd do up my study like an old-school English manor-house library, full matching bookshelves, wainscoting, desk and chair. That's purely 'looks nice' and I would throw away the patchwork that currently furnishes my study. I'll say that's been advertised to me through (un)intentional 'product placement' in movies and TV shows, rather than Internet advertising though. I am a basic human being, however.
  - paulcole 5mo ago
    > I am a basic human being, however. Hate to burst your bubble but we’re the same. We both want to enjoy our lives.

BLKNSLVR 5mo ago

I had a similar reaction from in-law family members. The main reason was that they wanted to be able to see the ads that unlocked more gameplay time on their free game. Just feels crazy to me, but I guess that's what addiction looks like.

hirako2000 5mo ago
In their case it may rather be accepting the subsidies, trading precious time for pennies. Purchasing upon ads is the opposite. Trading dollars (and freewill) for time (along with painkiller to having to have personal taste)

jailbreakslur 5mo ago

This. This is why "sync your files and cast your apps with 0 installs" are even being sold as features. Normies HATE customizing their devices. Children will literall reach for AI instead of search engines when they just want to change a background image. Jailbreak is a slur for "Installation" that tech companies want to keep that way.

randomeel 5mo ago
This is also true.Normies in no situation will customize their device anyhow.

razorbeamz 5mo ago

My wife also got upset with me over this.

madaxe_again 5mo ago

Ditto. It hadn’t even occurred to me that she was clicking on the damned things, but then I’d never thought to ask “hey, how did you find out about this useless Chinese plastic crap that lives in a drawer and is never used”.

wvh 5mo ago
Sometimes you've got to protect people against themselves...

port11 5mo ago

EDRi is in the minority, the EFF is in the minority, and so on. But someone has got to fight the corps, they can’t be the only ones dictating what’s socially acceptable.