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I used Google Notebook fairly heavily, but they discontinued it. I love (and pay for) Evernote now, which has lots of great integrations with other products. Wh

I used Google Notebook fairly heavily, but they discontinued it. I love (and pay for) Evernote now, which has lots of great integrations with other products. Why would I trust Google again?

dragonwriter 14y ago
> I used Google Notebook fairly heavily, but they discontinued it. I love (and pay for) Evernote now, which has lots of great integrations with other products. Why would I trust Google again? Given that you need a Google Account to use this, and it is a new component of Google Drive, I don't think its really about winning back people who have rage-quit Google over the discontinuation of Google Notebook (or Google Reader, for that matter.)
- ChuckMcM 14y ago
  I read the grandparent comment as more of a "We don't trust you, therefore we won't invest in your new service, therefore you won't get the use out of it you expect, therefore you will kill it, and the prophecy is fulfilled." Google is doing something which I didn't think was possible, which is to teach a vast marketplace that "free" isn't real. I've had the conversation with lots of people about how free services are unsustainable because they incur real costs, and like a ponzi scheme you run out of suckers eventually who are willing to put in new money. And yet if you're collecting new users then there is some "value" there. But like shale oil of old, if you can't convert the 'value' into cash to fund operations, its not worth anything. Google is in a unique position to train the billions of Internet users that you want something, you pay for it, if you aren't paying for it, it goes away at any time. So when the person running the 'free' service says 'time to pay up' you don't complain, you either pay or do without. That was an impossible conversation to have during Web 1.0, it's being forced on Web 2.0, and I expect will be the foundation of Web 3.0.
  - tomkarlo 14y ago
    There are lots of free services that are sustainable, because the cost of delivering them is less than the amount they earn through advertising or premium users. There's no ponzi scheme aspect to that. (Google Search, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) Even if you're paying for something, it can still go away. There have been lots of paid services that failed, both online and offline. (Kozmo.com, Saab, Webvan, Hostess, etc) There are sustainable free services, and there are unsustainable paid services, and often companies don't know what category a product falls into until years after it's been released.
alec 14y ago
Evernote has taken hundreds of millions in funding over the course of five years. How they going to justify that investment with some portion of their 11 million users paying $45/year? Are they going to sell? If they sell, will the service survive?
- taligent 14y ago
  It is a pretty high proportion though (>1M) and the user base is incredibly loyal. Combine with the lock in effect, lack of decent competition and opportunities into enterprise market and you have recipes for a bright future. And there is no evidence of them selling. It is just FUD.
  - Evbn 14y ago
    So Google Keep, a freenium product with Takeout, is evil, but Evernote, a paid product with lock in, is good? Oooookaaaaay.
- monkeyspaw 14y ago
  Wow, I thought you were kidding, but it looks like they've taken about $250 million in funding. What have they spent it on? I have a mental disconnect between companies like Evernote and 37 signals. Why did Evernote need all that money?

I used Google Notebook fairly heavily, but they discontinued it. I love (and pay for) Evernote now, which has lots of great integrations with other products. Why would I trust Google again?

dragonwriter 14y ago

> I used Google Notebook fairly heavily, but they discontinued it. I love (and pay for) Evernote now, which has lots of great integrations with other products. Why would I trust Google again? Given that you need a Google Account to use this, and it is a new component of Google Drive, I don't think its really about winning back people who have rage-quit Google over the discontinuation of Google Notebook (or Google Reader, for that matter.)

ChuckMcM 14y ago
I read the grandparent comment as more of a "We don't trust you, therefore we won't invest in your new service, therefore you won't get the use out of it you expect, therefore you will kill it, and the prophecy is fulfilled." Google is doing something which I didn't think was possible, which is to teach a vast marketplace that "free" isn't real. I've had the conversation with lots of people about how free services are unsustainable because they incur real costs, and like a ponzi scheme you run out of suckers eventually who are willing to put in new money. And yet if you're collecting new users then there is some "value" there. But like shale oil of old, if you can't convert the 'value' into cash to fund operations, its not worth anything. Google is in a unique position to train the billions of Internet users that you want something, you pay for it, if you aren't paying for it, it goes away at any time. So when the person running the 'free' service says 'time to pay up' you don't complain, you either pay or do without. That was an impossible conversation to have during Web 1.0, it's being forced on Web 2.0, and I expect will be the foundation of Web 3.0.
- tomkarlo 14y ago
  There are lots of free services that are sustainable, because the cost of delivering them is less than the amount they earn through advertising or premium users. There's no ponzi scheme aspect to that. (Google Search, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) Even if you're paying for something, it can still go away. There have been lots of paid services that failed, both online and offline. (Kozmo.com, Saab, Webvan, Hostess, etc) There are sustainable free services, and there are unsustainable paid services, and often companies don't know what category a product falls into until years after it's been released.

alec 14y ago

Evernote has taken hundreds of millions in funding over the course of five years. How they going to justify that investment with some portion of their 11 million users paying $45/year? Are they going to sell? If they sell, will the service survive?

taligent 14y ago
It is a pretty high proportion though (>1M) and the user base is incredibly loyal. Combine with the lock in effect, lack of decent competition and opportunities into enterprise market and you have recipes for a bright future. And there is no evidence of them selling. It is just FUD.
- Evbn 14y ago
  So Google Keep, a freenium product with Takeout, is evil, but Evernote, a paid product with lock in, is good? Oooookaaaaay.
monkeyspaw 14y ago
Wow, I thought you were kidding, but it looks like they've taken about $250 million in funding. What have they spent it on? I have a mental disconnect between companies like Evernote and 37 signals. Why did Evernote need all that money?