4 ms·

Anyone else thing this is ironic coming from Google, a company notoriously difficult to get assistance with their own products?

by polemic 13y ago

adcoelho 13y ago
At first I thought it would be something related with a revision of their customer service. Oh well, not today.
- martinwnet 13y ago
  I genuinely thought it might be April.
  - pencilcode 13y ago
    me too! "let's put more arrows behind fewer projects tra la la", so they shut down an rss service and then open up something like this.. a bit off.
midko 13y ago
No. (Haven't we filled the whine-quota about Google for this month yet?) Here's a more civil answer that does not convey what I think such whines should be treated with here. No, I don't find it ironical. In fact, I think it's great precisely because they have bad customer support. It means they recognize such problems and do want to improve things (sure, maybe with profit in mind. What's wrong with that). Yes, helpouts does not change their customer support the slightest bit. But how much of an issue is it for non-tech people, compared to any other kind of expert help one may need, ? Look outside the tech bubble for a second. I quite agree with kolya3's comment. It's safe to say that part of the reason why Google has such a notoriously bad customer support is the scale at which they operate. And what do they do? They solve a much bigger problem with precisely this same scale. Isn't that at the very core of what Google does, is about, is?! For good and bad, Google == scale. So no, I don't find it ironical. I think it is exactly the kind of thing they should do. It doesn't matter if this works or not, does not matter if it's killed in 6 months or not, it does not matter if the NSA sees that a guy showed you how to flip pizza dough in the air. It is precisely the kind of attitude they should have. Last thing. I look at the comments in this thread and it's bitter negativity all the way down. Can seriously none of you see any value in this?! None of you, members and readers of this community about STARTUPS see any business opportunity here?! A chance to create value and grow?! And no, just because it may get killed soon does not immediately mean such opportunity should be ignored. For a niche business leveraging Google's userbase even for a month can mean massive growth. If the service dies, so what, your new clients already know you exist and (hopefully) satisfied with your work.
- dodyg 13y ago
  The problem is not whether people here recognize the value in this. The problem is whether Google Management will see the value of this a year from now.
  - mayanksinghal 13y ago
    Reader lasted 9 years!
    - dodyg 13y ago
      Google Wave
      - mayanksinghal 13y ago
        Lasted ~2.5years. Got open sourced and now powers 2-3 startups.
        dodyg 13y ago
        Not for the public - http://gawker.com/5604846/google-wave-dead-after-two-months http://gawker.com/5604846/google-wave-dead-after-two-months
      - dragonwriter 13y ago
        Google Wave was overtly a communications protocol with a demonstration service.
- snom380 13y ago
  The bitterness isn't towards the product or the idea, it's toward Google, and for good reason considering their track record with side projects such as this. It's like hearing a drug addict tell you they've cleaned up for the 5th time. After a while you just keep a cautious distance.
  - 13y ago
lazyjones 13y ago
Yes. It's fascinating how Google is slowly turning into the Microsoft of the mid-90's/early 00's. Most people depend on it, many are starting to hate it after a few very bad experiences (with their nonexistant customer service for example).
joeblau 13y ago
I've had a few experiences trying to get help from Google on their products. After I can't get help, I just switch to another service which actually has customer support. It would be cool if they could use this as a way to interface with their customers but I think that if they opened up that floodgate, it would significantly increase their overhead.

Anyone else thing this is ironic coming from Google, a company notoriously difficult to get assistance with their own products?

by polemic 13y ago

Anyone else thing this is ironic coming from Google, a company notoriously difficult to get assistance with their own products?

adcoelho 13y ago

At first I thought it would be something related with a revision of their customer service. Oh well, not today.

martinwnet 13y ago
I genuinely thought it might be April.
- pencilcode 13y ago
  me too! "let's put more arrows behind fewer projects tra la la", so they shut down an rss service and then open up something like this.. a bit off.

midko 13y ago

No. (Haven't we filled the whine-quota about Google for this month yet?) Here's a more civil answer that does not convey what I think such whines should be treated with here. No, I don't find it ironical. In fact, I think it's great precisely because they have bad customer support. It means they recognize such problems and do want to improve things (sure, maybe with profit in mind. What's wrong with that). Yes, helpouts does not change their customer support the slightest bit. But how much of an issue is it for non-tech people, compared to any other kind of expert help one may need, ? Look outside the tech bubble for a second. I quite agree with kolya3's comment. It's safe to say that part of the reason why Google has such a notoriously bad customer support is the scale at which they operate. And what do they do? They solve a much bigger problem with precisely this same scale. Isn't that at the very core of what Google does, is about, is?! For good and bad, Google == scale. So no, I don't find it ironical. I think it is exactly the kind of thing they should do. It doesn't matter if this works or not, does not matter if it's killed in 6 months or not, it does not matter if the NSA sees that a guy showed you how to flip pizza dough in the air. It is precisely the kind of attitude they should have. Last thing. I look at the comments in this thread and it's bitter negativity all the way down. Can seriously none of you see any value in this?! None of you, members and readers of this community about STARTUPS see any business opportunity here?! A chance to create value and grow?! And no, just because it may get killed soon does not immediately mean such opportunity should be ignored. For a niche business leveraging Google's userbase even for a month can mean massive growth. If the service dies, so what, your new clients already know you exist and (hopefully) satisfied with your work.

dodyg 13y ago
The problem is not whether people here recognize the value in this. The problem is whether Google Management will see the value of this a year from now.
- mayanksinghal 13y ago
  Reader lasted 9 years!
  - dodyg 13y ago
    Google Wave
    - mayanksinghal 13y ago
      Lasted ~2.5years. Got open sourced and now powers 2-3 startups.
      - dodyg 13y ago
        Not for the public - http://gawker.com/5604846/google-wave-dead-after-two-months http://gawker.com/5604846/google-wave-dead-after-two-months
    - dragonwriter 13y ago
      Google Wave was overtly a communications protocol with a demonstration service.
snom380 13y ago
The bitterness isn't towards the product or the idea, it's toward Google, and for good reason considering their track record with side projects such as this. It's like hearing a drug addict tell you they've cleaned up for the 5th time. After a while you just keep a cautious distance.
- 13y ago

lazyjones 13y ago

Yes. It's fascinating how Google is slowly turning into the Microsoft of the mid-90's/early 00's. Most people depend on it, many are starting to hate it after a few very bad experiences (with their nonexistant customer service for example).

joeblau 13y ago

I've had a few experiences trying to get help from Google on their products. After I can't get help, I just switch to another service which actually has customer support. It would be cool if they could use this as a way to interface with their customers but I think that if they opened up that floodgate, it would significantly increase their overhead.