5 ms·

This proves again that you cannot trust any Google service in the long term. Is Gmail next?

scrollaway 12y ago
Give me a break. People have been predicting Orkut shutting down for just about half a decade. Hell, a lot of people ridiculed Google for having two social networks. Yeah, sure, gmail's next. Whatever you say.
- jacquesm 12y ago
  Gmail is definitely not next. But google+ users should take notice.
  - scrollaway 12y ago
    Take notice of what, exactly? That social networks have a single point of failure? What makes Google any different in that respect? How are Facebook users any safer than G+ users?
    - saalweachter 12y ago
      There is something to be said for companies doing one thing. MySpace still exists. If MySpace (were still) part of a larger company, they probably would have been shuttered by now as irrelevant. As long as Facebook just has one thing, 'Facebook', it will also safely limp along long after it is the backwater of the internet, a place you can't believe still exists.
      - magicalist 12y ago
        > There is something to be said for companies doing one thing. The only real difference is instead of shuttering they pivot. The name sticks around but they still delete all your old stuff[1], so the effect is the same. [1] http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/12/bring-the-blogs-back/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/12/bring-the-blogs-back/
      - saraid216 12y ago
        Clearly, Google should just focus on their cars.
      - scrollaway 12y ago
        > There is something to be said for companies doing one thing. Facebook doesn't want to "do one thing". The problem is, Facebook keeps failing at doing other things, so you never hear about them or remember them. Hey, what do you think people remember best: The facebook phone or the iTunes social network?
        scholia 12y ago
        But social networking is the core of what Facebook does, and that includes the failed phone. G+ is pretty much irrelevant to Google's core businesses, which are search and advertising.
    - lmm 12y ago
      Facebook is Facebook's primary product; they're unlikely to close it down and reallocate engineers to other products until they've tried very hard to make it a success.
      - scrollaway 12y ago
        Have you missed the memo? Google+ is "Google's central identity" in the new Google. Shutting down Google+ would be akin to Facebook shutting down Facebook.
        scholia 12y ago
        That's just marketing speak. Sure, G+ is about getting a real identity and other personal info to tie together with Google reading your emails, tracking you across the web, and tracking you via Android etc, but a Gmail sign-in would provide a "central identity" without G+. That's especially true for most Android users.
  - marincounty 12y ago
    I don't like google + because they were sneaky. I still can't figure out how they went into my computer and stole profile picture. (And no they didn't scrape it from Any website?).
    - thebouv 12y ago
      They probably got it when you forgot your tin foil hat that one morning. ;)
      - morganvachon 12y ago
        Google does pull your photos and videos into G+ from pretty much any device you sign into, though. It's opt-out, not opt-in like it used to be. If you dismiss the "we found new content" toast notification, which you only get after they've already started uploading said content, the service assumes you want to keep doing that. I found this out the hard way when I was testing an Android phone; I signed in to the phone with my Google account, then took some pictures. A cloud shaped notification popped up informing me that new content was found and it was being automatically backed up to G+. I had to actually go into G+ settings and turn off this "feature" that I had never asked for, nor authorized.
        grkvlt 12y ago
        > I had to actually go into G+ settings and turn off this "feature" that I had never asked for, nor authorized. Isn't that how software is meant to work? Not sure why there are scare-quotes around feature either - this is a feature, and a useful one at that, automatic cloud backup. And note that the backup is private, they aren't publishing these for the world to see or anything. If you don't like it, it can be disabled, no problem! Do you want all new features to be opt-in? They'd never get used; users just don't bother going to the settings pane every time software is updated, and look for new check-boxes. The toast pop-up alerting you to the new feature, with an option to disable it, the first time it's used is the best way to do this.
        12y ago
  - Istof 12y ago
    why is email safe since lots of users seem to have switched to social networks for most of their communications?
    - angersock 12y ago
      [citation needed]
andybak 12y ago
We were having a sweepstake at work to see how quickly this comment would appear. I had '20 minutes' down and lost by a whisker. I'm hoping to win my money back the next time someone mentions an ORM.

Give me a break. People have been predicting Orkut shutting down for just about half a decade. Hell, a lot of people ridiculed Google for having two social networks. Yeah, sure, gmail's next. Whatever you say.

jacquesm 12y ago
Gmail is definitely not next. But google+ users should take notice.
- scrollaway 12y ago
  Take notice of what, exactly? That social networks have a single point of failure? What makes Google any different in that respect? How are Facebook users any safer than G+ users?
  - saalweachter 12y ago
    There is something to be said for companies doing one thing. MySpace still exists. If MySpace (were still) part of a larger company, they probably would have been shuttered by now as irrelevant. As long as Facebook just has one thing, 'Facebook', it will also safely limp along long after it is the backwater of the internet, a place you can't believe still exists.
    - magicalist 12y ago
      > There is something to be said for companies doing one thing. The only real difference is instead of shuttering they pivot. The name sticks around but they still delete all your old stuff[1], so the effect is the same. [1] http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/12/bring-the-blogs-back/ http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/12/bring-the-blogs-back/
    - saraid216 12y ago
      Clearly, Google should just focus on their cars.
    - scrollaway 12y ago
      > There is something to be said for companies doing one thing. Facebook doesn't want to "do one thing". The problem is, Facebook keeps failing at doing other things, so you never hear about them or remember them. Hey, what do you think people remember best: The facebook phone or the iTunes social network?
      - scholia 12y ago
        But social networking is the core of what Facebook does, and that includes the failed phone. G+ is pretty much irrelevant to Google's core businesses, which are search and advertising.
  - lmm 12y ago
    Facebook is Facebook's primary product; they're unlikely to close it down and reallocate engineers to other products until they've tried very hard to make it a success.
    - scrollaway 12y ago
      Have you missed the memo? Google+ is "Google's central identity" in the new Google. Shutting down Google+ would be akin to Facebook shutting down Facebook.
      - scholia 12y ago
        That's just marketing speak. Sure, G+ is about getting a real identity and other personal info to tie together with Google reading your emails, tracking you across the web, and tracking you via Android etc, but a Gmail sign-in would provide a "central identity" without G+. That's especially true for most Android users.
- marincounty 12y ago
  I don't like google + because they were sneaky. I still can't figure out how they went into my computer and stole profile picture. (And no they didn't scrape it from Any website?).
  - thebouv 12y ago
    They probably got it when you forgot your tin foil hat that one morning. ;)
    - morganvachon 12y ago
      Google does pull your photos and videos into G+ from pretty much any device you sign into, though. It's opt-out, not opt-in like it used to be. If you dismiss the "we found new content" toast notification, which you only get after they've already started uploading said content, the service assumes you want to keep doing that. I found this out the hard way when I was testing an Android phone; I signed in to the phone with my Google account, then took some pictures. A cloud shaped notification popped up informing me that new content was found and it was being automatically backed up to G+. I had to actually go into G+ settings and turn off this "feature" that I had never asked for, nor authorized.
      - grkvlt 12y ago
        > I had to actually go into G+ settings and turn off this "feature" that I had never asked for, nor authorized. Isn't that how software is meant to work? Not sure why there are scare-quotes around feature either - this is a feature, and a useful one at that, automatic cloud backup. And note that the backup is private, they aren't publishing these for the world to see or anything. If you don't like it, it can be disabled, no problem! Do you want all new features to be opt-in? They'd never get used; users just don't bother going to the settings pane every time software is updated, and look for new check-boxes. The toast pop-up alerting you to the new feature, with an option to disable it, the first time it's used is the best way to do this.
        12y ago
- Istof 12y ago
  why is email safe since lots of users seem to have switched to social networks for most of their communications?
  - angersock 12y ago
    [citation needed]

andybak 12y ago

We were having a sweepstake at work to see how quickly this comment would appear. I had '20 minutes' down and lost by a whisker. I'm hoping to win my money back the next time someone mentions an ORM.