18 ms·

Google Is Shutting Down Google Helpouts, Its Expert Video Chat Service

148 points by kshatrea 12y ago

jackreichert 12y ago
This happens a lot, before using any service by Google I tend to ask myself, twice, "if they shut this down, which they might very well do, what is my backup plan?" Honestly, it's hard to make a good case to rely on them for much outside of their core products.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  I did a focus group hangout with a Google staff member many months ago, and under the NDA I signed, and I can't discuss which product it was for. Most importantly, the staff member asked me what's stopping me from using their service over a competitor's service. I replied, "I know they'll still be supporting/providing the service 1-2 years from now".
  - emehrkay 12y ago
    How scary is the "Google could easily enter that market" line now-a-days?
    - toomuchtodo 12y ago
      I think in B2C markets, its definitely a fear. Witness how many people use Gmail because its free. But B2B products? I'd have no fear of Google coming into my market. I'd be more worried if it was Amazon, Apple, or Facebook to a lesser extent.
      - mattmanser 12y ago
        Be fair, I started using Gmail all those years ago because it was awesome. And although it's stagnated and they're about to fuck up the desktop UI by "Materializing" it, it's still pretty good.
    - CamperBob2 12y ago
      In general, nobody should be scared of such an eventuality. If large companies didn't have massive, major handicaps by their very nature, there would be no small companies.
- higherpurpose 12y ago
  Not like you had anything to lose from this closing down.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
graeme 12y ago
I tried this. Among other things, I do LSAT tutoring. I don't think I saw a single inquiry. People have specific places they go to look for LSAT tutors, and google helpouts wasn't one of them. LSAT is more specific than some other niches, but I imagine this same problem occurred in most areas.
- lbotos 12y ago
  The biggest problem is they needed to be the "Backend" here. If they just got a cut of the 30% LSAT/SAT sites and those sites simplified their stack it would be a win all around. Look at AirPair, Their core product was their network using hipchat and Hangouts to accomplish the goal. If sites could leverage this technology (read: google marketed it as such, a technology, not and end product) I'd suspect some of those sites would have leveraged it.
  - graeme 12y ago
    I put it on my site, but no one used it. It was on the sidebar of every page. People just clicked on the "tutoring" page instead. I'm not sure it would have worked for LSAT/SAT at all. People seem to want to talk to a human before they book a lesson, since they're expensive. In theory, people could find it very useful to consult an expert for five minutes. But in practice the sort of people who would want to do that don't even look for a tutor. The typical tutoring students wants hours. If the client is a parent, then they're looking to hand off the problem to an expert. (For almost all SAT tutoring, the client is a parent.) Could you see this working outside of a technical niche?
blueintegral 12y ago
I offered help with electronics projects and had maybe a dozen sessions. I charged the default $1/minute and really enjoyed it, because I got to hear about all kinds of cool things people were working on, and I got the satisfaction of helping them, and it helped pay for my own projects. I'm kinda bummed they're shutting down.
- FlailFast 12y ago
  Me too. I did free math tutoring for a while and it was a such a good feeling when I helped folks understand a previously difficult concept. Had a big problem with random cancelations, which made scheduling really difficult and made me less enthused to Helpout. Still, I'm sad to see it go.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
cannonpult 12y ago
This is the first time I've heard of Google Helpouts
- devanti 12y ago
  same. never heard of them before
Chinjut 12y ago
As prophesied in the top comment (by user24) right here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6248771 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6248771
- hahainternet 12y ago
  Google should focus! Google should keep services running despite low growth or low interest! Google should be all things to all people!
  - Apocryphon 12y ago
    Surely an organization with as much resources and revenue as Google can have their cake and eat it too?
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
  - ploxiln 12y ago
    Just throw out the last one. Google should just not launch new stuff. Unless they're serious about it and they're going to keep it. The problem is that a number of users that would make a dedicated startup quite happy, doesn't interest google - "low growth or low interest" is a rather high bar for google. Google Reader was huge, just not google huge. EDIT: Why I think this, is because I'm annoyed that all the big companies want one of what all the other big companies have - music locker/streaming service, home automation platform, tv platform, freaking VR goggles. One does it, the rest have to get one too. Then it's forgotten in a couple of years. (Helpouts was part of the Hangouts push, and now that the push is over, it's forgotten.)
    - jfoster 12y ago
      They could just start spinning off (into separate companies) or open sourcing the projects they decide to no longer pursue. That would alleviate a lot of the negative PR they get from doing this stuff, I think. Also is the right thing for customers who are invested in the product.
simon_weber 12y ago
Too bad; I've enjoyed running my free CS/programming Helpout [1]. Besides the decline in user growth that Google mentions, here are the major problems I saw while using it: * hosting a free Helpout meant dealing with constant no-shows [2]. I started charging $1/hour and then refunding it to folks who showed up. * attendees of free Helpouts were rarely prepared * the scheduling system was very limited (especially compared to Google Calendar) That said, when everything worked, it was an amazing experience. [1] https://helpouts.google.com/103350848301234480355/ls/a344f06e06d4d5db https://helpouts.google.com/103350848301234480355/ls/a344f06... [2] https://simon.codes/2013/11/07/google-helpouts-first-impressions.html https://simon.codes/2013/11/07/google-helpouts-first-impress...
- igorgue 12y ago
  How are you gonna do it now? I have a friend who I help but I really don't have time. Also, why did you do it for free? I've found when I help somebody for 10 mins or so it usually gets me in the mood of programming my own stuff.
  - simon_weber 12y ago
    > How are you gonna do it now? I'm not sure. Ideally I'd have a site where I can put my email and encourage folks to write me. This has worked better than video chat for me, since: 1) folks rubber duck [1] themselves while writing, so they ask better questions. 2) it's asynchronous, so we don't have to find a matching slot in our schedules (and don't commit to an amount of time beforehand) I've redirected all my Helpouts schedule requests to email recently and it's worked well. > Also, why did you do it for free? I just never considered charging. I don't think I could do so and feel good about it with the amount of free help I've received (irc, SO, hacker school, college...). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging
- spiritplumber 12y ago
  * hosting a free Helpout meant dealing with constant no-shows [2]. I started charging $1/hour and then refunding it to folks who showed up. You've solved the MOOC attendance problem, with this.
r109 12y ago
#GoogleFAIL
BorisMelnik 12y ago
No need to be negative, but this was a failure from the beginning. I tried a number of times to "helpout" but was not accepted. I'm no industry expert, but I do have some things to freely offer and thought it was weird that I had to wait and wait and wait to become accepted and by the time that happened, I was no longer interested.
rememberlenny 12y ago
I misread this as Google Hangouts.
mojuba 12y ago
> The Helpouts community includes some engaged and loyal contributors, but unfortunately, it hasn't grown at the pace we had expected. (from helpouts.google.com) Google feels more and more like a company that suffers from gigantomania (a nice service "hasn't grown at the pace we had expected" - so it should be no less than Google Search?) on the one hand, and inability to bring new products to the market on the other. I have a theory that there is no such thing as bad idea. Any initial idea, be it seemingly good or bad in the beginning, requires refinement, development and a lot of solid work. If you look at any successful product or service today, the initial idea wouldn't have necessarily be qualified as good. It's a thousand of new derivative and auxiliary ideas that make the original one interesting and eventually also successful. So according to this theory, if a company shuts down its own products one after another, and screws up others that used to work well - that company is clearly malfunctioning. In case of Google it doesn't seem to be bad engineering, in fact Google can be considered one of the top few companies in the world in terms of technical quality. It seems to be more on the product management side. Google, you need to change, fast. I have a feeling your countdown timer may have started already.
- munificent 12y ago
  > If you look at any successful product or service today, the initial idea wouldn't have necessarily be qualified as good. Confirmation bias. You aren't looking at the 100s of un-successful products and services out there.
  - mojuba 12y ago
    I am looking, and many of them seem like good ideas. Others are bad. So what?
    - dragonwriter 12y ago
      > I am looking, and many of them seem like good ideas. Others are bad. So what? Upthread you said: > I have a theory that there is no such thing as bad idea. You seem to have just rejected that theory.
oafitupa 12y ago
If you use Google products, you are gonna have a bad time. Find alternatives and become free. You don't need to replace everything at the same time, you can do it one product at a time.
murbard2 12y ago
The service was a good idea, but it probably needs to be decentralized to avoid a central party bearing legal liabilities. Run by Google, it was killed by all the regulation surrounding the sale of services. Can't give medical advice, can't get payments in Europe, etc.
filmgirlcw 12y ago
I'm in no way surprised. I thought this was a questionable idea when it debuted and it never struck me as something that could actually grow into something popular. Part of the issue, I think, is that Google as a company fundamentally does not understand content. (YouTube is the one exception here and even with YouTube, the way the whole YouTube partner program works, the way the ad side is run and other aspects make it clear that they still really don't get content -- they just happen to have a great platform and a few people trying to convince people who make more than them to think outside the algorithm). It was an interesting idea but marred with poor execution and a dwindling Google+ audience.
tzm 12y ago
Plot twist: No need for Helpouts when Hangouts become embedded within search results.
noarchy 12y ago
The first clue I have to there being a problem is that this is the first time I've heard of Google Helpouts. I use a wide assortment of Google products, but never heard a thing about this one.
DanBlake 12y ago
Anyone looking for a alternative should check out http://liveninja.com http://liveninja.com which is the largest and most refined player in the space.
- markolschesky 12y ago
  I gave this a spin. The entire setup was pretty buggy for me with 500s frequently being thrown. I do want something like this, though I would be hesitant to use something this buggy.I also don't really want to tell professionals to meet with me using a product with the word "ninja" in it.
- r00fus 12y ago
  Helpouts had tons of advisors for home/kitchen remodeling which I simply don't see at liveninja. Which is unfortunate - I was thrilled when I found that on helpouts, but now that I'm actually starting a remodel project it's unfortunate that I can't get basic help for relative cheap costs. Google really needs to do some tying of their services together - not in a Google+ kind of way where it's unwanted, but if, for example, they had helpouts to bolster Google product support and pushed some of that massive interest/traffic into the service, it might have found its mark sooner.
  - jyiin 12y ago
    Try http://fountain.com http://fountain.com. There are a lot of home / kitchen experts available.
- bcjordan 12y ago
  For giving free help calls, I've really enjoyed using SoHelpful: http://sohelpful.me/ http://sohelpful.me/ Lots of amazing startup advice on there, all for free.
- austinhutch 12y ago
  The only thing I remember about Google Helpouts was reading liveninja's response to its introduction: http://www.willweinraub.com/dear-google-thanks-for-copying-my-startup-but-youre/ http://www.willweinraub.com/dear-google-thanks-for-copying-m... Pretty interesting to back and read now.
ryannevius 12y ago
Is this service anything at all like HackHands?
whiddershins 12y ago
Google Helpouts was the greatest thing ever when it first launched, for me, from a hiring helpers point of view ... I got amazing help solving some coding problems for a reasonable price ... really saved me from a terrible jam I was in. But over time it seemed like less and less "helpers" were available, so obviously it wasn't working for everyone else.
gz5 12y ago
What if Google took the "enable" approach, instead of the "content owner" approach: + Enable existing expert communities (and developing ones) to add voice and video consultation via libraries and APIs that leverage WebRTC</p> + Enable choice of Google ID or other IDs + Enable choice of Google Payments or other + Enable record and streaming options via YouTube I know the above doesn't have the same short-term business model upside as Google Helpouts did, but, then again, would Helpouts still be around today if it took the enable path?
- BrainInAJar 12y ago
  Google's profit model isn't to enable, it's to collect & warehouse massive amounts of sensitive user data.
__dev_unull 12y ago
I wonder what this means for startups like fluentify.com
drippingfist 12y ago
If you're looking for an alternative you should check out www.vexbook.com - the calibre of people is higher. It's over Skype or Facetime so it works with any smartphone.
perseusprime 12y ago
Can they atleast open source this technology? I can use it for my business.
bingobob 12y ago
it should be moved over to youtube and market in a different way. Google really need a product realigning on a few things.
eyeareque 12y ago
Google and Googlers for that matter always want to work on the newest cool thing, maybe something that has been done before. If you're a developer at Google would you rather work on maintaining something like Google helpouts or Google voice? Or would you want to work on the next big thing? I know what I would want on my resume. The downside is that Google seems to abandon things. I feel like they need to have a better exit strategy since some people really like the products they put out to pasture. I liked how they outsourced Google wave for example.
- eyeareque 12y ago
  edits: "maybe something that hasn't been done before" "How they open sourced Google wave"
Sniffnoy 12y ago
I was surprised to find that this isn't among Gwern's 10 Google services most likely to be shut down[0], but I think it may just be too recent to have been included; I don't know that he's ever re-run the analysis. [0] http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns#predictions http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns#predictions
- gwern 12y ago
  Hangouts was launched 4 November 2013, so it came after I finished it. I did ad it to my followup list for the 2018 update when I evaluate the predictions and update the data to take a second look at the model results, but the followup list is stashed as a comment in the page source so unsurprisingly you didn't see it.
classdo 12y ago
Try ClassDo ( https://classdo.com https://classdo.com ). There are teachers and students from 140 countries. It's also featured on the Wall Street Journal http://on.wsj.com/1yhzGCK http://on.wsj.com/1yhzGCK
weitingliu 12y ago
Codementor is alive and growing - we are an open marketplace for on-demand developer help and longterm mentorship. Anyone is welcome to apply as mentors. Once you are approved, you can set your rate however you'd like. Check us out: https://www.codementor.io https://www.codementor.io
bambax 12y ago
Google Answers was great because it was text based and asynchronous; Google Helpouts was not so great because it was video based and (mainly) synchronous. Why didn't they put more resources into Answers? And what were their expectations for Helpouts?
vincvinc 12y ago
Just wondering: why not spin off a separate company to continue the service? Because they don't want to lose the engineers working on this? I guess that seems more important to the company?

148 points by kshatrea 12y ago

This happens a lot, before using any service by Google I tend to ask myself, twice, "if they shut this down, which they might very well do, what is my backup plan?" Honestly, it's hard to make a good case to rely on them for much outside of their core products.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
toomuchtodo 12y ago
I did a focus group hangout with a Google staff member many months ago, and under the NDA I signed, and I can't discuss which product it was for. Most importantly, the staff member asked me what's stopping me from using their service over a competitor's service. I replied, "I know they'll still be supporting/providing the service 1-2 years from now".
- emehrkay 12y ago
  How scary is the "Google could easily enter that market" line now-a-days?
  - toomuchtodo 12y ago
    I think in B2C markets, its definitely a fear. Witness how many people use Gmail because its free. But B2B products? I'd have no fear of Google coming into my market. I'd be more worried if it was Amazon, Apple, or Facebook to a lesser extent.
    - mattmanser 12y ago
      Be fair, I started using Gmail all those years ago because it was awesome. And although it's stagnated and they're about to fuck up the desktop UI by "Materializing" it, it's still pretty good.
  - CamperBob2 12y ago
    In general, nobody should be scared of such an eventuality. If large companies didn't have massive, major handicaps by their very nature, there would be no small companies.
higherpurpose 12y ago
Not like you had anything to lose from this closing down.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

graeme 12y ago

I tried this. Among other things, I do LSAT tutoring. I don't think I saw a single inquiry. People have specific places they go to look for LSAT tutors, and google helpouts wasn't one of them. LSAT is more specific than some other niches, but I imagine this same problem occurred in most areas.

lbotos 12y ago
The biggest problem is they needed to be the "Backend" here. If they just got a cut of the 30% LSAT/SAT sites and those sites simplified their stack it would be a win all around. Look at AirPair, Their core product was their network using hipchat and Hangouts to accomplish the goal. If sites could leverage this technology (read: google marketed it as such, a technology, not and end product) I'd suspect some of those sites would have leveraged it.
- graeme 12y ago
  I put it on my site, but no one used it. It was on the sidebar of every page. People just clicked on the "tutoring" page instead. I'm not sure it would have worked for LSAT/SAT at all. People seem to want to talk to a human before they book a lesson, since they're expensive. In theory, people could find it very useful to consult an expert for five minutes. But in practice the sort of people who would want to do that don't even look for a tutor. The typical tutoring students wants hours. If the client is a parent, then they're looking to hand off the problem to an expert. (For almost all SAT tutoring, the client is a parent.) Could you see this working outside of a technical niche?

blueintegral 12y ago

I offered help with electronics projects and had maybe a dozen sessions. I charged the default $1/minute and really enjoyed it, because I got to hear about all kinds of cool things people were working on, and I got the satisfaction of helping them, and it helped pay for my own projects. I'm kinda bummed they're shutting down.

FlailFast 12y ago
Me too. I did free math tutoring for a while and it was a such a good feeling when I helped folks understand a previously difficult concept. Had a big problem with random cancelations, which made scheduling really difficult and made me less enthused to Helpout. Still, I'm sad to see it go.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

cannonpult 12y ago

This is the first time I've heard of Google Helpouts

devanti 12y ago
same. never heard of them before

Chinjut 12y ago

As prophesied in the top comment (by user24) right here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6248771 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6248771

hahainternet 12y ago
Google should focus! Google should keep services running despite low growth or low interest! Google should be all things to all people!
- Apocryphon 12y ago
  Surely an organization with as much resources and revenue as Google can have their cake and eat it too?
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- ploxiln 12y ago
  Just throw out the last one. Google should just not launch new stuff. Unless they're serious about it and they're going to keep it. The problem is that a number of users that would make a dedicated startup quite happy, doesn't interest google - "low growth or low interest" is a rather high bar for google. Google Reader was huge, just not google huge. EDIT: Why I think this, is because I'm annoyed that all the big companies want one of what all the other big companies have - music locker/streaming service, home automation platform, tv platform, freaking VR goggles. One does it, the rest have to get one too. Then it's forgotten in a couple of years. (Helpouts was part of the Hangouts push, and now that the push is over, it's forgotten.)
  - jfoster 12y ago
    They could just start spinning off (into separate companies) or open sourcing the projects they decide to no longer pursue. That would alleviate a lot of the negative PR they get from doing this stuff, I think. Also is the right thing for customers who are invested in the product.

simon_weber 12y ago

Too bad; I've enjoyed running my free CS/programming Helpout [1]. Besides the decline in user growth that Google mentions, here are the major problems I saw while using it: * hosting a free Helpout meant dealing with constant no-shows [2]. I started charging $1/hour and then refunding it to folks who showed up. * attendees of free Helpouts were rarely prepared * the scheduling system was very limited (especially compared to Google Calendar) That said, when everything worked, it was an amazing experience. [1] https://helpouts.google.com/103350848301234480355/ls/a344f06e06d4d5db https://helpouts.google.com/103350848301234480355/ls/a344f06... [2] https://simon.codes/2013/11/07/google-helpouts-first-impressions.html https://simon.codes/2013/11/07/google-helpouts-first-impress...

igorgue 12y ago
How are you gonna do it now? I have a friend who I help but I really don't have time. Also, why did you do it for free? I've found when I help somebody for 10 mins or so it usually gets me in the mood of programming my own stuff.
- simon_weber 12y ago
  > How are you gonna do it now? I'm not sure. Ideally I'd have a site where I can put my email and encourage folks to write me. This has worked better than video chat for me, since: 1) folks rubber duck [1] themselves while writing, so they ask better questions. 2) it's asynchronous, so we don't have to find a matching slot in our schedules (and don't commit to an amount of time beforehand) I've redirected all my Helpouts schedule requests to email recently and it's worked well. > Also, why did you do it for free? I just never considered charging. I don't think I could do so and feel good about it with the amount of free help I've received (irc, SO, hacker school, college...). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging
spiritplumber 12y ago
* hosting a free Helpout meant dealing with constant no-shows [2]. I started charging $1/hour and then refunding it to folks who showed up. You've solved the MOOC attendance problem, with this.

r109 12y ago

#GoogleFAIL

BorisMelnik 12y ago

No need to be negative, but this was a failure from the beginning. I tried a number of times to "helpout" but was not accepted. I'm no industry expert, but I do have some things to freely offer and thought it was weird that I had to wait and wait and wait to become accepted and by the time that happened, I was no longer interested.

rememberlenny 12y ago

I misread this as Google Hangouts.

mojuba 12y ago

> The Helpouts community includes some engaged and loyal contributors, but unfortunately, it hasn't grown at the pace we had expected. (from helpouts.google.com) Google feels more and more like a company that suffers from gigantomania (a nice service "hasn't grown at the pace we had expected" - so it should be no less than Google Search?) on the one hand, and inability to bring new products to the market on the other. I have a theory that there is no such thing as bad idea. Any initial idea, be it seemingly good or bad in the beginning, requires refinement, development and a lot of solid work. If you look at any successful product or service today, the initial idea wouldn't have necessarily be qualified as good. It's a thousand of new derivative and auxiliary ideas that make the original one interesting and eventually also successful. So according to this theory, if a company shuts down its own products one after another, and screws up others that used to work well - that company is clearly malfunctioning. In case of Google it doesn't seem to be bad engineering, in fact Google can be considered one of the top few companies in the world in terms of technical quality. It seems to be more on the product management side. Google, you need to change, fast. I have a feeling your countdown timer may have started already.

munificent 12y ago
> If you look at any successful product or service today, the initial idea wouldn't have necessarily be qualified as good. Confirmation bias. You aren't looking at the 100s of un-successful products and services out there.
- mojuba 12y ago
  I am looking, and many of them seem like good ideas. Others are bad. So what?
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    > I am looking, and many of them seem like good ideas. Others are bad. So what? Upthread you said: > I have a theory that there is no such thing as bad idea. You seem to have just rejected that theory.

oafitupa 12y ago

If you use Google products, you are gonna have a bad time. Find alternatives and become free. You don't need to replace everything at the same time, you can do it one product at a time.

murbard2 12y ago

The service was a good idea, but it probably needs to be decentralized to avoid a central party bearing legal liabilities. Run by Google, it was killed by all the regulation surrounding the sale of services. Can't give medical advice, can't get payments in Europe, etc.

filmgirlcw 12y ago

I'm in no way surprised. I thought this was a questionable idea when it debuted and it never struck me as something that could actually grow into something popular. Part of the issue, I think, is that Google as a company fundamentally does not understand content. (YouTube is the one exception here and even with YouTube, the way the whole YouTube partner program works, the way the ad side is run and other aspects make it clear that they still really don't get content -- they just happen to have a great platform and a few people trying to convince people who make more than them to think outside the algorithm). It was an interesting idea but marred with poor execution and a dwindling Google+ audience.

tzm 12y ago

Plot twist: No need for Helpouts when Hangouts become embedded within search results.

noarchy 12y ago

The first clue I have to there being a problem is that this is the first time I've heard of Google Helpouts. I use a wide assortment of Google products, but never heard a thing about this one.

DanBlake 12y ago

Anyone looking for a alternative should check out http://liveninja.com http://liveninja.com which is the largest and most refined player in the space.

markolschesky 12y ago
I gave this a spin. The entire setup was pretty buggy for me with 500s frequently being thrown. I do want something like this, though I would be hesitant to use something this buggy.I also don't really want to tell professionals to meet with me using a product with the word "ninja" in it.
r00fus 12y ago
Helpouts had tons of advisors for home/kitchen remodeling which I simply don't see at liveninja. Which is unfortunate - I was thrilled when I found that on helpouts, but now that I'm actually starting a remodel project it's unfortunate that I can't get basic help for relative cheap costs. Google really needs to do some tying of their services together - not in a Google+ kind of way where it's unwanted, but if, for example, they had helpouts to bolster Google product support and pushed some of that massive interest/traffic into the service, it might have found its mark sooner.
- jyiin 12y ago
  Try http://fountain.com http://fountain.com. There are a lot of home / kitchen experts available.
bcjordan 12y ago
For giving free help calls, I've really enjoyed using SoHelpful: http://sohelpful.me/ http://sohelpful.me/ Lots of amazing startup advice on there, all for free.
austinhutch 12y ago
The only thing I remember about Google Helpouts was reading liveninja's response to its introduction: http://www.willweinraub.com/dear-google-thanks-for-copying-my-startup-but-youre/ http://www.willweinraub.com/dear-google-thanks-for-copying-m... Pretty interesting to back and read now.

ryannevius 12y ago

Is this service anything at all like HackHands?

whiddershins 12y ago

Google Helpouts was the greatest thing ever when it first launched, for me, from a hiring helpers point of view ... I got amazing help solving some coding problems for a reasonable price ... really saved me from a terrible jam I was in. But over time it seemed like less and less "helpers" were available, so obviously it wasn't working for everyone else.

gz5 12y ago

What if Google took the "enable" approach, instead of the "content owner" approach: + Enable existing expert communities (and developing ones) to add voice and video consultation via libraries and APIs that leverage WebRTC</p> + Enable choice of Google ID or other IDs + Enable choice of Google Payments or other + Enable record and streaming options via YouTube I know the above doesn't have the same short-term business model upside as Google Helpouts did, but, then again, would Helpouts still be around today if it took the enable path?

BrainInAJar 12y ago
Google's profit model isn't to enable, it's to collect & warehouse massive amounts of sensitive user data.

__dev_unull 12y ago

I wonder what this means for startups like fluentify.com

drippingfist 12y ago

If you're looking for an alternative you should check out www.vexbook.com - the calibre of people is higher. It's over Skype or Facetime so it works with any smartphone.

perseusprime 12y ago

Can they atleast open source this technology? I can use it for my business.

bingobob 12y ago

it should be moved over to youtube and market in a different way. Google really need a product realigning on a few things.

eyeareque 12y ago

Google and Googlers for that matter always want to work on the newest cool thing, maybe something that has been done before. If you're a developer at Google would you rather work on maintaining something like Google helpouts or Google voice? Or would you want to work on the next big thing? I know what I would want on my resume. The downside is that Google seems to abandon things. I feel like they need to have a better exit strategy since some people really like the products they put out to pasture. I liked how they outsourced Google wave for example.

eyeareque 12y ago
edits: "maybe something that hasn't been done before" "How they open sourced Google wave"

Sniffnoy 12y ago

I was surprised to find that this isn't among Gwern's 10 Google services most likely to be shut down[0], but I think it may just be too recent to have been included; I don't know that he's ever re-run the analysis. [0] http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns#predictions http://www.gwern.net/Google%20shutdowns#predictions

gwern 12y ago
Hangouts was launched 4 November 2013, so it came after I finished it. I did ad it to my followup list for the 2018 update when I evaluate the predictions and update the data to take a second look at the model results, but the followup list is stashed as a comment in the page source so unsurprisingly you didn't see it.

classdo 12y ago

Try ClassDo ( https://classdo.com https://classdo.com ). There are teachers and students from 140 countries. It's also featured on the Wall Street Journal http://on.wsj.com/1yhzGCK http://on.wsj.com/1yhzGCK

weitingliu 12y ago

Codementor is alive and growing - we are an open marketplace for on-demand developer help and longterm mentorship. Anyone is welcome to apply as mentors. Once you are approved, you can set your rate however you'd like. Check us out: https://www.codementor.io https://www.codementor.io

bambax 12y ago

Google Answers was great because it was text based and asynchronous; Google Helpouts was not so great because it was video based and (mainly) synchronous. Why didn't they put more resources into Answers? And what were their expectations for Helpouts?

vincvinc 12y ago

Just wondering: why not spin off a separate company to continue the service? Because they don't want to lose the engineers working on this? I guess that seems more important to the company?