

Google Barge Sold For Scrap - swohns
http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/01/google-barge-sold-for-scrap/?ncid=rss

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dm2
Does anyone know if they are still working on the barge in San Francisco?

Apparently they bought 4 barges, so they had big plans for this project (which
doesn't seem smart without at least testing it out once first, also doesn't
allow them to use lessons learned from the first build on the second barge).

Here is a good video of the one in SF:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLueLIcUrwc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLueLIcUrwc)

Here is a closeup of one side: [http://www.vosizneias.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/03/Google-...](http://www.vosizneias.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/03/Google-Barge_sham.jpg)

What a crazy project, kudos to Google for thinking outside the box. Even if it
doesn't work out I'm sure they've learned a lot from this build. Hopefully
they'll share some construction video, designs, and lessons learned someday.

~~~
microtherion
For a company the size of Google, 4 barges probably DOES count as a tiny
initial test. I suppose 4 simultaneously has some advantage over 1 at a time
because it allows you to do A/B/C/D testing.

~~~
wiredfool
Anyone else would have a striped + mirrored RAIB. But I suppose at Google's
scale, they need geographically distributed barges to cover for a failure at
one port.

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natch
I don't know if the whole idea is dead yet, but it did seem pretty tone-deaf
to do luxury party barges as a way to showcase an already hated exclusive
product.

~~~
bellerocky
It was a bizarre idea, in step with the tone-deaf nature of Google's
leadership which seems to exhibit traits of megalomania. I like ambitious
projects, I like people creating new things, but some of the words that come
out people's mouths about creating places in the world to experiment without
regulation, and that people's expectations of privacy are wrong, etc. It's
just off-putting and some day when some other startup starts eating Google's
lunch this barge will come across as the early signal that Google just had too
much cash than was good for it.

~~~
nickpinkston
Au contraire - I think we need more ambitious / divergent projects, and I
think with this ambition and divergence comes the likelihood that you're going
to piss a lot of people off, and I think that's okay.

"creating places in the world to experiment without regulation, and that
people's expectations of privacy are wrong, etc."

Both of these sound like divergent and large scale, but they don't seem
unreasonable.

People let the world in front of their eyes convince them of its permanence /
correctness - when in reality we need to break some of our cherished beliefs
to move forward.

~~~
locopati
What if we like our cherished beliefs because they work for us and don't
really want someone else's beliefs to trump that?

~~~
endtime
Then don't move to their seasteading platforms or use/buy products run from
them?

~~~
nickpinkston
ra-men

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sopooneo
I'm missing something here. Why would barges be a good place to host events?
Why not one of the many traditional land based locations that are always used?
Is there something particular about being on the water? Or is it just being
funky? Are we to believe that they were in areas that available space is so
scarce that going to the water was truly sensible. If so, why weren't others
doing it already?

~~~
joezydeco
Target has occasionally floated a barge off of Manhattan to let the locals
shop during the holidays. More of a P/R thing than a profit center.

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zimmern
I remember seeing a google talk on data center innovations; efficiency and
environmental impact. Specifically mentioned was the purchase of barges for a
prototype datacenter. The advantages were free cooling from the ocean which
would be maximized by submerging all the servers in oil to conduct heat. Sorry
to lazy to pull up the source, but I thought that was what all these barges
were for.

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jmulho
Maybe the barge in Portland got hit by a Google wave.

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comrade1
I wonder who's pet project this was and if there were any consequences inside
the company for its failure.

It really did seem like a dumb idea from the beginning. I had a hard time
seeing myself take the time to go to a pier to get on a floating flagship
store. Even in SF where the port is integrated with the city I couldn't see
myself doing it.

~~~
melling
It's $4 million dollars.

[http://bgr.com/2014/08/01/google-mystery-barge-
cancelled/](http://bgr.com/2014/08/01/google-mystery-barge-cancelled/)

That's a rounding error.

~~~
jacquesm
Definitely not a rounding error. That's a substantial chunk of money and if
you waste that it gets noticed. Revenues are _not_ profits.

If it's a rounding error for you then you're in better shape then I am.

~~~
nostrademons
Google is definitely in better shape than you are. _Quarterly_ earnings last
quarter were about $3.4B.

Put it this way: $4M is about the fully-loaded cost of a team of 8-10
engineers over a year. Projects involving 8-10 man-years of engineer time get
canceled all the time.

