

Your Hate for Google is Misguided - xpose2000
http://www.x-pose.org/2013/05/your-hate-for-google-is-misguided/

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bradleyland
> Why exactly can’t Google try new things and then discontinue them if they
> don’t gain enough traction?

They can, and I don't think anyone is telling Google they _can't_. The
sentiment I'm seeing is that developers and business owners are developing a
sense that Google will do _just that_. It's the impact on the Google-user
relationship that is suffering. What you've stated is the cause, not the
effect.

> Why is trying new services out a bad thing?

For whom; Google, or the end-user? In the short term, it looks great for
Google. "Hey, we've got piles of money and resources; let's just try
everything!" This sucks for the end-user though, because we don't all have
piles of money and resources lying around to cover switching costs.

When you bootstrap a start-up, you learn a very valuable skill set: do
something with next-to-nothing. Google's offerings are often enticing, because
they're low cost, and often free when they start out. Then the attention of
those responsible for Google's bottom line begin to narrow in on the service,
and the hard questions start coming. How will this service turn a profit? How
will this service support our core offering? How much resources is this
service consuming? Would those resources be better spent elsewhere?

Those are all perfectly valid questions for Google. From the entrepreneur's
side of the table though, they're frightening as hell. What happens when you
integrate these services in to your business plan, only to have Google shift
their offering to make more sense for Google? The entrepreneur is already
engaged in the fight of their life just trying to develop their product and
acquire customers. The stability of the underlying services that drive their
business becomes a significant factor in their success or failure.

> Are they supposed to be perfect?

No, of course not. However, it would be nice if Google chose to make a serious
commitment to new products, rather than launching every product as a
test/beta. Still, it's their choice, just like it's the entrepreneur's choice
to avoid their "beta" products after having had the rug pulled out from under
us in the past.

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jgeorge
> Google is the ONE company that you should want to invade a new market

Bull Hockey. Google is the LAST company that I want to invade my market.

Google has gobs of cash that they can inject into a market to produce a
mediocre service and provide it to users for free.

Anyone else competing in that market space now instantly loses any chance for
profitability because why would someone pay for your service when Google gives
it for free?

Time marches on, and everyone leaves that market space except Google. Google
still calls the service "beta" while they try to figure out how to monetize
it.

Then, since there's no real way that can monetize that service, they
discontinue it, leaving users in the lurch (or at best, migrating them to some
other Google service which they can monetize).

You can fanboy Google all you'd like, but they are NOT the benevolent Bringer
of All The Interwebs at all times.

Sometimes, injecting stupid amounts of cash into a niche market doesn't always
help that market out.

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twelve40
> Google is the ONE company that you should want to invade a new market

Sorry, this is a bit over the top. Google did just that - invaded the RSS
market when it was new, wiped out the RSS niche with a free product, and then
suddenly had a change of heart, ditching everyone presumably to "focus" a few
of its 54000 employees on the social buzzword of that year.

~~~
xpose2000
I don't see anything wrong with that. There are literally dozens of BETTER
alternatives to Google Reader out there. Their work is done by with that space
and they felt it was time to move on.

~~~
daivd
I have yet to find a single one that is anywhere close to Google Reader :(

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chippy
What is misguided is the assumption that Google provides a service. It is a
company. I think we are seeing the result of the company saying "what's the
business case for this" now.

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vnuk
Isn't Google Reader being discontinued?

