

Google SketchUp and Team Being Acquired by Trimble - jpastika
http://sketchupdate.blogspot.com/2012/04/new-home-for-sketchup.html

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phuff
Is this a first for google? I don't think I've ever heard of them selling a
product/team to another company before. If not a first, certainly a rarity.

~~~
Udo
You're correct, it's rare but it happened before: Google sold its Radio
Automation business to WideOrbit Inc. But usually, Google (as any other large
tech company) is where acquired tech goes to die - never to be heard from
again.

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jpastika
I have worked with a Trimble distributor for many years, and find this
acquisition interesting. Over the last few years Trimble, traditionally a
hardware company, has been acquiring various software companies. Internally,
they are developing a virtual jobsite platform and I can see SketchUp fitting
in with their other BIM technologies. Saying that though, I think the real
motivation here is a talent acquisition.

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brudgers
Thank God.

Sketchup development has been neglible since Google acquired the company years
ago. Aside from adding a kludged presentation capability to the "Pro" version
there hasn't been a significant improvement to the core product in years (and
I suspect that the presentation capabilities were in process at acquisition).

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jpastika
I wouldn't expect much in the way of improvements (read additional
functionality) because of the acquisition. Google is a company for the masses,
Trimble is sector and market specific. The only changes I would expect for a
while are integrations with Trimble's current software and hardware.

~~~
brudgers
Sketchup is a market specific product in the same way that Google App Engine
is. I strongly suspect that Trimble's products already interface with Sketchup
either directly or through standard ESRI or Autodesk file formats.

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andyl
SketchUp is such a great tool. I use it for - furniture design! There's a
healthy community of furniture design geeks out there.

Sadly, I can't see much synergy between GPS hardware and furniture design. I
wish the acquirer was a CAD/design company. Hope we don't lose a great
resource.

~~~
sounds
You could probably take a second look at Trimble. They've been pivoting
recently to do more software.

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iag
This is definitely a good move by Google to Shed some weight and let a
promising product keep flourishing. I'm impressed.

Does anyone have an estimate on the price/term of this deal?

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cpeterso
Any armchair CEOs have suggestions for other Google products that should be
sold or spun out?

Wikipedia has an interesting list of discontinued Google products. There might
be some interesting product ideas that didn't work at Google scale, but might
still be worthwhile for a smaller company.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products#Discon...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products#Discontinued_products_and_services)

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adestefan
The problem is that most of the products on that list are probably tightly
integrated with the Google infrastructure. The standalone product of SketchUp
was sold off, but now the question is what will happen to the SketchUp 3D
Warehouse.

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drumdance
SketchUp was the basis for Google's Boulder office, which has since grown a
_lot_. I wonder if they'll move out and where.

~~~
jpastika
Trimble has a large office in Westminster, CO, which is just outside of
Boulder.

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polyfractal
I wonder how many people are left at SketchUp from the original company,
before it was acquired by Google.

I bet they would have some interesting stories to tell, after going through a
Google acquisition and now being sold by Googl

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petsagouris
I am really worried... getting people to trust the capabilities of Sketchup
was really easy mainly to the Google brand. Now I really hope that Trimble can
convince me. Long time Sketchup user here, since Sketchup 2, good @Last days.

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SudarshanP
<http://www.pointclouds.org/blog/trcs/>

Trimble is sponsoring development of several projects in different research
areas involving 3D perception, as part of the second PCL code sprint.

PCL is the Point Cloud Library from Willowgarage that also created ROS, PR2
and Turtlebot. These guys are surely trying to do some good stuff for 3D. Hope
the sketchup community benefits from this acquisition

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MCompeau
This is an interesting development. I have a lot of colleagues in the
architecture industry who are heavily dependant on SketchUp for early-stage
conceptual work. I wonder if Trimble, a company with focus on hardware and BIM
will push sketchup away from its easy to use, conceptual design origins.

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ambirex
Neat idea, instead of discontinuing the product. Too bad they didn't have the
foresight to do this with Dodgeball.

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droz
Aside from SketchUp, anyone know what other projects/products are being worked
on at the Boulder Google office?

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simmons
I hear that some work on Apps/Docs and Chrome happens there. This morning's
Google Drive SDK hangout featured at least one person in Boulder... he had a
sweet view of the Flatirons behind him.

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joshmlewis
This is strange. Can someone explain how this would work for Google or why it
would be a good move?

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ceejayoz
Google gets money in exchange for ditching a potentially distracting side
project that's likely to remain a small niche item.

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jganetsk
And people get to keep their jobs.

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robomartin
Interesting. As a long time AutoCAD and SolidWorks user I have never thought
of Trimble as a 3D CAD company. Not even a software company. One has to wonder
if SketchUp could have found a better home than Trimble.

I can see an established 3D CAD company really enhancing it as a potential
bridge onto their bigger tools and providing more interoperability with other
platforms. I can't justify buying a license of SolidWorks for my kid's PC but
if SketchUp were a SW product with a ramp up to SW I would definitely consider
it and even pay for it.

Time will tell.

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excuse-me
GPS is commodity now, Trimble are looking to add value

It's hard to sell a $500 ruggadised GPS unit when it's built into someones
iPhone, and people are beginning to wonder why they are paying quite so much
even for RTK systems when the actual HW is so cheap.

But if even small scale housing construction started could be persuaded to use
the same 3D mapping/GPS technology that big civil engineering projects do then
you could tie up a nice market.

From the prospective concept design of the street of houses, the planning
permission filings with 3D height modelling, sight lines, light rights, the
cad drawings, then the automated layout of roads and foundations with GPS
equipped machines - all with an integrated Trimble system.

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sundae79
Didn't know your iphone gps was accurate at millimeter level just like the
$500 trimble GPS which is used for precision.

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excuse-me
A $500 Trimble is still the same 12channel + WAAS unit you have in your phone
or buy in a sports store.

A Real Time Kinematic system can do mm (on a good day with a following wind)
but they cost 20x as much!

My post wasn't totally clear - I meant people ALSO wonder why an RTK is
$10,000 when you can build your own for a lot less
([http://blog.makezine.com/2009/11/12/diy-real-time-
kinematic-...](http://blog.makezine.com/2009/11/12/diy-real-time-kinematic-
gps/))

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iamgopal
I really really hope they keep develop sketch up and keep it at par with
google's simplicity and speed and price. One more down.

