

Google's Biggest Mistake - mgkimsal
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/carroll/the-worst-decision-google-ever-made/1998?tag=nl.e539

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nl
Google has a software development platform. It's called HTML5+Javascript.

Sun was a hardware company with a line of unprofitable server software, as
well as a popular software platform. Speaking as a Java developer, yeah, it
would have been nice if Google controlled Java, but I don't think it really
made sense from Google point of view.

As for Open Office - I think the author misunderstands Google's platform
strategy. Google wants cloud-based software, not old thick client software. No
amount of reto-fitting of server connection can fix that.

~~~
Raphael
If it doesn't make sense for Google to secure rights to Java, then why are
they making Android, with so much Java influence, their main OS? Why aren't we
running Mobile Chrome OS?

Perhaps you're saying Android is a fad this year or two, and then Chrome or
other browsers take over.

~~~
nl
One thing you can never accuse Google of is having a single view inside the
company!

I think that Java-as-it-is-in-Android is a great technology, but some view it
as transitional while HTML adds the capabilities needed to build a wide range
of application.

Dalvik (the Android "JVM") is a layer on top of the Android operating system.
The fact that it exists doesn't preclude other environments running as a layer
as well. Android is here to stay, but I think it's a given that the
capabilities of the operating system will expand. For example, Android 3.0
adds RenderScript [1], which doesn't have a Java dependency at all.

[1]
[http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/renderscript/index...](http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/renderscript/index.html)

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perfunctory

        KIN, a device that was a distraction at a time when Microsoft should have had a laser focus on Windows Phone 7.
    
        would ... have provided a strong office productivity suite that could be augmented to complement their online word processing tools in unique ways.
    

Some authors don't seem to read their own articles.

~~~
rrrazdan
Yeah, the author basically started with the argument that Google should have
Sun then so that Android would have been protected. Then he realized, the
price was too much for what is just a license, and then started piling on
unconvincing arguments, one after the another. Google already has a platform.
They call it the web. And Google tends to use whatever language seems
convenient to them then.

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microcentury
So Google's biggest mistake was not taking on a giant merger, though mergers
sometimes go horribly wrong, but sometimes they work out? Seems like the
message in this article is a little mixed. Maybe someone other than the
article writer wrote the headline.

~~~
mgkimsal
I submitted this, and wrote the HN headline, as that was the phrase that was
stuck in my head reading it, although the actual article was something more
like "Google's Worst Decision" - not sure there's a huge difference between
those two concepts, but I can't change it now. :/

~~~
microcentury
In fairness your HN headline exactly reflects the article headline, but the
article headline does not reflect the article content, so I in no way meant it
to be a criticism of the post :-)

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wslh
That's why they are journalists instead of good financial analysts.

~~~
chopsueyar
You mean, like this guy?

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Blodget>

~~~
wslh
I said good.

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rheide
Would be great if Google bought Oracle.

~~~
rbanffy
They would have to destroy it immediately after the purchase. Swallowing an
Oracle would stress Google's immune system well beyond its limit.

~~~
Apocryphon
This metaphor intrigues me. What are the "pathogens" that Google's "immune
system" is trying to prevent?

~~~
wolfgangK
I believe it to be a metaphor on that corporate culture clash between "do no
evil" and "cthulhu was a hippie".

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programminggeek
One could argue that Google's biggest mistake was not buying Facebook in the
same way that Yahoo could have bought Google way back when.

Instead, Google now has to come up with a bunch of half baked social projects
that are seen through the lens of search, which makes no sense to anyone
outside of Google. Search is not a social endeavor unless you are a librarian
and social has very little to do with search.

Google could have bought Sun, but most of what Sun did made no sense for
Google while at the same time Google is doing a lot of the things Sun wanted
to do, but could never execute. Sun made money on hardware, but that was a
dead business. $7 billion just to own Java patents would have been great for
Android, but as it stands Google will likely license them for a fraction of
that.

In the end, Sun's big prize was Java and all the money in Java right now is in
the enterprise software game. Google doesn't care about enabling enterprise
software. Google doesn't care about enabling IBM and Oracle to write big
software for big companies.

I think Google did the right thing by not buying Sun.

~~~
alexandros
It could however have been the world's largest talent acquisition, and talent
Sun did have in droves. And it's not like Google doesn't have a hardware arm
with all those data centers. It's still a strech though. And a lot of the
talent my have gone to Google of its own volition. Maybe I just really wish
Google had given Java the reboot it needs.

~~~
rxin
Many high-profile Sun employees already left Oracle and joined other
companies. There is an influx of Sun employees at Google in the last few
months.

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brohee
His premise is that Sun controlled Java, which show how much he researched the
matter.

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smogzer
Can't google replace java with scala in android and get over this issues ?

~~~
philf
The patent lawsuit isn't about the language but about the runtime.

